Busy, busy, busy

23-03-25

Peru’s Galapagos

After two sea days we are all ready to disembark and see some interesting sights. We are headed into Paracas and as we leave the port area we are all amazed at the desert here that comes right down to the sea. They have no rain here and it shows. Not a single blade of grass, weed, flower or tinge of green. Everything is red/ brown and yellow sand. Paracas is a town of around 2000 inhabitants and is a resort town for places like Lima. Not my style of resort.

We unload from our bus and head towards the quay where we board another boat, a much smaller one, that will take us out to the islands offshore. The Ballestas Islands are a group of small islands known for their many caves and arches. They are a shelter to more than 1500 species of marine birds and a large colony of sea lions.

On the way out to the islands we see a large geoglyph on the northern face of the Paracas Peninsula, El Candelabro, which serves as a beacon to sailors. Its large enough to be seen 19 kilometres out to sea. The indentations are a metre deep and are around 180 metres tall and preserved in the petrified sand.

(P:- Paracas is literally as dry as chips the coastal rainfall even up to the Lima area is 6mm rain per year, it is part of the Atacama Desert that runs a good section of the coast of Chile and into Peru. The area is so dry the wealthy, back in the day, buried their dead here in the sand. Buried in a fetal position wrapped in cloth, the more cloth the wealthier the person.

Emily:- Once we got out to the islands, we started seeing lots of small birds, pelican’s and even some small Humboldt penguins. Because the penguins were so small and pale coloured, they blended into the island which was coved in bird poo, making them hard to get a picture of. Just around the corner we passed a little island with about 50 sea lions all piled on the rough sand and rocks. There were lots of baby sea lions that were playing around, getting swept into the water, then climbing back onto the beach. On one of the big rocks, there were three sea lions laying there in the sun, until a big wave came up and swept one of the bigger ones off into the water. Our tour guide was really good and was very informative. I really enjoyed our tour of the Ballestas Islands.

After returning to the ship it’s time for a swim. Then we dress for dinner. Tonight’s treat is Morimoto By The Sea. This is a pop up restaurant that only happens once per cruise. All six of us are booked to enjoy this experience. Both the girls enjoyed the experience of fine dining and had very nice meals. Kaley ordered her steak and when asked how she would like it, replied “medium rare thankyou”. How many 9 year olds know how they like a steak? The waiters loved giving the girls a special experience. Emily loved her Sushi plate and prawns 3 ways. And the desserts were to die for.

24-03-25 Monday

Philip and I have an early start this morning. We are disembarking at 7.30 for Market to Table, A Taste of Peruvian Cuisine. Our first stop once we leave this massive port area is the fish and fruit and vegetable market. Unusually this is right behind an Outlet Shopping area. Firstly we stop at the Seafood market. This is amazing. The fish is fresh caught and displayed beautifully. Vanessa, our guide, tells us about the different fish and where it comes from and the stall holders are happy to show us their produce. Everything from Octopus to sea urchin, Bonita (tuna), to squid, ready prepared marinara mix and ceviche. It all looks amazing. (P:- evidently we have to leave the internals in the chickens complete with partially formed eggs to show freshness and which one is the prime bird to buy. The Octopus marinara mix and other seafood looked delicious and was so well presented. Not to mention an old favourite of mine corned ox tongue. Mr Cuy the Guinea pig looked much more appealing dressed up on my dinner plate the other evening than naked in the butchers shop!)

Next stop is the fruit section. This is so colourful and displayed beautifully. There are many fruits that we don’t know but as we moved past stalls Vanessa gets samples for us to try. Some are very tasty. The avocados are huge as are the mangos, and watermelons. The baby bananas are sweet and smooth.

From here to the vegetable section. Again the displays are beautiful. Dozens of different potato varieties are available. Philip had to check out the onions, which were all hand cut. The black corn looked interesting.

Then the poultry, meat and pork sections. All had great displays. Vanessa made some purchases as we moved around the market and later these were used by our Master Chef, Riccardo, who made us 3 traditional Peruvian dishes to sample. Then we moved inside and had a meal of these 3 dishes. They were all delicious and we finished off with Picaroni, a Peruvian donut made from Sweet Potato Flour, deep fried and served with a sugar cane and fig leaf syrup. Again delicious. We were all full after the 3 main dishes but there weren’t many Picaroni left on the plates. To finish off our day we stopped at a Peruvian/Italian restaurant (think large beer hall) where we tasted traditional roasted ham sandwiches and Pisco Sours. An alcoholic cocktail of Peruvian origin. Pisco is a brandy which has sour citrus juice added and sweetener and is topped with egg white and Bitters. We have been enjoying this cocktail since we boarded the ship. A nice way to finish this part of the day. Mid afternoon we head back to the ship and we only have a couple of hours before we are off on our next tour this evening.

This next tour sees us all boarding the bus for a night tour of Lima and the magic fountains. After a panoramic drive through downtown Lima and its chaotic traffic. We arrive at the water park to wander around the magic fountains. The fountains have a light and sound show projected onto the water depicting some of Limas history. Some pretty impressive illuminations. Then a wander around and through several other fountains before boarding the bus back to the ship.

Kaley:- The cruise has been very busy and very fun. We’ve had lots of swims and lots of mocktails. I have enjoyed getting dressed up for dinner, the food is great so far I have not had any food that hasn’t been good. I have made some friends their names are charlotte and Abby. we enjoy both in the pool and out of the pool. Charlotte is 6 and abbey is 9.