I had very a sleepless night. I couldn't quieten my mind. I don't know what it was but I felt excited, like a child before Christmas, as if something great was going to happen.  I was restless like a wind-up bird. Thoughts constantly flitting around my head.

Perhaps I was hoping to miraculously catch La Procesión del Señor de los Milagros, or I was excited about tonight's 5 star luxury hotel or perhaps that wasn't Peruvian Black Mint I ate last night.

At 7am I decided to get up and have a shower. I had worked up quite a sweat with all the tossing and turning. I tried to be quiet as not to wake Julie up.

"What are you doing?" asked Julie.

"I'm just heading out to to see if there's a sunrise" I replied.

"I'll come with you" she said. I was so surprised!

So just before 8am we walked down towards Parque Salazar, stopping on the way at a coffee shop called Puku Puku. We shared a take-out Americano and took it down to the viewing platform above the shopping centre.

There was no glorious sunrise. It was a grey and overcast morning. But even if there had been one, we were probably too late. Despite the anti-climax it was nice to just sit down, sip our really nice coffee and look out over the coast down towards Baranco, a district of Lima where we were to relocate later today.

We returned to the hotel where Sonya, Garry and Ali Jei were already having breakfast. This was the end of our Intrepid adventure. It was sad to say goodbye to Ali Jei, she had been the perfect tour guide for the four of us. It was big hugs all round.

Aftre breakfast, which for me were rolls of omelette in a crusty roll, we checked out of our rooms early and stored our luggage at the hotel's store room.

There was no plan so we just gravitated to the Larcomar shopping centre. We did some window shopping and actually went inside one clothing store when a stunning poncho caught Julie's eye.

It was by a brand called Michel & Cia and actually called a "hoodie jacket". It was a beautiful shade of lilac and super soft made with 51% baby suri alpaca wool but the eye watering price tag of S/1699 (£350) meant it stayed where it was, hanging on the rail.

Whilst Sonya and Garry continued with their retail therapy Julie and I sat in the cafe bar called Tanto. They had a great seating area overlooking the beach. We ordered coffee whilst we waited for Sonya.

She has a reputation for shopping. She could easily spend many hours. With this in mind I browsed the menu and ordered brunch.

I had several interesting choices but I went for the one named the Limañazos suggesting it was the traditional full Lima breakfast so to speak. What the average limeños eats to start the day! 

It was a tacu tacu (rice and beans fritter), topped with avocado and fried egg, served with plantain on the side and a drizzle of this delicious pot-stew sauce that was similar to a thin British Brown Sauce.

The portion size was huge. It was all of the above ingredients, times two! It was so delicious I wolfed it all down in a few minutes.

Sonya and Garry arrived. I was the only one eating. As soon as I finished we returned to collect our luggage and called an Uber taxi to Baranco.

Our driver arrived in a wreck of a car. She was short, cheerful, very courteous, Japanese I think. Her boot was kept shut using a padlock because it was bent out of shape. She had clearly been involved in multiple accidents.

Julie sat in the front, I sat behind her, with Garry in the middle and then Sonya. It was a tight squeeze. We set off on our 2 mile journey. Her driving was a little erratic to say the least and she would giggle when she made a mistake. This happened a few times within the first minute.

At a junction with Avenue Vasco Nunez  de Balbao, we had to cross 3 lanes of traffic. We waited patiently for a few seconds then she just went for it, not even looking to her right, pulling out in front of oncoming traffic. One car had to screech to a stop to avoid a hitting us.

 She giggled like a mad woman.

It was such a relief to pull up outside Hotel B alive and well. She was bonkers and should not be on the roads!

We retrieved our luggage from the car's padlocked boot and went inside. Check-in wasn't until 3pm but we asked if we could leave our luggage with them.

Hotel B was a beautiful mansion or casonas, built as a seaside retreat for a wealthy family at the turn of the 20th century. It had style and class in abundance.

We went through the formalities of checking in and were served a complmentary glass of sparkling wine each whilst we waited.

To our surprise our rooms were ready. I was handed the key to room 225. Sonya & Garry were next door. 

We walked up the marble staircase to the first floor and entered a large reception room filled with art, from classical-style oil paintings to modern. A foot stool furnished with black feathers was my favourite piece, Julie found it a little disturbing!

Our room was just to the left of this hallway.

It was a lovely room but what drew our attention were a pair of knitted llamas on the bed. Unfortunately they weren't a free gift but were available to buy.  We also had a small basket of goodies, like pretzel snacks, vegetable crisps, and a well stocked minibar.

The room's best feature however was its balcony. We were at the front of the hotel, and one of only a few rooms with a balcony. When looking at an image of the hotel our room was on the first floor immediately to the right of the main entrance.

It overlooked Sáenz Peña park with an obelisk monument to Don Jose de San Martin. Also, directly opposite was the deralict mansion of the former Spanish Embassy.

We felt priviliged.   

We met up with Sonya & Garry and had a look at each others rooms. "We have a balcony" said Julie.

"We have a bath" retorted Garry in the style of cadish English actor Terry-Thomas.

