Saturday, July 13, 2024
After a small group of us toured the ship, everyone on board gathered in the lounge. We passengers were already drinking to our last night on the ship; even I treated myself to Pisco Sour, when the entire staff marched in clapping as they came, and soon we joined in the clapping. Below is one of our tender’s or skiffs departing with our luggage. Across the channel is one of many stationary gas stations. Photos of fellow guests enjoying cocktails include: Mark, Nancy and Bill and Judy and Vince. Below that is Merv and a couple from New Zealand. Then the band playing and the bar tenders making drinks in the lounge.
Harry, the cruise director, started by introducing Captain Antonio, above in casual attire, followed by Antonio’s assistants, the ship’s doctor, Lilliana, the 4 skiff staff, and the 5 cabin cleaning crew.
Then came the 4 dining room wait staff, the 4 cooks, the 3 technical staff, the 2 massage ladies, and the assistant cruise director, Iliana. Then the 2 bartenders, Jesus and Jordano, who received loud applause. Lastly, our three guides were introduced: Aldo, Alex and Juan. They also received very loud applause. Juan took the mike and introduced Harry and the band. Soon the 6 piece band was in full sound and we all continued to clap until many of us were up and dancing with the crew. After a week of close companionship, we were all very comfortable together. The above photo includes almost the whole crew. They invited me to join in the photo, which was a nice touch.
Earlier that morning, Mark was up and out at 6am to join a small group who wanted to learn about shooting monkeys with dart guns. I stayed in bed. The 4 intrepid souls who went included Merv, Bill and Mark. Merv’s attempt fizzled in less than 10 feet, so Mark, not wanting to look inept, did not try. The experts barely hit the target, 30 feet away, after three attempts. They did demonstrate how to make a dart gun, while wearing native clothing. The gun is made of two halves of wood that was hollow when glued together. Then sand was poured into the hollow and a rod was slid back and forth to polish the barrel of the “gun”. Juan, our favorite guide, was doing the English translation of the process. The jaw bone of a piranha was used as a file to sharpen the point of the dart.
The dart gun group was back in time for breakfast. Our luggage had been picked up by 7am and we were all ready to disembark by 8:30am. We said many good byes to crew and group members. Then into buses we went to tour the city. We saw hundreds of tuktuks, several wooden buses made with wood shells, and many food vendors along the road. We stopped at one food vendor to see live worms being cooked and eaten by locals.
From the worm vendor stop we drove to the Manatee Reserve for a tour of the animal healing facility. To fly back to Lima, the whole group needed to be at the Iquitos airport at 2pm for a 3:30 flight. So, having disembarked at 9am and with time to kill, the ship crew created this activity. The Reserve, which is meant for children mostly, was pretty interesting for us too. We got to see several creatures up close that we had seen only from a distance. They included: Toucans; Macaws; Caimans; capybara, the world’s largest rodent that can get to 170 lbs; turtles, which are being brought back from near extinction; tamarind monkeys; endangered manatees; and the Amazon’s largest fish, the endangered Paiche, which is a slow swimmer, grows to over 9 feet long, has strong bones that can crush its prey with its jaw, and lives 25-30 years. An oxygen breather, the paiche must surface periodically to get air.
From the Reserve, we went to the airport, waited some more and finally flew to Lima. Our guide, Sophia, was waiting for us and off we went on the hour long drive through the busy city to the Hotel B in the popular Barranca neighborhood. We had half an hour to change for our dinner reservation at the nearby highly recommended and very popular restaurant called Siete. Mark had a pasta with pepper and I had the Catch of the day, which included a vey tender and tasty, farm raised Paiche. Both dishes were excellent. Then we went back to the Hotel B and went directly to bed. We both missed our room and bed on the Aqua Nera. The B is interesting and unique, but not comfortable/cozy.
Sunday, July 14, 2024
The next morning after breakfast, we went exploring the neighborhood. We soon stumbled by the funny looking tree we learned is a Silk Floss tree, part of the kapok family. Further on we arrived at the store called Dedalo. It is quite an amazing place and we were happy to spend a good amount of time looking around and even buying a few things. After depositing our purchases in our room, we waited for Sophia and Carlos to take us to the Larco Museum, where we spent several hours. Here are some of the artifacts we admired in the halls. Sophia fed us a lot of history which I was, sadly, not able to retain.
Expressions of syncretism in Peruvian culture, are found in popular festivities and religious celebrations.
Cup made from a pyrography decorated gourd which forms the container and a carved wood feline which forms the handle. The feline is inlaid with seashells and lapis lazuli and one of the feet has natural claws. It is an ancient art practiced to this day.
In ancient Peru, the preparation of the body was an important stage in the process leading to the deceased’s journey into the afterlife and their transformation into an ancestor or supernatural being.
This is a funerary bundle of a 4-5 years old infant who lived and died during the 8th century AD
Other items I was impressed by included rooms full of clay statues (over 45,000) down through the ages and found in the sides of many graves, which explains why they are still intact. Also there are a few sexual themes I included here.
Enough for museums. It is the only one we will see in Lima on this trip. Thankfully, says Mark. When we left the museum we stayed in the building to have lunch. Mark had tenderloin salad and I had noodles in sweet pumpkin ricotta cheese on delicate butter sage sauce. Yes it was as good as it sounds. I wanted more.
Then we went to a water park to see the Magical Water Circuit. It was pleasant, but I was disappointed as it was really for families with children on a Sunday outing and I was thinking more of a Bellagio-like event. We stayed to the end of the”show” but both Mark and Sylvia were ready to go almost the minute we arrived.
Dinner was at our hotel. Mark experimented with Guinea Pig and liked the dish he got, which had only a small amount of pig in it. I thought I ordered duck, but soon realized that it tasted more like fish than duck and turned out to be paiche, a fish I have had a few times know. Fortunately, it has been excellent every time. Then upstairs to bed for our last full night in Peru.
Adventures with Julia 