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| Miraflores under cloudy skies today |
The weather this morning was a disappointing grey and dismal one. Heavy dark clouds filled the sky with little promise of any clearing later on. At least the heavy, measurable drizzle was gone from last night. So was the wind.
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| Here comes the Prinsendam |
Sometime after 9am, we watched the Prinsendam backing into the opposite side of the pier from us. Bet we know some folks on there, because usually a group of the frequent world cruisers will switch to HAL's elegant explorer for her grand voyages for a change of ports. Right now, the ship will be heading around South America with Antarctica viewing and a trip up the Amazon River. We took that grand cruise in 2010, and despite some bumps with a late retrofit project, we loved the itinerary.
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| She docked right across from us |
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| Wonder who we may know on her? |
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| HAL's elegant explorer |
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| Tied up for 2 1/2 days like us |
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| Much pier activity |
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| Also getting major supplies today |
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Passengers waiting in line for the bus ride to town
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| We see friends Steve and Wendy |
We did spot hosts Wendy and Steve, who we just had dinner with while at the dinner party with our travel group in Ft. Lauderdale. This will be our only cross-over stop with the Prinsendam, since when we leave here, we will be heading west towards Easter Island, and they will continue their circumnavigation of South America. We had hoped that all of the passengers on both ships would have been allowed to tour each other's ships, but the answer to that was no. Only some of the staff on each ship was allowed to do that. In fact some of the entertainers came onboard here, such as the Amsterdam singers and dancers. Guess they were called the Prinsendam dancers and singers while performing on that ship. Barb also told us that the Crows Nest group, Invitation, left today, and the group Serendipity came to us. Barb seemed very pleased with the switch, because she was not liking the merry-go-round-like music at night in there.
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| Nearby Palomina Islands |
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| A local stadium |
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| Rock monument of an eagle |
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| Part of the Larcomar area...the tower is a vent for the parking garage |
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Larcomar parking garage down under
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| Shore of the Pacific Ocean |
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| Playa Costa Verde |
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Surfers in the water
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We went back to the Miraflores district on the free shuttle bus around 11am. Since there are two HAL ships in port, we believe there were four large buses taking folks to town. We were warned again by Gene Young not to walk in the port area, or attempt to walk towards Lima from Callao. Something tells us that there must have been a bad incident, which would become true, as we later found out.
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| Pathway along the Circuito de Playas |
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An ice cream vendor
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| Hotel |
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| Lighthouse |
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Many highrises
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It took almost an hour to navigate the side streets to the pretty cliffs of Miraflores. Today we decided to walk the well-designed and landscaped pathway along the scenic coastline. It goes on for miles and has been nicely landscaped since our last visit. We noticed an ever-present series of guards every half mile or so along the way. So many people live in upscale apartment buildings in this part of town, that it is kept extremely safe day and night. Armed with cameras and guards, locals as well as tourists can feel confident moving about anywhere without fear. After taking a score of photos, we headed back to Larcomar Mall for lunch.
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| Marigold-lined bridge |
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| Bedding plants |
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| Famous statue |
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| Ground cover of morning glory vines |
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| Canna lilies do well here |
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| Cactus plant carved by kids probably |
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Morning glory-covered hillside
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| Surrounding park |
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| Artistic wall |
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| Reminds us of the wall in Barcelona |
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| Mary Ann inspects the tiled wall |
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Playground equipment also workout stations for little kids
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Daytime strollers and riders
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| Ice cream vendor |
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The Virgin Mary
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| Lunch at Chilis |
Today's venue for us was Chilis. At home, we indulge once a week for lunch at our local Chilis and always order one of their savory salads. Today we craved the quesadilla explosion and their new BBQ chicken salads. For some reason, we think the size of the entrees were almost twice as large as what we get at home. Good thing we were hungry.
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| Cokes were good |
Once again, the sodas were served in a large glass, but were not bottomless. Prices were comparable to Chilis at home too. It would have been nice to sit at a restaurant with their patios overhanging the cliffside, but most all of those venues were packed with diners already by 1pm. And to be perfectly honest, one of us has a slight problem with precarious heights. It feels quite risky to be sitting on a cliff that looks like at any given moment it may slide down to the roadside, although we are certain it has never happened in recent history at this complex.
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The beach was half sand, half rocks
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Miraflores done in chalk....cool
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| Marriott Hotel on the right |
The line had grown quite long in front of the Marriott Hotel for the bus ride back. Now we were mixed with Prinsendam people, some of whom we recognized from previous world cruises. One fellow asked us all about what tours to book on the South America cruise he was already on. The we compared notes with another couple from our travel group that are on the Prinsendam. While waiting in line and chatting, a street vendor came along with his bag of jewelry. Not expensive stuff, but nice nevertheless. One of us loves to bargain, and with time to spare, got involved with the process quite easily. With an audience behind him, we ended up with three nice necklaces with matching earrings for a pittance. In fact, the vendor included extra earrings to sweeten the deal. We think he made many more sales as he worked the line.
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| The outdoor mall |
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Taking in the view
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Back at the ship, we tried the internet to find everything was down. Now it would be really considerate if you were alerted to the fact that the system was down. But that is something you do not know until you spend 10 minutes trying to send and receive emails and they go nowhere. Our favorite spot to do emails is outside the liquor store on deck five. We will have to take the time to pass by the library and check out the ship's computers from now on, or we will be wasting lots of minutes for nothing. Thought this new system was supposed to be better?
At dinnertime, there were only five of us, as our other two couples are still on their overland trip. While waiting for our second course, Henk Mensink strolled over to our table for a quick chat. He wanted to see how our trip was going so far. Great opportunity to ask some more questions about the changes with the internet and some of the showtime hours. You could tell he has been attacked from all sides regarding the new system being tested for the internet. Someone from the new company has come onboard and has been tweaking the system. But we are not sure it has been for the better. We had no complaints up to this point, but others have not been happy. Henk told us that if we ask, we will get some credit for wasted time yesterday, which is more than fair. Regarding the showtime, this evening's entertainment began at 9:30pm, meaning that the second seating guests would have to rush their meal to get to the show at the beginning. We asked why the change? Henk said that 2/3 of the diners are early seating, so the majority rules for the shows to begin a half hour earlier on some days. That could apply for the entire world cruise, which does not sit well with all of us. Another early start was the first Black and Silver Ball, beginning at 9:30pm. Henk said by reading the latest results of the surveys after the grand voyages, once again the majority favored the earlier time. Oh well, no impact for us, since we seldom attend anyway. We just like to gently fight for equal rights for all.
Tomorrow will find the Amsterdam leaving the port around noon, giving the overlanders enough leeway to make it back to the ship on time. Irene, the shore ex manager, told us that there had been a lot of rain in the Machu Picchu area, and some of the roads had been closed temporarily due to mud slides. Our tablemates should have some good stories we hope.
PS The bad incident turned out to be an unfortunate crew member who did not heed the warning about going out alone at night. He got jumped near the small store right off of the ship, not even at the gate. Not sure what he lost, but at least, it was not his life. Maybe it is a good thing that the Amsterdam is not coming back to Callao next year.
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| Pretty dove |
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| Dove |
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| Many flags |
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| Naval base near Callao |
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| Brightly painted buildings |
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| Popcorn man |
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| Let sleeping dogs lay |
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| Old train outside the pier gate |
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| Monument and anchor |
