After a long but smooth journey I arrived in Lima early yesterday morning. I spent the day exploring the neighbourhood of Miraflores, where I am staying, and hit the hay for an early night.

I woke up feeling refreshed and rejuvenated after 12 hours sleep and decided to have an early run before breakfast. It was 8.30am and 18 degrees outside, seemingly good conditions for me. On leaving the hostel I realised the one thing I hadn’t considered, that it was rush hour in the city. And a busy city at that; 9 million people and endless streams of crazy drivers populate Lima. After a hairy taxi ride from the airport the day before, I had learned not to trust that vehicles will stop at red lights and that everyone loves beeping their horns and blowing whistles. I have developed the (so far) foolproof tactic of crossing the road next to old ladies or parents with small children. I’m assuming the drivers of Lima, however crazy, must have some compassion.

After weaving through commuters and traffic for around 5 minutes I descended to the beach which is to the South-West of the city. The majority of my route by the beach was either through or alongside a building site where they are improving the road by the beach. Well, misogyny is certainly alive and well in Lima. At these times I am glad that my Spanish is shocking but the wolf-whistle or kissing noise is a universal calling of the arseholes. My rough guide informs me that whistling is a traditional greeting in Peru and not to jump to conclusions. However I’m quite confident that these men don’t say hi to their mum like that.

Whilst passing a site of especially charming builders I spotted this little fella on the beach. I’ve only met a pelican once before and he was quite aggressive, but this guy seemed chilled and happily obliged to my photoshoot.

I then made my way back up the steep cliffs to city level and shot this view of the coast, just as the sun was emerging through the fog and it was time to head back. After a few wrong turns I arrived back at the hostel, red, sweaty and ready for breakfast. A fairly successful run for my first time in South America I’d say.