I don't know if it's just good luck, but again my preconceptions about Lima were proved wrong in just a couple of days.

I didn't go in expecting to have a bad time, or see a dull city. But other travellers I met had told me just that - "you don't need to spend more than 1 day in Lima!".

Looking back, I was extremely lucky to have been offered a place to stay by a man named Nino from Couchsurfing. He is honestly one of the most kind and generous people I've ever met, and it's comforting to know there are people like this out there. Each morning, Nino would have breakfast laid out for us before he went to work, and he even slept on the floor of his apartment while I slept in his room!

When I arrived, he'd left a key to his house with the security guard. I went inside his apartment and met a guy from the USA called Hunter (check out his blog at www.hunterstanford.com), who'd arrived just before me. Nino came back at around 1pm and took us to a local Cevicheria where we had the freshest (the fish were caught that morning) Ceviche I've ever tasted in my life. Not only that, the whole meal including a starter and a drink came to 20 Soles (under AUD$10).

Hunter and I spent the next couple of days walking around Lima, and made a couple more trips back to that Cevicheria. We had a night out on the town on Wednesday (which is another story in itself), went for a run around the local park, cooked a couple of our own meals, and had some great conversations with Nino at the nearby Columbian café.

It feels like I've crammed a week of activities into the last 3 days. But not only that it feels like I've also developed months worth of friendships with these 2 people I only just met. People that blow me away with their kindness and generosity for others who, only a couple of days ago, were complete strangers.