Lima

I arrived to Lima late on Wednesday night and got a taxi over to the Loki hostel in Miraflores. This is a suburb towards the beach and has all the bars and restaurants, while central Lima is desserted once the sun goes down.
On Wednesday I explored Miraflores. First stop was the Larcomar, which they describe as the face of modern Peru. However it was just a little shopping centre on the top of the cliff that dropped into the Pacific Ocean. Certainly not something I would want to base an entire nation´s hopes on... but then they did have a Hooters there so that´s probably what they are celebrating.
I walked around the top of the cliffs to San Isidro to find the local Qantas office to change the dates on all my flights. This took most the afternoon. Then I walked back to Miraflores past the pre-Inca ruins of Huaca Pucllana. These were just closing so I ran around them quick for free. They were reasonably interesting with a big mound of old bricks.
Friday I caught a mini-bus into Central Lima. There were some demonstrations planned for the day so the main plaza was all blocked off, as was the area around the Congress but the police were happy enough to give me a leg-up over the barriers. I checked out the Cathedral, then it was time for the changing of the guards at the Presendential Palace. They had the usual weird marches, but seemed to enjoy playing their trumpets and big drums. I called past the Congress building and over to China town to have some spring rolls and dim sims for lunch. Next I went to the church for a tour of the catacombs where they piled in the bones of an estimated 25000 people. They didnt seem to like my questions about if they were all the non-beleivers. They did come up with some nice designs with laying out the skulls and leg bones though.
Back in Miraflores I had dinner in Pizza street, and had to try out the local raw fish speciality of Cebiche which was surprisingly nice with the lemon dressing.
Got the 10pm overnight bus to Huaraz.