We took off on time. It was a surprisingly smooth ascent given the shocking weather outside. At this point we'd been awake for 24 hours and were now in this odd state of sleep deprivation, an over tiredness, where we were unable to sleep.  

With Peru's time zone only being an one hour different, it would have been perfect for us to get some sleep on this flight so we would wake up refreshed when we landed in Lima. Whilst I think Julie and I managed some light shut-eye, it never became a deep sleep.

An hour into our flight to Lima hot food was served. My eyes rolled, as it was more pasta! But I have to say "Hats off" to LATAM airways because I was not expecting it to be the tastiest of them all. And this time I did eat Julie's portion!

Just before 5am local time we began our descent. Julie was too tired to even put up a fight against the inevitable. She whispererd a feeble "Whatever"to herself accepting her fate without a struggle.

Thankfully our fate was a safe landing.

Whilst we were waiting for our luggage we spotted a vending machine. A little thirsty we got a water and a bottle of Inca Kola. I'm not the biggest fan of regular Cola or any fizzy pop but I wanted to try the Inca Kola simply because it's the most iconic of Peruvian soft drinks!

"Uurgh, that's horrible" said Julie after a sip. I had to agree. I wanted to like it but it was super sweet and reminded me more of a cream soda. Not at all nice.

We had pre-booked a transfer to our hotel and waiting for us at arrivals was someone holding up my name. We followed him out of the airport, across the car park and onto a 52 seater coach.

We all expected us to be waiting for more arrivals but he began the engine and set off with only the four of us onboard! (We later found out that this is quite common if the travel company has a coach at the airport that was about to return to Lima empty.) 

It was now shortly after 6am. The sun had risen, there was daylight, however it was so misty we could hardly see much of the Pacific Ocean. Whilst the day hadn't woken up yet, the surfers had. Plenty of them were riding the waves at this ridiculous time of the morning.

After driving down the costa verde coast for a while we did an U-turn, turning back on ourselves. on the other side of the road, before veering off up the side of the cliff to Miraflores, a district of Lima.

Moments later the coach pulled up outside Hotel Señorial, an old fashioned white-washed town house. Wrought iron railings on the balconies and to the front wall gave it a colonial charm.  

The entrance gate was locked to keep out undesirables. Thankfully someone from reception liked the look of us and buzzed us through. We carried our bags to the foyer.

Of course, our rooms weren't ready but at least we could drop everything with them to keep safe in their storage room until we could check-in.

We had a good look around the hotel and found a lovely inner courtyard and garden. It was a nice tranquil setting. 

Breakfast was served under a large pergola. None of us were especially hungry but they only charged 41 soles each for the buffet breakfast, so we decided to sit down, have a coffee, grab something to eat and plan the rest of the day.

They had cereals, three types of fresh fruit, melon, papaya and something that looked like a cherry but tasted like a plum. There were slices of ham and cheese, bread rolls and hard boiled eggs. That was pretty much it.

There wasn't a huge amount of choice but it was enough.

I did have a new experience and that was a Coca leaf tea, or mate de coca, a brew made by infusing leaves from the cocaine producing coca plant. Apparently the tea does contain the stimulant and alledgedly even one cup of tea would show up on a drug test!

However, in reality it was only a mild dose, not dissimilar to caffeine in a cup of coffee. It's more commonly chewed in the Andes to elieviate mild symptoms of altitude sickness.

"I'm not sure why they had it here, we're practically at sea level." I said.

Julie suggested tourists might be encouraged to micro-dose, to build up a certain level before heading to the Andes. It sounded like a plausible explanation. 

Just before 8am we left the hotel and set off on foot, exploring the area of Miraflores, heading down Avenue towards the sea front or at least the edge of the cliff that overlooked the ocean.

We came to Parque Salazar, a green space, (although the grass looked fake) with a childrens playgound, a viewing platform and a very important bear, our old friend, Paddington.

He was looking rather dapper in his Union Jack duffle coat, donning a blue hat and a shiny brass suitcase. The tag around his neck read "Please look after this bear"

It was a gift from the British Embassy to Peru in 2015 and designed by Stephen Fry, a British comedian and actor.

