Welcome to Peru

One week ago we sailed out of Ecuador heading to Peru. The Odyssey will be visiting smaller cities, or actually Ports, rather than the more commercial larger tourist spots. Our boat is smaller (only 680 ft), has a shallow draft, and only 8 decks. And, as it turns out, this side of South America is rarely visited by the really big cruise ships. Since the big cruise ships don't come here, they don't build cruise ship docks. Instead, they build large Container Ship docks. For those of you who are familiar with the Port in Morehead City, these Ports are HUGE. As a result, these ports are very well secured and "wandering around" is strictly prohibited. And the Ports are a fair distance (20-45 minute taxi/Uber ride) from the "major" town and the cars aren't allowed inside the Port either. So, we get into buses which take us to a location - sometimes into town, sometimes to a drop-off site, and other times to the Gate, where we call the Uber drivers to take us where we want to go. Uber drivers will charge $10 US to drive 5-6 of us for 30+ minutes. Taxi's, evidently, would charge $10/person. We all find things that sound interesting, announce it on our communication system (Whats App), get a group (large or small) and off we go. A great example from a couple of days ago, 7 of us went by Uber to see Huaca de la Luna (Chan Chan) and paid $10 for the 40 minute ride. Got an english speaking guide who had lived there his whole life and for $2.50/person, we were to get a 2 hour tour. He was very very proud of his Moche Culture (150-800 AD) and at the end told us we should go to the other side of Trujillo and see the Huaca del Sol . We asked if he could arrange transport in a van for all of us and then do a tour there. Yes...of, course. But, could we stop for a 15 minute visit to the center of Trujillo because we heard it was beautiful. Yes, of course. We left Odyssey at 8:30 that morning and arrived at the Port at 5:30 (can you take us to the Ship at the end)? Yes, of course. Total Cost for each of us: for Uber, Tour #1, van ride, stop in Trujillo, tour #2, and van home was $25 and that included the generous tip. Amazing.

When my sister and I visited Peru, I remember how green and lush it seemed. Well, obviously, we did not visit the coastline because it looks more like a desert to me. Chan Chan ruins that had never been buried by sand or forestation, and played on by children for thousands of years. But what did happen was that the structures were very tall, back in the day, so the lower layers did get covered and the upper structures were thought to be only a story high until the 20th century. Our guide, Juan, was very protective of this area. He said that Peru is a very poor country and when Machu Pichu was discovered, the government realized what a great marketing opportunity it was to call themselves "The Land of the Incas". But, it turns out that the Moches were in Peru many many years before the Incas. Machu Pichu gets all the money and Chan Chan is the step-child. However, if MP is on your bucket list, you better come soon. One of our residents who just returned said that their Guide told them that in the next 5 years or so, it will probably be closed to tourists.

The next picture is the town square of Trujillo and the Christmas trees around the square.

I am sticking with my plan of one day walking and one day enjoying my new home. Since yesterday I walked 7800 steps, I stayed home and had a wonderful lazy day. I really am enjoying this life.

New Years had us arriving in Callao, a small port city outside of Lima, the capital of Peru. After a bottle of good Champagne with Eve and Kim, we headed to dinner. Have I told you how good the food is here? It is amazing. We currently have 2 restaurants open. One is a buffet (Palm Cafe) - salads, cheeses, soup of the day, usually 3-4 choices entree choices, a full pasta station, then a section of healthy choices (salt free, gluten free, lower calorie, fish, etc), fruit bar, and then the homemade dessert bar. All meals come with free wine or beer. Then there is the white table cloth restaurant (The Thistle). Sit down service with menu of 4 appetizers, 4 entrees, and then 3-4 desserts. The Palm has inside & outside tables and Thistle is all inside. We can chose which restaurant we want to go to and at what time. Pick a table any where. Love it. Breakfast buffet is always in the Palm and is very good. The Chef put on a New Years Brunch buffet that knocked our socks off. It was awesome. Speaking of New Years...I even stayed up until 1:00 in the morning. We had wonderful dinner choices, then at 8:30 we had a great guest singer who put on a show for an hour, then music for dancing, mingling and lots of bubbly. At midnight the real show started with fireworks all over the horizon from Lima. It was beautiful.

January 2 I entered into the New Year with touristing and shopping in Lima. And today we are in another small berg called Pisco. My new sweater is Alpaca. I didn't bring enough warm clothes. See if your favorite bartender can make a Pisco Sour. Probably not because it would require a liquor/brandy made in Peru. National drink of Peru. But it is really really good. I bought a bottle, now I just have to figure out the rest of the ingredients.

We left Lima saying goodbye to the huge cruise ship that came in the night before. But I did go down to the little vendor shops that were between our two ships, and left a few more dollars in their pockets.

We have one more city in Peru to see and then off to Chile where I hope to do some Vineyard visiting. Have a great 2025.