It was the last day of the 4 of us together so we got together early and Lucy was the guide for the day. We went to the central part of Lima so as to see many of the old sites and I could go to my $14 hotel. Yes $14 for a room in the Gran Bolivar hotel in Lima.
We set off and headed into the old square where the cathedral, and old government building was. We got some nice photos and I was shocked when Andrea and Lucy took photos of the fountain in the centre. We then headed for a coffee in one of the oldest saloons in Lima. We ordered coffee with milk, and got milk with a splash of coffee. I dont think any of us finished the drinks and then took some photos of the old saloon - tried to work out how on earth they had been going so long making such bad coffee. OK we have been reared on Starbucks and so probably don't have a clue what the hell a good coffee is but not sure about loading it with condensed milk!!!
We headed off to the catacombs and had a guided (if rather fast) tour. It was fascinating to think that they buried so many bodies underneath the church, and they were connected underground to other churches. The bones are no longer as they were originally as when investigations were made to count the bodies the bones were separated (skulls together etc) so as to ascertain the corect numbers of bodies.
We then went to see the changing of the guard and whilst impressive there are still things we do well in our country and think we can claim the title for than one. Also not wholly convinced when the band started playing the Rocky theme as the soldiers parted ways!! Just to make things more strange we bumped into some of the Tucan group again.
Went for lunch in China town and then said my goodbyes to the guys and a big hug for Andrea as she was leaving tonight. I headed back to my hotel. The hotel had been the favourite haunt of Hemmingway in his day, and also has a Ford Model T in the reception. The room was first rate and very impressive with a lot of art deco to spice things up.
The following day I met with Steve and Lucy and we explored Lima seeing the sights and going to do some retail therapy. Steve kicked my ass at ten pin bowling as Lucy went to get her haircut - yes we were doing the cultural thing on track. Keeping the theme going we went for burgers at lunch. Steve and I had Bembo burgers (Peru answer to McDonalds), and Lucy picked a burger king. Lucy manged to win the best burger contest, and I vowed not to argue with the Americans about burgers again.
In the afternoon we said our goodbyes and headed our different ways - Steve back to Britain and Lucy tearing her way back across South America through Chile and off to Buenos Aires. I was really sad to see them as I drove off in the taxi as I had some great experiences with them, and Lucy had been following me around since Rio (almost 2 months!!!). I headed to the airport for an overnight flight to Buenos Aires!
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