We stood at the viewing platform. The mist was lifting slightly but it still wasn't what you would call a clear day.

Directly beneath us was a shopping centre called Larcomar filled with familiar brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Gap, even Hush Puppies who I thought had gone bust in the UK.

We planned to visit the shops later but first, as we looked up the coast, we decided to walk to see a few landmarks along this front. They were all only a short walk along the Miraflores malecon or boardwalk.

The first we saw was a breakwater or espigon. It had a substantial structure built over it that gave the impression of being a pier.

"It looks like Colwyn Bay pier before they pulled it down!" joked Garry.

It did have a dilapidated look to it despite it being the location of a very popular restaurant called La Rosa Nautica.  

Minutes later we walked past a statue of the Virgin Mary in a small park called Parque San Marcelino Champagnalt. Her face was ghostly white and her arms were open and welcoming.

People had left rosary beads and flowers on the railings which made a change from "love" padlocks.

We stopped at a kiosk for a drink of water. None of us fancied the Inca Kola. They had some tables and chairs so we sat down taking a moment to take admire the wonderful view down the costa verde.

The Miraflores boardwalk was six miles long and had three or four sections to it. Up to this point we had been walking along Malecon de la Riserva. On the other side of a ravine we would come to Malecon Cisneros.

From the kiosk we could see Parque del Amor (Park of Love) across the ravine and El Faro de la Marina (the lighthouse) a little further along.

We moved on, crossing the Bajada Balta ravine over the Eduardo Villena Ray bridge. It was a long way down. Sadly it became a popular spot for the desperate to throw themselves over the edge to their death; which explained why there was now this protective perspex cage along both sides of the bridge.

We survived the bridge and soon reached Parque del Amor. Although officially it's now known as Parque Alberto Andrade Carmona but the old name will always be more popular.

The park was opened on St Valentine's Day in 1993. Apparently inspired by Gaudi's Parc Güell (in Barcelona) it had wavy curvy walls covered in mosaic with random poetic messages in both Spanish and Quechuan, the local indigineous language of Peru.

The main attraction was a large sculpture of two people embracing and kissing. It's called El Beso (the kiss) and represented the artist Victor Delfin and his wife. 

It was a passionate work of art. The artist was sat on the floor, leaning over his wife, supporting her as she lay on her back stroking his hair as they kissed.

I'm not sure what kind of material was used. It looked like clay but it must have been some kind of fibre glass or something.

It was on a large scale, much larger-than-life.  The amorous couple cavorted high on  up on a pedestal, over a feeble water feature, around which we walked, admiring the kiss from all angles.

We walked to the top of a small auditorium, a stepped seated area. Apparently large crowds gather here around sunset.

Whilst we stood here admiring the view, we could see Sonya showing interest in buying some souvenirs from a street seller. Before she knew it she was surrounded by a swarm of desperate people and harrassed to buy more than she wanted. Garry went down to shoo them away with a hard stare he learnt from Paddington, but not before she had bought four knitted lamas.

We continued along the malecon, stopping often to admire the incredible view. The cliffs looked stunning from this viewpoint. Erosion had created an undulating ripple to the rock and the fine black mesh that shrouded it gave it a mysterious appearance. 

I had wondered how the cliffs survived and it was interesting to see how the coast road below created a barrier, protecting the cliffs from the pounding Pacific waves. I'm sure the many high rise buildings along the edge were grateful. 

Eventually we reached La Marina, a classic lighthouse, painted in stripes of white and a dark blue so dark it looked black to me. 

It was built in 1900 and was originally located over a thousand kilometers away on a headland near the port city of Ilo in the deep South of the country. Made from iron it was easily dismantled and reassembled here in 1973.

This was as far down the malecon as we were going to walk, so we began the long walk back the way we came.

We happened across a statue of Antonio Cisneros, a Peruvian poet, after which this stretch of the malecon was named. He looked like a 1950's crooner, like a Peruvian Cliff Richard.  

