Tuesday, January 14th to Thursday, January 16th—Our 11th to 13th Cruise Days—Callao, Peru

Tuesday, January 14^th to Thursday, January 16^th—Our 11^th to 13^th Cruise Days—Callao, Peru

NOTE: Getting internet access while on the ship is becoming increasingly difficult. We would get better reception if we posted our narrative and photos while we were in port, but in that case, we want to get out and see things—not spend our time in an internet café. So we will post on this blog as often and as best we can, but we will not be able to post as many photos as we would like—it takes too long to upload them! We will undoubtedly get behind on postings, but we will eventually catch up.

After leaving Manta, Ecuador at about 11:00 PM on Saturday, January 11^th, we had two full sea days cruising south along the western coast of South America before reaching Callao (pronounced “kai-yow”), Peru at about 7:00 AM on Tuesday, January 14^th. We were to spend two full days, and one half day, docked in Callao--in part to allow time for those who chose to take a 3 day/2 night overland excursion to Machu Picchu. Although we would love to visit Machu Picchu one day, we chose not to go this time since we already had planned overland excursions in both China and Africa.

Callao, Peru, was a stop we were very glad to have made, but are not anxious to repeat. This is partly due to the fact that we didn’t do our “homework” before our visit. We had assumed that Callao—even though it was close to Lima—would be similar to Manta, a small, coastal fishing village. In fact, Callao is a suburb of Lima—a city of 7 million people. And along with a city of that size comes heavy, heavy traffic, people who are in a hurry crowding the streets, and of course seemingly endless construction sites.

On our first day in Callao/Lima, we had planned a 4 hour excursion titled “A Stroll through the Plaza de Armas.” Plaza de Armas is a part of the historic center of Lima, and contains architecture from the 1600’s—but we saw much more than just the Plaza de Armas. After fighting traffic in a bus for about 45 minutes, we drove by the plaza of San Martin, walked by and/or into at least 6 different Catholic Cathedrals/Convents/Monasteries (Catholicism is by far the dominant religion in Peru), walked by numerous government buildings and homes of government officials, and finished our tour at the Plaza de Armas itself—viewing the Governor’s Palace and Cathedral of Lima. The “old town” of Lima is famous for the wooden balconies on its many structures which were very beautiful and unique. And after our “walk”—it was more like a death march—we stopped for fruit juice refreshments at a restaurant in Old Town. (We asked for a beer as well—which seemed to confuse the waiters no end. They kept reminding us that beer was not paid for by the tour, and we kept telling them we were happy to pay ourselves. But somehow that message did not translate well, and they kept repeating as did we. But we finally got our beers!) And we enjoyed the tour very much, but the term “stroll” in the title was definitely a misnomer—our tour guide wanted to show us everything—which meant no time for the leisurely sightseeing/shopping we had hoped for. So we saw many, many wonderful things, but it was frustrating to pass by shops and sights we would have loved to explore, but because there was “no time” during the tour we were unable to do so.  And by the time of our return to the ship, it was “rush hour”, so the traffic was even worse!

For our second day in Callao/Lima, we had booked an excursion through Cruise Specialists (the travel agency we booked our trip with) titled “Archeological Museum, Pachacamac, & Paso Horse Exhibition.” This time, it was an 8 ½ hour excursion, so we started in a bus about 7:30 AM—once again in heavy traffic. After about 45 minutes on the road, we reached the Peruvian National Archeological and Anthropological Museum. There we took a tour of the museum and viewed pottery, textiles, and other artifacts from the many cultures that inhabited Peru over the past 4000 years. For the most part, it was fascinating.

After the museum, we drove about another 45 minutes through heavily congested Lima to reach the archeological site of Pachacamac Temple—about 20 miles south of Lima. Along the drive, we had views of the coastline, and some poverty stricken areas of the city—including communities of “squatters” in the nearby hills. 

Pachacamac is a huge site encompassing 100 acres or more, and dating from 300 AD with architecture influenced by 4 different cultures—the last being the Inca who inhabited the site until the Spanish conquest. In fact, it is believed that when the Inca king Atahualpa was captured and ransomed by the Spanish, much of the gold for the ransom came from Pachacamac. Because of its size, a vehicle is needed to get around to see the entire site, and for us this meant staying on the bus and listening to commentary from our guide. This was a bit disappointing—but we were able to get out briefly for some photos.

After Pachacamac, our bus took us on another 45 minute drive to Hacienda Santa Rosa which turned out to be the highlight of our trip. When we went inside the walls of the hacienda we were greeted with a band of horns and drums followed by a man and a woman who performed three or four different traditional Peruvian dances, each with its own outfit. During the dance we were served Peruvian appetizers along with fruit juice and Pizco Sours—an alcoholic drink made from a Peruvian liquor which tasted like “Whiskey Sours.”

