Hi,

Just a message from Lima to say I´m ok!!

The flight from Heathrow to Sao Paulo was ok, pretty bumpy but I survived! Although the air hostesses seemed to have an aversion to feeding me! I appear to have been invisible, as I was bypassed the entire flight. The transit in Brazil was 3 hours or so, and it was at this point where I started to think ummm what on earth am I doing... and got a bout of homesickness. I then started chatting, however, to a 16 year old German boy who was travelling alone for 6 months, so this kind of put things into perspective for me!

It was 12 hours to Sao Paulo, and then 6 to Lima. I only managed to get about 3 hours sleep in all, so I was knackered by the time I arrived here yesterday about 1pm. It was a real struggle trying to get my rucksack on, but I managed it and found a transfer to the hostel. Not without drama though, the poor cab man nearly crashed after my rape alarm decided to go off, as I reached for my purse. It didn´t help that he was happily chatting away on his mobile. Still I apologised profusely! II wanted to make sure I could get some sleep in the evening, so I then spent yesterday, armed with my valuables and guidebook, wandering the Miraflores district of Lima. There is literally NO disguising the fact I am a tourist, so Im not even going to bother. I stand out like a sore thumb, and the men here are on a par with Egyptians in terms of staring and general creepiness. The highlight is the police´s interesitng adaptation of their siren to sound like a wolf whistle. Mmm pleasant! So I got some dinner yesterday and came back to my room to find a tortoise outside, he was very cute! I then collapsed to get a decent night´s sleep, not before I had wandered down to the communal area to watch the end Dirty Dancing in Spanish. Perfecto!

This morning, I ate brekkie with a nice Dutch man... and a parrot who kept trying to steal my bread roll! I then set off to wander a bit more, this time heading to Parque d´amor. Yes... the park of love... It really was gorgeous, full of beautiful flowers and with a great ocean view. This was a little strange to do alone, however, the only non couple around. I then read in my guidebook that it was a hotspot for muggings, so I then eyed the local couples with suspicion and then left. I have been doing so much wandering, that I am filling the rest of the time with social coffee stops... I have finally taken to drinking it! The weather is beautiful here, I´d guess about 25 or so.

Anyway, I am filling in a bit of time now waiting in the hostel until 4pm which is when I meet the rest of the group I will be travelling with for the next 3 weeks. Looking forward to meeting them all! My rucksack is WAY too big though, and I look like a snail. I am constantly thinking of things to dump, but I just can´t part with anything!

Tomorrow we leave Lima, and first stop is Pisco, where there is a Nature Reserve with Penguins, Sea Lions, Flamingos and Pelicans!

Missing you all lots,

Lots of love,

Em xxxx

p.s. There was a spider in my bathroom earlier, and it was huge! It didn´t run away like normal spiders do, but instead just stood it´s ground and out stared me. It won. I literally don´t know how I am going to survive my stay in the Amazon!