There was a surprising amount of people jogging along the boardwalk. They were a bit of a nuisance really. They could have done with their own dedicated lane. Some actually did use the bikes lanes. 

It wasn't long before we were back at Parque Salazar, walking down into the Larcomar car park before finding our way into the shopping centre.

The first thing we did was to find a cafe. It was too early for lunch but they had a nice selection of cakes so we decided to sit down and take the weight off our feet.

I had a capuccino and a cornetto filled with salted caramel. When it arrived, it was staring at me with these icing eyes. Despite looking like something picked from the kids menu, it tasted incredible! 

Garry also ordered a cake and was equally surprised when it arrived at the table. It was described as a Lemon Pie but it came all shoved inside a jam jar! It looked ridiculous but he enjoyed it just the same.

Once we were caked up we agreed to spend sometime shopping. Knowing that Sonya could shop for Great Britain, (that's a way of saying if shopping was a sport she'd be representing her country in the Olympics!) we decided to go our separate ways and meet up an hour later.

On the opposite side of shopping scale I usually come out in a rash the moment I walk into a department store. Ironically I was the first to buy something.

 There was an Adidas sports store and they had a sale on their Peru international football shirts. I couldn't believe my luck.

I usually get a football shirt from every country I visit but I tend to buy the cheap knock-offs from a market stall. It felt good buying an authentic shirt for £45, a very reasonable price. 

We met up with the Jones' and then returned to the Adidas store because Sonya wanted to get a football shirt for Adam.

Our thoughts then turned to lunch.  We agreed on place called Che Cha. It was only a few blocks away from our hotel.

The menu had a few intersting choices for me, so I was happy.

Julie's meal arrived first. She ordered the chicharon, the belly pork. We were all well impressed by the presentation. They had gone to a lot of effort. It looked stunning on the plate.

Her moaning and groaning suggested it tasted as good as it looked. Although it was served on a bed of mashed sweet potato which is not her favourite root veg. In fact whenever she hears the words "sweet potato" it always triggers a response of "It's not a potato!".

Garry had decided to just go for an appetiser and choose the trio of mini cheese burgers. He expected finger buffet sized nibbles but they were a bit bigger than that. I'm sure combined they were much larger than a full size burger!

Once again their attention to detail was noticeable with a small heart charred onto the bun. It was a nice touch.

Sonya went for the lamb shank which was an incredibly huge portion for lunch. It was dinosaur-like, a lambasaurus shank. Even my cauliflower fritters with aji amarillo sauce was overwhelmingly large, like a Kentucky Fried family bucket.

When we came to pay the bill we were pleasantly surprised. It was very good value for the quality and quantity.

It was finally time to return to our hotel and check-in.

Our rooms were ready. They were of course basic but it was spacious and clean. An afternoon siesta was in order. We had essentially been on the move for 36 hours! It felt so good to put my head down on a pillow. I immediately fell into a deep sleep.

Four hours later we met up and headed down to the Larcomar viewpoint in the hope of seeing a sunset but we were not in luck today. The skies were completely grey and overcast. In fact it reminded us so much of home.

We looked down over the shopping centre and spotted TAnta, a bar and restaurant we had seen earlier this morning, opposite the coffee shop. We had a dinner reservation at 7:30pm at an Uruguayan steakhouse so we were only looking for a cheeky drink.

We had come to the right place because they had an extensive drinks menu. But after browsing all the choices it was only Sonya who was adventurous enough to try a cocktail. Garry and I just had a beer and Julie a glass of Argentinian wine.

The waitress had given us a food menu eventhough we had said "only drinks". She obviously knew what she was doing. I took one look at the Papa a la Huancaina and had to order it.

Despite having a table booked in just over an hour I couldn't turn down the chance of trying this very traditional Peruvian dish.

It was a cold potato salad, sliced potatoes served with a creamy cheese sauce made with a yellow chilli pepper.

I really enjoyed it. It was a very interesting flavour, very different to anything I had tasted before. (Except for the night Garry and Sonya came over and I cooked Peruvian food.) Other than that I had never tasted this aijo amarillo yellow chilli pepper.