To be honest they had a wonderful free standing bath in their room. We hadn't even noticed our bathroom. The basin was in the hallway, then the toilet and the walk-in shower were both hidden in the wardrobes! 

Every one else had not eaten and by now were getting hungry, so we decided to find the hotel's rooftop terrace for a spot of lunch. With comfy chairs and low tables it was a very nice area to relax.

Everyone decided to order a dish from the tapas small bites selection. Julie went for the grilled prawns, They looked fantastic, served with an Amazonian ajillo sauce and decorated with colourful vegetable strands.  

Not wanting to just sit there watching everyone else eat, I decided to join them and ordered a starter simply described roasted aubergines but the dish was far from simple.

The aubergines were served resting in a bowl of cheese sauce, topped with a red pepper emulsion and sprinkled with a savoury crispy crumb. It looked beautiful and tasted divine.

It came with this amazing piece of bread. It was so soft and light I thought it was a piece of sponge to begin with. 

Our compliments were sent to the chef, Franco Hutardo.

We couldn't see anything when we were sat down but there were great views from the rooftop. If we stood up on tip-toes near the edge we could see the sea and the neighbourhood of Baranco.

After lunch it was time to explore the area. From the hotel we walked down Avenue San Martin, heading down towards the yellow painted church of Parroquia La Santisima Cruz.

Before we reached it, we turned to the right down Jiron Domeyer, a leafy side street.

The lovely Baranco became popular in the late 19th century as a seaside retreat for wealthy Peruvians. Gentrified from its inception it now attracts a more bohemian artistic crowd.

This became evident as we turned a corner and came across an open-air art class.

Over half a dozen budding artists were busy painting a portrait of a model. One was seriously colour blind or perhaps using her artistic licence by painting the wall green instead the light blue and giving the model a much darker skin tone. 

The model looked like he had been sat there for quite sometime. They had all almost finished, bar for the finishing touches and they were all really good, to be fair. 

We reached a park, through which we walked down steps towards what is known locally as Puente de los Suspiros, or the Bridge of Sighs. It was originally built in 1875 but destroyed by Chilean troops in 1881 during the War of the Pacific.

It was rebuilt and acquired the name Bridge of Sighs by the popularity of a superstition that lovers who cross the 44 metre long bridge whilst holding their breath would see their true love dreams come true.

Ten years ago the bridge underwent major restoration work and is now a popular toursit attraction.

Not wanting to miss out on seeing our dreams come true, we marched across the bridge, arm in arm, until we turned purple. It was a long way!

When we reached the end we gasped for air, which we concluded it should have been called the Bridge of Gasps, which is possibly more appropriate for desperate lovers.

Wanting to double-up on our good luck we crossed back again whilst holding our breath.

Back in the square we turned our attention to the ruined Iglesia La Ermita, the Hermitage of Baranco. Legend has it that this is where the district of Baranco began when two fishermen in trouble at sea during a storm were saved when they saw the light from an illuminated cross. 

The church was damaged during a major earthquake in 1940. The structure appears intact but the roof is completely bare. It's now a home for a murder of crows.

There was a lovely atmosphere in the area around the church. People were wandering about taking photos, recovering after holding their breath over the bridge, our buying these delicious looking pastry desserts from this old guy .

If I wasn't so full after already eating two large meals I would have tried one!

We moved on, walking down through a small market. Julie stopped at a stall selling a variety of baskets. She bought one in Brazil six years ago and it had served her well as her knitting bag but it was now falling apart.

 She was so pleased to have found a worthy replacement.

The path along the market brought us down to Bajada de los Baños, the walkway eight metres below the Bridge of Sighs, and ran down the ravine towards the coast.

With all the graffiti on the walls it felt like the epicentre of bohemian Baranco. In fact the word baranco means ravine in Spanish, so it really was the heart of Baranco. 

There were a few bars, restaurants and gift shops along the way but we didn't stop. Our main focus was to to fulfil Garry's goal of dipping his feet in the Pacific Ocean.

At the end of the path we came to a viewpoint overlooking the curve of the bay towards Miraflores. It was such a grey day and much of what we saw was the traffic backing up on the highway, so it wasn't exactly a picture postcard.

The path continued down, cut into the cliffside. Julie felt perfectly at ease walking down because of a decent wall keeping her from falling off the edge.

We followed it down to a footbridge that then crossed the motorway towards the promenade and beachfront.

We walked along the prom where more stalls were set up, such as one selling Picarones, a donut made from either pumpkin or sweet potato! I was so disappointed that I was still so full I couldn't possibly eat another thing.

Julie stopped at another stall selling essential beach items, like a buckets and spades. With child-like excitement she decided to buy a set to make sandcastles on the beach.

We continued along the promendade until we reached the Baranco sign where we found the steps down to the beach. 

We all took our shoes off and made our way to the sea. Julie went in, only as far as her ankles. She was shocked how cold it was. It wasn't an especially attractive beach, the wet sand was dark and mud-like, very British in many ways.

With having already ticked the Pacific Ocean box in Santa Monica, 14 years ago, Julie didn't feel the need to go any further into the chilly water.

Garry on the other hand went in up to his knees, making the most of the opportunity, wetting his shorts in the process. 

