Farewell Sarsie! and on to Lima

After returning to Santiago, we rode once more to Valparaiso. This time with the sad task of packing up Doug for his trip home. So we cleaned, and packed and with the help of Martina and Enzo (who arranged the shipping and owned the hostel at which we stayed) we sent Doug on his way back home. The only really standout moment was when 3 youths tried to steal the pouch containing our passports that Sara had hung around her neck... this was the first time anything like this had happened to us here, so it took a few seconds for what was happening to sink in, but we weren´t going to take it lying down, and after I tackled one of the guys and Sara punched another on the nose, they gave up and ran for it... I don´t think they were expecting any resistance.

We then returned to Santiago and I farewelled Sara as she had to return to Aus and to work... from then on I was on my own... so far tavelling solo is a different experience, but I honestly still wish you were here with me Sars!

So, after a few days contemplating what I was going to do with my last 2 months, I decided, after LAN released some incredibly cheap flights, that I would fly to Bolivia and Colombia. The available dates of the cheap flights meant that I would start my solo adventure with a week in Lima, the capital of Peru though.

Lima was an interesting city. Not quite what I had expected. The cliffs and ocean below were quite beautiful, especially when covered in a thick mist that had been kicked up by the ocean. And there were many surfers in the water below. I contemplated a few times hiring a board and joining them, but never got round to it.

The hostel that I stayed in was new and didn´t even have signage yet, which was good as it was clean and tidy, but bad because there were very few people staying there. As a result I spent much of my time eploring the city solo. I visited some of the most amazing museums I have been to, with some incredible displays of Incan and pre-Incan artwork. The gold masks and headdresses were particularly amazing, but perhaps the most bizzare and interesting was the collection of ¨errotic artwork¨ at the Museo Larco (see pics of Lima). There were porcelin figurines and vases with people, gods, and the dead in practically every position you can think of... seriously wierd.

I also visited some pre-Incan ruins that are located right in the centre of town and spent much time just wandering the streets and watching the people. There was an interesting shopping centre actually built into the cliffs overlooking the Ocean and I spent a couple of nights working on my dance moves in a Colombian Salsa club with some local friends.

I certainly enjoyed my time in Lima much more than I had expected and found it to be a more multicultural andexciting city than I had originally envisioned.