Whilst we sipped our drinks, I noticed they were advertising on a big screen the World Cup qualifying game Peru v Uruguay, on tomorrow night. I checked and the game was being played here in Lima.

"You should go" suggested Julie. 

"What a great experience that would be but surely it's sold out" I thought to myself.

Instead of having another round at TAnta we walked a little closer to this evening's restaurant, stopping at a bar and craft beer microbrewery called Caños del Santero, on the corner of Calle Juan Fanning and Avenue Jose Larco.

It was a nice little bar with several TV's showing Chile v Brazil who were playing tonight.

"Have you found any tickets yet?" asked Julie.

I hadn't thought about it seriously until now. Within 10 minutes I had found two tickets available on a reselling site Viagogo. At 140 soles each they weren't too expensive either. 

I struggled to buy them, and then we had to leave. We had to down our very nice beer and start walking. Google maps estimated a 15 minute walk to the restaurant and we had a table booked in 15 minutes time.

Our path took us past our hotel, and then a few blocks further we found El Parillon de Pablo Parfumo.

We arrived just a few minutes late. We were warmly welcomed and shown to our table by the waiter, who handed us these large heavy leather bound menus.

El Parillon literally translates as The Grill so of course the menu was mostly different cuts of meat but there were a few non-meat choices for me.

It had a nice atmosphere, the familiar feel of a family run Italian restaurant. On top of an old cabinet they had several bits and pieces like an Uruguayan football team  pendant traditionally exchanged before a game, two souvenir flasks from Uruguay, an award won by the restaurant and a 12 inch charicature figure of an Uruguayan soccer player, who I happened to recognised.

"Diego Forlan?" I asked the waiter. 

He was impressed. The Uruguayan was easy to recognise with his trademark long blond hair. He played for Manchester United briefly. Not the most prolific of goal scorers but a firm fan's favourite,

They had a choice of a cheaper Argentinian steak or their premium Uruguayan steak. Everyone went for the Uruguayan. Then they had a choice of three different sizes. Sonya opted for the medio cut where as Garry and Julie went for the completo, the full size cut.

It arrived, on a plate of its own, proudly waving the Uruguayan flag on a cocktail stick impaled into the steak. It was a massive slab of meat.

I ordered three side dishes. The first one was melted provolone cheese, cooked in a small skillet and turned out onto a plate, topped with griddled red pepper and seasoned with smoked paprika. It was simple and delicious. 

Next up were the grilled mushrooms, which were amazing. They had been infused with rosemary and were so tasty. Not a hint of meatiness either which was a relief. I didn't like the idea of their grilled veg as I didn't think they would use separate grills.

Whilst everyone else were still chewing their Uruguayan steaks I returned to viagogo and the tickets were still available. This time I managed to secure them and pay for them. Although the site slapped another 140 soles fees on top! 50% fees!? Day light robbery!

Anyway, we came to the end of the meal. Julie was beaten. She couldn't finish her steak. None of us had room for dessert. So we asked for the bill. We paid and thanked the waiters. Julie took to hugging them as we left.

On the way back we stopped at a convenience store. We were looking for some wine and eventually found it behind the counter.

I stepped up, pointed at the wine and asked "Vinos Blancos?"

The guy behind the counter turned around and reached for some cigarettes! Surely my Spanish wasn't that bad?

I repeated myself and played a game of hot or cold with him until he picked up the bottle I was pointing at. But after all that it turned out not to be wine!

Eventually I got myself understood and he reached for some vinos blancos in cartons, like fruit juice. It was dirt cheap at 10 soles (£2).

Something had tickled Garry and he was doubled up crying with laughter. He chuckled his way back to the hotel.

Back in the room Julie fell asleep whilst I stayed up until midnight sorting out the tickets for the game. I had to contact the seller, give them my passport details before they could issue an e-ticket. I don't even think they had any tickets in their possession until then. I'm sure they just went onto the official Peru FA webpage to buy the tickets with my details and got them e-mailed to me.

We got there in the end.