Day 2 very much started from midnight, with us heading to a club with some people from the hostel soon after I arrived. This inevitably lead to a very late night, and a late start in the morning as a result.

Our first task of the day was to sort out our flights to Cusco. Due to some issues with the Peruvian Airlines online booking system, we headed to their local outlet to book. We settled on a Sunday afternoon flight, which we later found out is often cancelled due to bad weather in Cusco - fingers crossed we make it! Interestingly, we paid in dollars which worked out cheaper than the local currency. It seems the Peruvians value the dollar more highly than their own Peso - perhaps due to much higher inflation rates.

Next, we stopped for lunch in a local restaurant, where Marc got his first taste of the local fish, we heard our first panpipes of the trip, and we saw the start of the Olympics opening ceremony. We continued watching it back at the hostel bar, before heading out to a part of town called Barranco to watch the end. In Barranco we went to a viewpoint where we could see out over the Pacific, though taking decent photos was difficult due to the near-perpetual clouds which hang over Lima from April to November. We also stopped in a couple of bars, where we sampled a 'Pisco Sour', which is the local liquer, and a drink called something along the lines of 'cora-cora', which was a fruity cocktail.

This evening we ended up just going out for dinner locally and then heading back to the hostel. Some late nights and a bit of jetlag having got the better of me, I'm off for an early night.

Tomorrow we plan to see the main parts of the city centre, which should have a great atmosphere because it is Peruvian Independence Day.

Photos of the day: Us at the Pacific viewpoint and Marc with his Pisco Sour.