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| Sprouting up! |
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| Peru license plate |
Our port of call for the next 2 1/2 days will be Callao for Lima, Peru. While in Manta 2 days ago, the Peruvian officials boarded the ship, and have cleared us before our arrival. All we had to do was fill out the Peru customs declaration form, completing a few lines of info, and sign it. This process happens in just about every country we visit.
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| Old pier where the Amsterdam used to dock |
When we peeked out our window early this morning, we did not recognize where we were docking. It looked the same as last year, but some buildings and old equipment were missing. Upon closer inspection, we saw that the entire dock area has been destroyed, apparently for renovations.
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| Pier under construction |
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| Tugboats of Callao |
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Different pier landing
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| What is left of the Inka Market at the pier |
There was always a very nice little building that housed a small number of locals that sold Peruvian souveniers. Nice things like, alpaca sweaters, shawls, scarves and mittens were easily available here. Now this building has been reduced to a small store, which will no doubtedly be gone forever when the new dock area is completed. Also, there used to be a row of stands that housed some high-end jewelry from some big name jewelry stores. All of these are now gone. One of these stores always offered a complimentary shuttle ride to one of their main stores in Miraflores. There was never any obligation to purchase anything, so many folks gladly looked over their beautiful pieces of expensive jewelry. They seldom bought, but sometimes they did.
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Leaving the pier area at Callao
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On the way towards Miraflores district
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What is nice about docking here is the fact that the local port authority has always offered a free bus that shuttled folks to the Larcomar Mall in the Miraflores area.
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Very civilized, but dangerous area
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What is not nice about docking here in Callao is the fact that it is a very dangerous area to wander around on your own once outside the gate. It is one of the few places in the world that the ship's officers and crew strongly suggest that we do not go off walking in this port area during the day or night. Pick pockets, con artists, and snatch and run thieves are abundant, and obviously bad things have happened here. We have been warned to please leave the good jewelry at home, and not bring a large back pack or purse. We definitely heeded all the warnings. (Thanks Copper John for the reminder.)
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Cliffs of Miraflores
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| View of the ocean |
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Surfing-size waves
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But we need to back up a little. Callao has been here for a long time.....since 1537. It was the main port for the Spanish commerce in the Pacific. The city survived several raids over the years, but was completely wiped out by an earthquake and tsunami in 1746. Today, we noticed signs that pointed to the tsunami escape route from the port area uphill towards the center of Lima, about six miles away from Callao.
The center of the city of Lima has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and contains many grand old buildings from the 1600's. On past visits, we have extensively explored every church, palace, government building, cathedral, museums, and old homes surrounding the historic Plaza Mayor. Outside the city, there are dozens of tours that take you to estancias, ruins, and temples. Since we have seen most everything, we chose to take the bus to Miraflores and spend the day there.
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| Marriott |
The bus ride took around 1 hour to get from the pier to the Marriott Hotel at Miraflores. This part of the city is really, really nice, perched high on the cliffs facing the Pacific Ocean. Most all of the 5 star hotels are situated on these cliffs, and also one very modern shopping mall called Larcomar Mall. Right across the street from the Marriott, this outdoor complex is tiered off of the cliffs with three levels of stores, restaurants, a theater, and a parking garage. We saved the walk around here until later.
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| Casino |
The attached casino at the Marriott is a good place to use restrooms. In fact, our bus guide said to feel from to use the facilities in both places.
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| Park-lined avenue to Lima |
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| The Indian Market of Miraflores |
From there, we headed up Avenue Larco for several blocks to the Mercado Artesanal or the Indian Market. There are several buildings there that house many types of indigenous stores selling scores of very nice items. Silver jewelry is high on the list set with beautiful stones native to Peru. Llama knitwear is abundant, and seemingly out of place in such a warm, humid city. Perhaps they market these goods for those who are touring inland to the mountainous areas. We do know that it can get extremely cold at the higher altitudes.