Meanwhile Julie was busy building her sandcastle. It was straightforward enough because the sand was the perfect dampness to guarantee holding its shape from the mold of the bucket.

However, the end result wasn't going to win any competitions. She obviously didn't use enough compression, schoolboy error.

Having done what she set out to do, she put her shoes on and went to find a small child to gift them the bucket and spade. She struggled to find one she didn't freak out as they all refused her kind gift. Eventually  she left it by the side of a parent and walked off.

We left the beach and headed back to the promenade to begin our walk back up the cliff but before we left the beachfront we decided to stop for a drink at a place called Rustica.

It was a popular little place. They had an extensive cocktail menu, from regular standards to some really weird concoctions.

They did serve food, mostly deep fried stuff. One dish they called Chalanas y Ceviches which literally was a barge full of battered fish, served in a boat they called La Chalana Rustica.

We had two rounds of drink before deciding to leave.  

Outside the restaurant they had a statue of a Peruvian football player by the name of Lapadula. I had never heard of him before but apparently he's an Italian born to Peruvian parents and plays for Spezia in the Italian Serie B league. He has become an important player for the national side but wasn't in the squad for the recent games against Uruguay and Brazil.

We returned back over the footbridge and up the side of the cliff to reach the mirador, (the viewpoint). It was surprisingly crowded, as if most people stopped at this point for their photos and didn't continue to the beach.

We moved on, back up the Bajada de Baños towards the Bridge of Sighs. The gallery of graffiti continued to entertain us.  It transformed what would have been a drab alleyway into something vibrant and interesting. 

Beneath the Bridge of Sighs we walked up a few steps but instead of leaving through the park we continued along the cobblestone road to take a closer look at a bridge which had the words Mucho por Soñar (which translated as "Much to dream about") spanning its arch.  

Inside was a mural with the faces of those Peruvian dreamers, all appearing to be looking up to the stars, with hope.

On our return along Avenue San Martin we passed the stunning Mansión Berninzon, a restored 19th century grand casonas, with a spectacular double staircase and timber balustrade. It was built during Barranco's beautiful period between 1875-1895.

It's a shame we hadn't seen it earlier. It was now a bar and restuarant called Ayahuasca. We didn't stop.

We were on a mission to get back at the hotel in time for our complimentary afternoon tea. They put on a nice spread in the dining room with a good selection of sweet and savoury snacks.

For someone who claimed not to be hungry I soon filled my plate with small crustless sandwich squares, filled with avocado, egg and tomato, a mini-burger bun with mozarella and roasted veg then a slice of sponge cake and a creme pattisserie cake.  

It was all washed down with, (for me), the most important element of an afternoon tea, a decent cup of tea! It was served in a classic teapot and poured into fine china tea cups. 

I have to say Hotel B did an excellent job considering afternoon tea is a very British tradition. 

It was now 6pm and we were all in need of a siesta so we retired to our rooms. We hung a black tie on the knob as a "Do Not Disturb" sign.

We didn't come up with the idea ourselves. The tie was provided for this purpose. 

Three hours later we were washed, changed and downstairs at the hotel's restaurant.

I tried something different choosing the Artichoke carpaccio, described as sheets of artichokes, with an emulsion, grana padano and lime dressing. It was nice but not as good as the roasted aubergine I had for lunch.

Julie enjoyed the prawns she had for lunch so much she couldn't imagine having anything else off the menu as a starter. She devoured them with so much joy. 

For my main course I went for the Confited Pear Ravioli served in a cheese sauce with cashew nuts and a wild rocket. The flavour combinations sounded really intersting and it began really well but ultimately it ended up a little too sweet for my liking.  

Julie had no hesitation what to order for her main course. "I think I've eaten a whole pig on this trip" she said after ordering the "lacquered" Pork Belly (with Panca chili sauce, humita foam, and stewed baby corn).

All the fancy stuff was neither her nor there but the pork was apparently "sublime".

"Would you like to see the dessert menu?" asked the waiter. Of course we did and I ordered a Cocoa Sphere, filled with a creme of tonka bean.

Once the order was taken they came out with a lovely "Happy Anniversary"  artisticaly written in chocolate on a plate with strawberries and blueberries.We hadn't told them about our celebration but Sonya & Garry had made sure they knew.

Julie's not a dessert person so I had both the fruit off the plate plus my tonka bean filled chocolate sphere.

We paid our bill and decided to relocate to the bar for a nightcap, however, out of the corner of my eye, through the window I caught a glimpse of some flashing lights. We all had a look and it turned out to be laser lights illuminating the monument to Don Jose de San Martin.

Sonya and I popped out to have a closer look and take some photographs. 

The street was completely free of traffic which allowed time and space for a small crowd of people gathering to enjoy the laser light show that was projected from a window above the main entrance to HotelB.

We returned to the bar where Garry had kindly bought me a double Scotch "on the rocks". It was very kind of him and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Before we outstayed our welcome we brought the evening to a close and retired to pur rooms. Julie and I sat out on balcony watching the laser show and waving to the revellers below.

At midnight we decided it was sensible to retire to the bedroom before we found ourselves asleep on the sofas outside.