Gap adventure –“ Inca heartland tour,” kicks off & heads south

I moved hotel & moved upmarket from Barranco to the posh area of Mirafloras. My itinerary informed me to meet the group at 6pm, where I meet up with 14 other travellers & our tour guide – Xavier.

Our first day was open to explore Lima so I decided to jump on a guided tour bus & get some culture down me. Not usually one for these type of tours I took confidence form my Santiago tour & pitched in for a guided bus trip around the sights of Lima.

I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed learning about the Lima history, culture & people. The tour passed through an array of suburbs before dropping us off in “El Centro” to look at a Peruvian gold exhibition at the central bank. We then walked up through the central square & on to the Convento de San Francisco to see the city’s Catacombs where 10’s of thousands of Peruvians were buried underground. Security is highly visible but I picked up no signs of aggression or crime, I think the tour de force is more for tourist piece of mind more than any real threat

(I just hope I don't regret that thought later on) even so it's god to know where the boys from Chips finally ended up after the TV show was axed.

The tour ended 10 minutes before we had to jump aboard a bus heading south towards Pisco. I threw my kit into my rucksack & hopped aboard, hiding a sweat behind a sandwich I’d grabbed from the local supermercado. 3 hours later as sun set we were dropped off road side & waited for a taxi-mini bus to take up to a dodgy looking side street hotel. It in fact turned out be very pleasant, but Pisco is a rough town that we were advised NOT to explore alone.

Pisco is famous for, well, Pisco! Pisco is a grape distilled spirit that tastes similar to paint stripper when drink neat but OK when mixed in a cocktail. It's often served as a complimentary drink in most restaurants & tastes similar to a Margarita.