Woo-hoo Peru!

Our day in Peru was by far the best day of the trip so far. Once every “voyage” (there are 7 voyages in the whole world tour) the ship offers a complementary tour. They are always several tours for each destination, but they tend to be rather pricey especially for 3 people. On this voyage the complementary tour was offered for our stop in Lima and many people including myself and my parents signed up. They needed a total of 11 buses to fit us all!

The tour started with a 45-minute bus ride from our port in Callao to the ruins of the Pachacamac Temple, a temple for the Incan sun god. We got off to walk in and around the ruins, which have been slightly restored. The temple was originally painted red as a sign of fertility and you could still see it in some places. This is a picture of some of the niches were mummies had been buried.



After exploring the ruins we got back on the bus and made our way to Hacienda Mamacona, which was a ranch/picnic area. Hacienda was very pretty, it would have been a perfect place for a wedding (note to my future husband). Our guide had warned us about drinking too many “pisco sours” while we were there. After trying them we understood why, they were like margaritas only stronger. There were also some vendors set up on the grass and my dad bought a pretty ridiculous cowboy hat he insisted he needed. They were also selling crafts, jewelry, and flowers.



We sampled some Peruvian food at the Hacienda and while we were eating we watched the traditional Peruvian dancers. They also brought out some horses from the ranch and walked them around and later we got to ride them. The horses were beautiful and have an interesting gait that they are born with, it’s kind of like a skip.

Our guide said Peru has really improved in the past decade because for awhile there was much terrorism in the country. Tourism is becoming more popular every year because it is safer. Peruvians are very proud of the improvements they’ve made and also their surfer Olympian and Miss Universe as of several years ago. Rock on, Peru.

Thank you to everyone who has left comments, it’s nice to know you’ve been keeping up with me! Todd, if the water at home is draining counterclockwise then yes, the water drains opposite here. I actually hadn’t thought of it until you mentioned it.

Tomorrow we will dock in Coquimbo, Chile. It was a little overcast today but the sun just came out so I think I’ll have to go up on deck for a while. It’s so hard being me, gosh, the other day my bagel wouldn’t fit in the toaster! But I'll think I'll manage to survive somehow.