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Steps lead to the best Indian market
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One of our first purchases was a simple black baby alpaca knit shawl with a flowered fringe. Sometimes in the dining room, the air conditioning can be working too good, so the shawl is a quite useful item to bring. While continuing perusing one stall after another in this massive market, another shawl caught our eye. This one was off white with silk embroidered flowers scattered across the center. The fringe resembled curly corkscrew noodles. This one must be more than the $15 we paid for the black one. Checking the price with the vendor, she came up with a price of $12. US. We both heard her say that. Well, how could we pass that one up? So she bagged it up, and when we paid her asking price, she said, no, it was $120. No wonder it looked so nice. Too nice for us this time. Now we are not sure if that may have been a deliberate mistake on her part, to make us feel obligated to buy it. We said thanks, but no thanks. A couple of stores later, we saw a very similar shawl, but this one was $80. By the time we walked out of the shop, it had dropped to $60. Too bad it was the wrong color. She handed us her business card, but if we had to locate this exact location tomorrow, we highly doubt we could find it. The only other bargain we made was for a set of jewelry made from multi-colored embroidery thread on small balls. All that for a mere $10. So much for the resolve of not buying any more earrings. These are unique only to Peru, so it is a nice addition to the collection.
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| Nice oil paintings |
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| Vibrant colors |
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| So much stuff! |
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| Still selling Christmas items |
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Windchimes
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Little llama fur balls
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Time for lunch and time for relaxing. We walked back down the hill to the Larcomar Shopping Mall. As we got closer to the beach, the cool breeze was a welcome relief. Most times we dine at either Chilis or TGIFridays.
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| Larcomar Shopping Center |
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| The upper fountain at Larcomar |
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Miraflores in chalk on the beach
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| Olivewood collection |
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| A realistic painting |
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| Little girl posing by manger scene |
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| Bird house gourds cleverly painted |
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| Peruvian shoes |
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| Kids clothing |
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| Another good market |
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| A seashell and sliver flamingo |
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| Colorful clothing |
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| Street vendors |
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| Fresh fruit |
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Local cuisine
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| The bar at Tony Romas |
Today we spotted a Tony Romas, and decided to try them for a change. We were not disappointed with the delicious cheeseburgers with crispy fries. Before our burgers arrived, our waitress served a basket of warm rolls with butter and a really spicy hot dip of some kind. We believe they serve that hot sauce, so you buy more beverages. In our case, we ordered Coke Zero, and it is served by the bottle here, not the bottomless glass. One of the nice things about eating lunch, is the fact we could sit, relax, and watch the people walking by.
Since it would probably take an hour to ride back to the ship, we thought it best not to wait until much later. It was already after 3pm, and the commute traffic would get heavy very soon. It did take the bus driver well over an hour to make it back to the ship. One change made to this bus transfer service was they extended the hours from the last bus at 7pm to 10pm.
A special BBQ called Asada. It was advertised to be held in the Lido Pool area, but when we went to take some photos, we found they had moved the whole affair to the aft deck. There was only one problem. The wind had come up and was blowing a gale back there. It was a cold wind, which later was mixed with a drizzle, making it down right chilly. We did not last very long back there, but long enough to touch base with our hotel manager, Henk. We asked if there was a safety reason for the move of the BBQ back here, but he said no, it was just an attempt to switch things up with some new ideas. The only downside tonight was that back here, they could not close the retractable roof overhead to shelter the diners, like they can in the center pool area.
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| Asado BBQ at the Seaview Pool |
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| Many tables set up |
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| Raymond, the assistant bar manager |
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| Desserts |
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| BBQ chefs |
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| BBQ beef |
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| Sausages, chicken, and fish BBQ |
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| Beef looked the best |
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| South American cuisine |
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| Skewers of meat |
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| BBQ |
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| Fruits |
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| Feedback session |
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| Drink? |
We went to our normal dining time at 8pm in the dining room. Few people were there, including our table. Only three of us showed up, so Barb invited a single lady sitting alone to join us. She did, and we learned a little bit about her home country of Sweden. Dinner was over by 9:15pm. That would give our waiters a chance to get off early in case they wanted to go ashore. With the stern warnings, we doubt they do.
Instead of entertainment this evening, a movie, The Butler, was shown in the Queens Lounge. We should be able to catch this in our room in a few days.
We have one more full day in Lima tomorrow. No tour, but we will find something to do for sure.
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| Blooming canna lilies at Miraflores |
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| One of many churches |
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| Locally grown roses |
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| Symbol of Peru |
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| Hillsides in Lima |
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| Kite flyers |
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| Street parking sign warning |
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| Park in Callao |
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| Graffiti |
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| Church tower |
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| Water tower |
