Lima

Tonight I leave Lima for Arequipa on an overnight bus; don´t know how that'll go down. I got the last seat and it's in front of the loo! Never mind - I figured it was meant to be.

My plans now are to go from Arequipa to Lake Titicaca and from there to Bolivia. I've heard lots of good things about from people I have met here. Then I´ll come back to Peru and head towards Cusco and Macchu Picchu, hopefully it will be a bit quieter in September. People tell me it´s really busy until at least the end of August.

Went to view a great private collection of pre-Inca pottery and textiles yesterday. It was collected by a Japanese Peruvian and is now looked after by a foundation. To see items of the quality and completeness of this private collection, it suddenly hit home for me how hard it must be for public museums to compete.

Can't believe how cold it is (hoodie all day, add scarf and jumper at night) - and it's so close to the Equator! There´s a haze that hangs over the city during these winter months which is due to some meteorological cause.

But that aside, all seems very gracious in the capital of Peru. Expensive, not too many homeless, but glimpses of shanty towns and graffiti suggest there's much more here than meets the tourist eye.

And if nothing else, this virtual dentist was a bit of a clue to something going on..