Woohoo, mental. Seems it's been over 6 months since last entry and I reallt can't be bothered (or have the time/memory) to write everything down, so main points: Finished with Topdeck; moved to Scotland, met my sweetie (from Melbourne); moved to England; got to Peru 2ish days ago in our 3 month backpacking jaunt before heading back to Oz. So, onwards!

Our flight from London to Madrid was at 7.25 Wednesday morning. The delightful Hannah Campbell had been nice enough to take us to the airport the evening before (thanks Crumble!) so we spent a few hours getting to know Heathrow's terminal 5, before finally being able to drop off bags and get through security--into Duty Free shopping! I bought a waterproof camera (finally- those of you from Brampton Mill will know the saga) and we were able to board eventually. Cue delay for almost an hour as some numpty passenger had checked in then not got on the plane so they had to unload the luggage and find that one suitcase. Anyway instead of having a couple hours in Madrid, it meant we had just under one-- fine, as we'd checked all the way through to Lima, but a bit tight nonetheless.

Getting into Madrid we were taken to the correct terminal and found the gate no worries (shops! so many shops!). Huge big crowd waiting to get on the plane...then we heard our names called, amoung a few others.... Went up to the boarding gate desk where the other people called were all getting new boarding passes-- one guy said it was upgrades (no, surely not...but can it be?!) but the people just in front of us got different economy seats, so we figured that it was just rearranging the plane. Then our turn. The lovely, nice, fantastic lady who took our passports etc done a few things on the computer then handed it all back saying to head through this particular corridor, we were in seats 8 B & C...in business class!!! WOOOHOOOOO!!!! So we swanned through in our jeans and ratty travelling clothes and settled into comfort and luxury. I took photos of everything- the seats, the food (hell, the starter would have been enough food, then there was mains and dessert too!). Best part of that flight- Iberia has lie flat seats in business so my anticipated nightmare squished many hour flight was perfect! We even got our own toiletries bag with brush, hair ties, socks, toothbrush and paste etc- will be handy...

Of course, something good happening meant there had to be a balance. Got to Lima airport and went through customs etc no worries. Our hostel had arranged a taxi to pick us up and take us to it so we chucked our bank card in an atm at the airport to take some Peruvian Soles out (need to pay the taxi obviously). Nick's card didn't work so we tried mine..which also didn't...hmmmm. Tried a couple of options, nothing workd so we asked the taxi driver to stop off at a normal atm along the way- so for some reason he headed into the city centre to a shopping mall. Admittedly there were about 6 atms in a row with a couple of different banks, so it did make sense I suppose. My Barclays card kept getting declined, as did Nick's. Tried my NZ credit card, same thing. Tried Nick's card and managed to get money out, to our and the taxi driver's relief.

When we got to the Blue House hostel, the owner Quique (Ki-ke) met us and showed us to our room- some of the first words he said were "Now, nothing is ever perfect" (uh-oh). Our bathroom was in the process of being worked on, but the shower worked, and he hoped we didn't mind. We said we didn't care as long as there was hot running water and a loo, no worries. Skip forward 10 minutes to shower time-- the water was cold which wasn''t a great start, also the shower head was loose. Nick tried to put it on properly and it nearly caught fire, so we went and found Quique who agreed probably not a good idea to use it, but we were welcome to the shared bathroom and obviously would get a discount (sweet!). We had planned to get on the computer and email Barclays (and families) but the stupid laptop was pretty much dead and the charger wouldn't work. Screw it.

Anyway, it was only 9pm or so and we had itchy feet so headed out to a nearby cliff front mall where there were some bars and cafes. Found an awesome little one called 'Mangoes' which sold my favourite Sth American drink, the Pisco Sour. Add that to a creme brulee and a mojito for Nick, and the night was looking up! Our cards still weren't working so we thought after a nights' sleep we'll call Barclays and find out the deal, sweet.

Best sleep I'd had in ages! The blankets were very thin and small (think it was 2 x single size blankets, fun) but my god, I was asleep within a couple of minutes and didn't wake up until morning. Breakfast was bread buns, black instant coffee and jam (standard.) then we jumped on the hostel computer to skype the UK. Microphone didn't work. Of course. So next step was head to an internet/phone cafe just round the corner where we managed to call Barclays, security identify ourselves and get our cards unblocked. They can only do it until the 15th Sept so we'll need to call them again for a couple week extension (get back to UK on 27th Sept). We were in business!

So that was yesterday. After getting the card situation sorted (such a weight off the shoulders) we went exploring. In the middle of Lima are some ruins called Huanca Pacllana or something-- only 1500 years old so practically brand new but still very interesting. Until the mid 1940s the land was privately owned and the dude bulldozed most of the ruins to build houses etc, and they were forgotten until the 80s. Now the little bit remaining belongs to the Peruvian version of the historic trust and is open for tourists- awesome! There were a couple of piss ugly dogs there too, turns out they're native to Peru and generally hairless (I had thought they had mange or something equally grotty- oops). Good morning spent all round really. Then...on the way walking back towards the hostel we got starving- and there was a good looking steak restaurant just there. Good chance really- we rocked up to the menu, prices weren't toooo cheap (about GBP20/NZ35 for a steak meal) but we decided screw it, we're on holiday so splurge for one meal and stick to rice and bread the rest of the time. When the guy brought out our food though, oh my god! Nick had ordered an Argentine steak on the grill, came with a side of one baked potato, I had a fillet mignon, mushroom sauce and veges. We