Arriving in Lima

We arrived in Lima at 8:00am. I've got a really nasty cold which made the plane journey uncomfortable although uneventful.

The taxi over to the Hostel we're staying in was somewhat of an eye opener, people outside the center of town live in communities surrounded by walls and most homes and businesses not within these have large gates in front of them. It's a far cry from the open front doors of the village I grew up in.

We're staying in Miraflores which is a very Modern part of town, it doesn't have much character but it's clean and an easy introduction to the continent.

We walked over to Barranco in the afternoon which has some faded glamour and is supposed to be a good place to have a beer of an evening. The one I tried from the Barranco Beer Company was outstanding although my impression of it was likely coloured by my tiredness.

First impressions of the city is that it's got a serious punch, people are brusk but helpful and cars move through the city without much care for whats going on around them.

Crime does seem to be a serious issue here with a number of people I've spoken to reporting general theft and alarming stories of express kidnapping so I'm not hugely confident I'll come back with everything I've brought. It certainly doesn't feel safe.