Lima --> Mexico

We headed to Lima the next day, arriving in the rain! Hostel Loki, that we had our hearts set on after we'd fallen in love with its sister hostel in La Paz, Bolivia, was fully booked. Rookie error we hadn't made reservations. Instead we stayed in a much quieter "Hitchiker Hostel" and spent the evening in the Loki bar meeting people who had strangely just started their trip! Seemed like a cruel joke as we were more than aware that we only had 2 weeks left away. The chicken caeser salad made up for it though. The best I'd had whilst being away - its rediculously hard to find a good salad in South America and you are often warned to avoid them as the leaves are washed in the tap water which you shouldnt drink if you aren't local! Anywho, we had a fantastic night, going to see the casinos in Miraflores in a massive group, and leaving dissapointed that you had to gamble in american dollars. I hadnt been anywhere so "classy" and modern since....well London! It felt very foreign having been in Cusco for almost 2 weeks, where the country's wealth is a litte less great. We met some great people as always though and left them the following night, mid-party at about 2am to catch our flight to Mexico. We were devestated to be leaving SA that we'd fallen head over heals in love with, and also Milly who we'd had as a fellow traveller for 2 weeks! The flights were hellish, though Lima's airport was surprisingly pleasant! We were tired from the night before, I picked up a stomach bug, leaving at 2am and having to stay awake till we got on the plane was a real strain. We woke up after about 3 hours sleep, to a aeroplane breakfast we just didn't want and had to change planes at local time 10am. The sunrise I saw over the clouds from the plane window was a pocket of delight though in the lengthy trip. We then waited in the longest immigration que I have ever encountered, hungry and surviving on crackers, and finally arrived in Mexico City on edge from all the things you hear about mugging and worse. All in all it was not a great experience from A to B, BUT we were greeted with tea and beds and HOT showers which was a difinate novelty after travelling through Peru and Bolivia where they just don't exsist! Being in a house was a huge contrast to what we were used to. It felt wrong! But we took advantage of it and managed to get out into the city over the next week to see: the Cathedral and Palace, go on a turibus, visit the anthropology museum, enjoy starbucks, see a movie, without any hitches. The city was a lot cleaner and more modern than I was expecting, but it made sense as Mexico is the interim between SAmerica and the USA, so it was bound to be a step up towards westernisation. However, we still didn't go out after dark, to be safe!