Visiting the Spanish Inquisition

I am in Peru where I am feeling slightly less tall and slightly more damp. I swear, if I saw blue sky it would be a miracle. Enjoying Lima enough. It's hard because all the bits of the city that are safe and that the guide books recommend are the old parts. Which really are lovely. But lets face it, the old parts aren't likely to be able to compete with the 'old parts' of Europe so it just feels a bit pointless. And because I want to leave Lima with all my money and credit cards, I am not particularly inclined to just go wandering about by myself in areas that are designated as dodgy. Just a personal preference.

I went to the Inquisition Museum today to avoid the rain. One of the tortures tastefully reconstructed with wax figures was especially for women only. They lay you on a bech, put a large rock in your mouth and poured water over it to simulate a drowning sensation. Sound familiar? All I am saying is that if the Inquisition thought this was a form of torture, along side burning the bottom of the feet and stretching you on the rack then Ashcroft, Rummy, Bush etc really need meds for delusion. Or a history lesson. Possibly with pseudo-realistic wax sculptures.

I was sad to leave Quito - I had just felt like I was settling in to the school and learning enough Spanish to not look like a complete moron all the time. In fact, I learnt enough Spanish that I help a (bad) conversation for 40 minutes with the woman who drove me to the hotel from the Lima airport. I discovered that we had EXACTLY the same birthday.

Snap Judgement for the Day
I am doing a tour for a while in Peru and Bolivia and was checking out the list of names that were posted on the board. I noted the following:
1. I am the ONLY one not described with a Ms/Miss/Mrs; and
2. Most of the group is married to each other.
So, I am now imagining myself in a group of over 50s but I will be the under 30 not hauling my butt up the Inca trail, but instead catching the train. Ah well.