Traveling Cows

Out for a relatively early excursion (8:30 AM). Traffic was lighter, being Saturday morning, but it picked up later in the day. First stop was the National Museum of Anthropology and Archeology where we learned about some of the many cultures, including several pre-Inca ones. Then it was out to the coast, through a few of the towns and past some of the parks we had seen yesterday. Further south, we went to an Inca archeological site, Pachacamac where they are still uncovering things. They have reconstructed one building, the House of the Virgins, where young girls lived and were trained to become wives of the Emperor.

One of the other sights there, and on the way from town, were all the squatter settlements. The guide said that about 3.5 million of Lima’s 8 million residents are squatters, building homes on land to which they do not have title.

The third stop was at a Los Ficus, a Paso horse farm. The Paso, descendents of horses brought by the Spanish, is known for a very smooth gait that makes for long, easy riding. The owners of the farm also own a very exclusive restaurant built out on a pier on the coast at the edge of Miraflores, the most expensive district in Lima. After showing us their vegetable garden, where they raise the lettuces and other vegetable for both the farm and the restaurant, they served us the famous Peruvian Pisco Sour, a strong drink similar to a whiskey sour. Then we watched a demonstration of a one-, two-, and three-year old Pasos so we could see how their gait is natural but they were trained to obey their rider. Then we got a chance to ride. Both Janice and I took a turn. Our visit ended with a very fine lunch with their fresh-picked vegetables and roasted chicken. One of the ice creams for dessert was Lucuma ice cream. The Lucuma fruit is a Peruvian fruit that is green on the outside and soft and yellow like an egg yolk on the inside. Hence the popular name of Yolk fruit.

(I took some good videos of the horses which I’ll try to post once we are home. You may have noticed that I not doing much with pictures this time. That’s because they are the most time consuming part of the blog, what with selecting, editing, and uploading. I plan to add lots of photos when we get home. That will also help me relive, and remember, the trip.)

Upon our return, we grabbed a quick dinner in the Lido and headed for the Queen’s Lounge for an excellent local folkloric show—really good dancing, music, and costumes.

Diane for a few minutes during her “Music of Nat King Cole” set.

Traffic!

It is hard to get a handle on what exactly is Lima—the City of Kings. It’s the capital of and largest city in Peru. It was founded in 1535 by Pizarro. But, as the daily program notes, “there is no formal administrative definition for the limits of the city.” It is roughly the central 30 of 43 districts, each of which has its own mayor. Callao was founded two years after Lima and was the most important port on the Pacific for the Spanish. In the 1850′s it was given the name of Constitutional Province. So it is not part of the city of Lima, but is part of the Lima department. I’m not sure I understand the municipal structures of Peru.

We docked a little later than usual, about 10 AM, so we didn’t have a morning excursion. Janice and I took one of the free shuttles into the Miraflores district to the Indian market, a market of Peruvian products. The 30 minute trip took about 50 minutes—the traffic was crazy. Later we learned that the number of lanes is determined mostly be the width of the vehicles. Apparently, traffic signals are taken as suggestions.

We had an afternoon excursion of Lima, our first excursion with Cruise Specialists. Since they only offer one excursion per port, the process of getting together and out to the bus is a whole lot less formal and easier. (For Holland America’s tours you all have to assemble in the Queen’s Lounge, the largest room after the dining room, on deck 5. When they call your tour, everyone crowds in to get a sticker for the bus number. Then they race down to whatever deck the gangway is on, often the one below 1. Then out to get the best seat in the bus.)

This excursion was an overview of Lima. Went had a photo stop at the historical center of Lima, the Plaza Mayor surrounded by the Government Palace, City Hall, the cathedral, the bishop’s palace, and several other interesting colonial-style buildings. As it turns out, there are squares, plazas, and monuments everywhere. We also had stops at the San Francisco Monastery and the Parque Universitario. The latter includes San Marcos University, the oldest and longest continuously operating university in the Western Hemisphere, established in 1551. We drove through several districts, including the upscale San Isidoro and Miraflores. In the latter we stopped for photos at the ocean-side Parque Del Amor, the Love Park, so named for the benches mosaiced with love poems and a statue of a couple in love. Views of the ocean enhance any location.

Back on board, we partook of the delicious Gaucho BBQ by the pool on the Lido. Excellent shrimp, lamb chops, pork ribs, beef, potato salad, etc.

Entertainment when overnighting in port is usually an extra movie, shown on the big screen in the Queens lounge. We decided to skip Social Network in favor of a few tunes with Diane and her “Latin and Lovely” set.

Manta is the major Ecuadorian port. Fishing is very important and several of the traffic circles along the coastal road have monuments to fishing and tuna.

We took a morning tour that introduced us to four important aspects of Ecuadorian culture. The first stop was a small museum near the dock where we were introduced to not just the pre-columbian cultures but to cultures from 3000-5000 BCE, which were clay working to metal working groups. One of the groups introduced building their sacred building on top of mounds.

The second stop was in a village known for making burlap bags from agave leaves. They showed us all of the stages from scraping the flesh from fresh leaves, to separating the fibers, to spinning the fibers into threads, to spooling the threads, to weaving the fabric. Fortunately for the village, as the world becomes more environmentally aware, there is more demand for natural fabrics, especially for exporting Ecuadorian coffee!

Next we went to a button factory. They make buttons for export from “vegetable ivory” that comes from the nuts of a coconut relative called tagua. The nuts are about the size of a small fist. They dry the nuts, then saw then into quarter-inch slices, then drill out the button. There is various sorting of the slices and the buttons for size and uniformity. Unfortunately, although there are some protections for their fingers, there are none for their lungs, and there was essentially saw dust everywhere.

Finally, we went to Monticristi, the origin of the Panama hat. There are various stories explaining the misnomer, but they all involve some connection to Panama, obviously. The fiber comes from a relative of the palm (the toquilla straw plant or Carludovica palmata) and involves many steps. Depending how finely they make the fiber and hence the weave, Ecuadorian hats can cost from $10 to $1500! (Oh, I forgot, Ecuador uses the US dollar for its currency.) Of course, the last stop was a hat market, and Janice and I each bought a hat. They are supposed to make good travel hats since they can be rolled up and washed as needed while still retaining their shape. Traditionally, they come with a balsa wood box for storage.

Upon returning to the ship, we received an invitation from Cruise Specialists for a lunch at the Pinnacle Grill on the sea day following Peru. CS has several social events over the course of the cruise so their clients can get to know each other. It is also part of their marketing; a way to make their clients feel special.

We also received an information form for our landing in Peru. For the two segments we are on, only Australia required us to obtain a visa before sailing, and theirs is electronic at no cost. Some countries require a page in your passport and charge over one hundred dollars. Other countries let the ship acquire our visas or landing cards. Peru just had a customs form for declaring that we wern’t carrying in excess cash, etc.

After dinner, I skipped the entertainer, an Argentinian singer. Apparently I didn’t miss much. Janice and I ended the evening listening to Diane in the piano bar and had another two-for-one, this time a Mexican Chocolate, hot chocolate w/Kahlua.