Lima, Peru

Jelly fish leaving Pisco don't think I want to swim here,,, ugh

Lima, Peru    March 25, 2014

Well all the things that made Pisco wonderful, were not there for Lima.  We docked VERY early, like somewhere around 4:30 AM, needless to say I didn’t take any photos of Sail-in, we slept right through it, and it was just as well.  This was a very industrial port, so not much to see.  Not that we saw it for sail-a-way either as we didn’t leave until after 10:30 PM so we were also sleeping.  This turned out to be the story of the day, because we were told not to take our big camera out, so we took the Go-Pro, and guess what, we found out on the bus that the battery was dead!  So no pictures today, but you know what there wasn’t much to take pictures of, as our tour was of the city and the San Francisco Monastery and Cathedral (NO PHOTOS OR CAMERAS)  The Gold Museum, (NO PHOTOS).  We went to Plaza Mayor, the Historic Centre of Lima, but the minors were demonstrating, and camping there, so couldn’t get out, then we had lunch with 160 of our most intimate friends, ha ha.  The food was pretty good and the Pisco Sours were even better, (have to learn to make these)  so it made it all bearable.  After lunch we went shopping at the Indian Market and found a few good things, to stuff in our suite cases.  This was NOT one of my favorite places incase you hadn’t figured out by now.  

Next three days are sea days.

Sea Day   March 26, 2014

Today would have been my fathers 93rd birthday.  We started the day at Sabatini’s for breakfast, and rose our mimosa glasses in his memory.  Then we just kind of blew the day, not doing much.  John is still sick so we canceled our dinner reservations and had a nice lunch in the room on the balcony.  I had Paella, and Ed had Teriyaki Chicken.  So now we can skip dinner isn’t it awful how these are our big decisions!  We did skip dinner they had the shrimp tower in the Elite lounge, so we went there with Ken, Claudia wasn’t feeling well either. Then we went to Vines and got Sushi and that took care of dinner, boy are we boring.  

Sea Day  March 27, 2014 

Well today is crossing the equator day!  So there are pollywogs to initiate!  It is Formal night and there is a British-style Pub lunch in the Wheelhouse bar.  And we are in the doldrums the sea is flat as a pancake.  Here is a photo of the sea this morning.  Ok I have tried to put the picture up, but no luck,,, maybe later.

 

 Pisco  March 24, 2014

OK, I wasn’t expecting anything from this port, partly because we didn’t know anything about it and partly, because the Capt.  sent out a letter that indicated that Peru was going to be dangerous, don’t wear jewelry, etc.  Well he should have defined more of what he was talking about, because Pisco, is a very cute little town in the desert.  It is a long way from where the ship docks, so you have to take a shuttle into town if you don’t have a tour. Cost $8 each way, but it is a half hour ride, so understandable.  We had a tour to the Islas Ballestas, this place blew us away!  This tour was WAY better then we had any idea it would be.  Where to begin;  we boarded our bus, and drove the half hour ride to the town, now this looked like we were in the Sahara, and would see Laurence of Arabia, ride by at any moment!  We arrived at a beautiful hotel that looked like an oasis, and walked to the boats that were going to take us to the Islands.  

This was one of the smoothest boat rides I have ever had.  We first traveled back across the bay and to the tip of where our ship was docked, and there must have been a thousand Pelicans,

we have never seen soooooooo many in one place.  Then we had a photo stop at the 500-foot-high Candelabra, a mysterious geoglyph carved thousands of years ago.  It was really something, this place only gets 30 minutes of rain a year!!! I have never heard some one talk about rain using minutes for measurement.  But that is why these petri-gliffs are still there.  

So now our boat headed out to sea, we went about 11 miles, when we finely saw where we were going, it was a pretty  incredible group of islands, they call them the "Galapagos of Peru”,

and I can see why.  There were literally thousands of seabirds and marine life. We were awestruck by the number of boobies, cormorants, terns and Humbolt penguins,

and Chilean flamingos.  Sealion colonies abound, we even were able to see brand new baby sealions,

on the beach, and we saw sea anomies on the rocks and I was able to get pictures of them.  Some of the islands have colonies of up to 600,000 birds flying in and out at any given time.  Now I knew whey they told us to wear a hat!  They harvest the POOP, can’t remember how to spell it in spanish, every 5 or 6 years, evidently that is a big deal, as they have built these racks to collect it.

All and all it was a fabulous day!

La Serena  March 21, 2014  

Happy Birthday Bruce!!  

Today we are La Serena, but we are really in Copuimbo, Chile It is a little burg, that has the port in this very poor part of this country.  We did not have a tour here, so we walked out into the port area, and saw a very large fish market, and that was about it.  So we came back and had lunch in the International Cafe, and listened to the music in the Piazza.  And then went to get ready for another Sail-a-way, this time only 8 of us, it was right Chilly out side,,,, pun intended! 

So we leave Chile, behind and we have two sea days, before we get to Pisco (San Martin).  

Sea Day  March 22, 2014

Sea Day,,, Formal night,,,  What can I say about Sea Days except LOVELY!  They are restful and uneventful in most cases, this morning we woke early, as we had gained an hour last night, but then went to flush the toilette and nothing happened,,, now that gets your attention! Told our cabin attendant Edsel, and he said that all of zone 7 was out,,, ugh.  So we got dressed to go to breakfast, figuring we could use the facilities on our way up, and within 15 min Edsel, came and said it was fixed!  That was good.  So on to Breakfast, decisions again,,,,, what to eat for breakfast!  Is it going to be Eggs Benedict or….  This is really a tough life.  

Here we are with Captain John Foster, at Craig and Barbs renewal of vows ceremony 

Later, we had to get ready for Formal night, we like dressing up, it is fun, so tonight we will have 8 for dinner as Barb and Craig have planned to join us.

They are very special new friends.  It was lots of fun, we all celebrated my birthday, the ship gave me a cake,, that is what I need more food.

Sea Day   March 23, 2014

Today is Sunday, and we got another hour back last night, by the time we get home, my body won’t know what time it is.  So big decisions today,,, what to eat for breakfast, (Omelet,)  lunch and dinner, had an omelet for breakfast and just had one of the best Hotdogs I have ever had, and that is saying a lot for a person who doesn’t like hotdogs all that much.  So two down and one to go.  We missed the port lecture, but that is ok as we have a tour in Pisco anyway tomorrow.  We are going to see "abundant marine wildlife and observe beautiful and bizarre rock formations including natural rock arches, tunnels”……….  to be continued