Cathy and I are now in Peru. Out first stop is Pisco’s port St Martin. Pisco is famous for a brandy like drink that is good straight or as a substitute for whiskey for example in a pisco sour. Take it from us, this is a nice drink.
Our original plan was to fly from Pisco to Nazca, and then fly over the Lines, a 4 hour return trip to the ship. Unbeknownst to us, this is changed to 3 + hour drive from the ship to the Lines and a 9 hour round trip. We reboard our ship with 5 minutes before gangway removal. Just a bit stressful. Our driver is a candidate for F1. A big plus is we spend the day in a private car with our driver and our guide who is an archeologist who specializes in Inca mummies. Lots to learn, and I think we have now passed Archeology 101, And just to be clear, we did not travel in the mototaxi (tuk tuk) pictured below, I just found it interesting.
We cruise overnight to Callao, the port city for Lima. This day, Cathy and I take a walking tour of old Lima. We agree that this has a Spanish colonial feel to it. An interesting fact is many of the first Spaniards were Moors and so there is a bit of Arab in the architecture, for example, wooden grates over the balcony windows so the wives and daughters could see out to the street but could not be seen by passing men.
We are very lucky to be in old Lima on Palm Sunday. 65% of Peruvians are practicing Catholics. Hundreds of devotees are in procession around us. They wear purple as devotees of a Peruvian woman Saint who cured the sick.
Our weather so far has been sunny and with calm seas, and with some spectacular sunsets.
Stay tuned, our next blog will be from Ecuador.
NOTE:
A few years ago, we took a Celebrity cruise from Buenos Aries to Santiago and this trip continues our circuit of South America.