South America trip: Peru

Peru
Wednesday April 4 was a sea day, sailing west across the southern coast of Peru. I came back to the room after my 4pm yoga class, and opened the door to a roomful of jumping parents. Mom had won $276 at bingo!
Chad had assigned me to do experiments on tub drains. I can report that at about 15 degrees latitude south, water circled the drain in my tub in the clockwise direction.

We had an elegant dinner this evening. Mom and Dad had a gift from their travel agent of tickets to the Pinnacle Grill, a separate restaurant, that is even more upscale than the dining room. As far as I am concerned, the main advantage is, it is quiet.  But since it was available, I had NY strip, and for dessert baked Alaska. Here is a picture of, I think, Mom's lamb chops (might be Dad's).

The waiter lit the liquor on the baked Alaska cake next to the table. The room was dark, and the blue fire cascaded beautifully from the lighter down to the cake. I said "Dad, camera!" but he didn't get it in time. The waiter said, "you want a picture? Here, I'll do it again." So I had twice flamed baked alaska.

April 5 (Thursday). During the night, the ship rounded the horn of the continent, and we again sailed north. Shortly after changing to the northerly direction, we docked at the port of General San Martin (named for the co-liberator of Peru, with Simon Bolivar), near Pisco. There was NOTHING at this port. NOTHING. A dock, some fuel tanks, a little bazarre of native crafts set out to siphon some dollars from the tourists. I bought an alpaca wool scarf.  The soil (or rocks) were red/brown, contrasting to our last port in Arica, which was all gray, but again nothing was growning.

Our tour today was to Islas Belestras, a nature preserve a few miles off shore. An open speed boat picked us up right off the ship and motored us first down the coast so that we could see the Candleabra, a 50 meter high drawing of a cactus etched into a hillside along the shore. Again, as with the figures in Arica (and the NASCA lines in the Atacona desert)  their origin and meaning is unknown. It was awesome!

The small boat took us right up to the many caves, arches, and sea stacks which provide shelter for 150 species of marine birds including the Humboldt penguin, cormorants, boobies and pelicans. We also saw hundreds of sea-lions. We couldn't stop snapping photos. Here are just a few. This was the most beautiful place of the entire trip.

Friday, Apr 6. The morning found us at the port in Lima, Peru. We will overnight here. We took a tour to the historic section of Lima. Buildings date back to the 1500s. We toured Casa Aliaga, a city house, occupied by the same family for 17 generations. We drove through Plaza San Martin. All the buildings in the square are PURPLE, commemorating Peruvian indepenence from Spain in 1821. We drove on to the Plaza de Armas. On this square are the palace of the governor, the state capitol, and the cathedral of Lima (I think the regional government was also on the square. Today was Good Friday. As we walked to the square we passed vendors selling palm fronds with crucifices tied in them, of a size to carry. 

Today 300,000 people made a pilgrimage starting with a ceremony outside the cathedral, to include brass bands and cannons, and walking to seven Lima churches on a 10 mile route. The color was purple. Many men were in black suits with purple ties. Young women carried tiny babies.

The colors in Peru are soft earthy shades of purple, blue, gold, red, green.  Many of the old buildings have moorish wooden carved balconies. These allow women to be outside, but above the street and invisible.

We finished our tour of Lima in the new section, Miraflores, where all the pricey shopping and hotels are. We walked around the Parca de l'amour, on a cliff above the ocean, and watched the surfers.

Saturday, April 7. On this second day in Lima our focus was archeology and anthropology.  We saw pottery from different periods. Moche, bce 200 to ce 800, Chimu 900-1400, and Inca 1100-1500.
Many of the most beautiful pots were in perfect condition because they were made to be put in burials. There were also gloriously decorated burial pots for storing the dead.

After the museum, we were bussed 40k to the archeology dig at Pachamac, an Incan and pre-Incan site. The digging is still going on. We hiked up to the temple of sun, which is partially unburied.

Looking down from the archeology site to the village. Many Peruvians live a meager life.

Next stop on the tour was to a hacienda for lunch on the patio. Mamacona ranch raises Peruvian Paso horses,  known for a smooth ride. It is distinguished by a natural, four-beat, lateral gait called the paso llano, between a walk and a gallop, where only one foot is on the ground at anytime. A  brass band played while the horses and people in traditional dance dress danced together (Appeared Spanish to me, big flowing  skirts, the women looked like flowers). We were served Pisco, the national liqour, with lemonade. While we were at lunch, the dancers changed costumes into what seemed a more South American style, and danced folk dances. As often happens with these shows, the dancers pull the tourists onto the floor for a simple dance. I always say yes, because I love to dance.

Peruvian people are small, with sharp planed facial bones. I was intrigued that one of the dancers was a big strapping boy, with a German face. I googled, and learned that around 1850 there was a program encouraging German immigration to Peru, mostly to settle the Andes to provide a link between the coasts. Currently 160,000 Peruvians are of Germanic descent.

Dad, on horseback for possibly the first time ever, at age 86.

Sunday, April  8 Trujillo. northern Peru.

We didn't reach the dock in Trujillo until mid morning. Since I am always up, I went to the 7am stretch class.
As soon as the ship would let us off, we started our tour. We were first taken to the Plaza de Armas in the city. The large square is surrounded by official buildings, each painted a different Peruvian color. The Cathedral was gold, the courthouse blue, other buisness buildings were reds and greens.

We boarded the bus for a short drive out to El Cuidad de Moche.. We turned off the road and drove through a small village with narrow streets. The Moche Temple of the Moon has been excavated through several levels. The guide told us each of the five levels was built on top of the previous at hundred year intervals. Their are burials in the temple, and alters for human sacrifice.

We got back to the ship in time for me to join the sunset tai chi class. A day that includes  sunrise yoga, walks through an ancient temple, and ends with tai chi, is a day well lived.