After the dancing was the horse show featuring the “Caballo de Paso” or “Stepping Horse”—a breed unique to Peru. Known for its high stepping and very comfortable gait, the Peruvian Paso horse has become a symbol for the coastal region of Peru. The horse show first showed a woman in traditional Peruvian dress “dancing” (i.e. she was on foot while she and the horse danced around each other) followed by two men and two women mounted on horses that all moved around in a synchronized gait. 

When the horse show was complete, we had a wonderful buffet lunch of traditional Peruvian food—absolutely delicious! We finished our meal by being invited into the hacienda house where we had our choice of many different desserts.

And at this point, we thought our tour would end. It was 3:00 PM, and a one hour drive back to the ship. Since the tour was advertised as 8 ½ hours, and we started at 7:30 AM, we should have arrived back at the pier by 4:00 PM. And we wanted to be back to the ship at that time since afterwards we wanted to take the free shuttle from the ship to the Shopping Mall next to the Marriott Hotel in Mirabella (a suburb of Lima, about a 45 minute trip—in traffic), returning on or before the last shuttle at 7:00 PM.  So we were all loaded on the bus at 3:00 PM, ready to depart, the driver has started his engine—but wait! One woman on our tour group complained that we had not been allowed to actually ride the horses as had been advertised in the tour description! So our guide asked how many people wanted to ride the horses, and although initially it was just the one woman, eventually 15 of the 18 in our group raised their hand—indicating they wanted to ride the horses too.

We didn’t care to ride the horses, so we waited—over an hour—on the bus while the others got their ride. This was particularly frustrating since there had been plenty of time before and after the meal was served for those who were interested to ride the horses. But no—they waited until the bus was loaded with people. And of course this meant that we would probably not be able to go to the mall afterwards as we had planned.

About this time we realized that the bus would pass by the mall on its return journey. So we asked to be “dropped off” so that we could walk to the mall and make our way back on the shuttle. Our guide very reluctantly agreed, and we were dropped off about 6 blocks from the mall—only to very quickly become lost. We asked several people along the way “Where is the Marriott Hotel and the Mall?” Unfortunately, very few Peruvians speak English. Finally we found a young woman we could communicate with, and she pointed us in the correct direction. So we replied with “gracias” and made our way to the mall. Our “6 block” walk was really about 18 blocks, but we finally made it.

The mall was below ground and located between the Marriott Hotel and the bluff above the seashore. It had all sorts of western stores: Nike, Brooks Brothers, North Face, Tony Roma’s, Steve Madden Shoes, Radio Shack, an Apple Computer store and more. One would think they were in a mall in the US! And why did we want to get to the mall? This was our last chance to pick up day to day items (and wine!) before our journey across the South Pacific to various islands, where those items would be difficult to impossible to find.

After the mall shopping, we went up to the Marriott Hotel to catch the shuttle back to the ship. By this time it was 5:45 PM, and were told the next shuttle would leave at 6:00 PM—perfect, right? Not so fast! This was rush hour in Mirabella, a suburb of Lima. So the bus was stuck in traffic and took forever to get to the hotel, and while we waited, more and more people arrived with the intent to catch the shuttle. Soon it became obvious that all of the people who were waiting would not fit onto one bus. So the crowd started “jockeying for position” to be the first on the bus when it did arrive—very uncomfortable! To make a long story short, we did make the bus when it arrived—just barely—and we were the last ones to make it on. By the time we got back to the ship, we were exhausted.

The next morning, we had a few hours before the 11:30 AM “all aboard”—but it really wasn’t enough time to go anywhere. There was a small “Peruvian Market” near the ship selling souvenirs, and we walked around there for an hour or so. And just for fun, there was a huge photo of Machu Picchu outside the market which we posed in front of—pretending we were actually at Machu Picchu!

So we departed Callao/Lima, Peru, about noon on Thursday, January 16^th and after 3 days there, we were definitely ready to move on. Our experiences in the Lima area were interesting, but we can’t think of anything we would want to repeat or go back to see. If we ever returned to the Lima area, we would get out of the city as soon as possible and visit someplace smaller—such as Cuzco, Machu Picchu or even some small rainforest settlement. Also, our experiences there have made us think twice about going on organized bus tours in the future. In the past, we have had our best experiences when we embraced the adventure of striking out on our own—and are determined to do much more of that in the future.

We would have 4 full sea days heading southwest after leaving Callao before the port of call that would be a highlight of our trip—Easter Island!