Incans, Penguins, Sea Lions .... oh my ....
LeRoy has been a busy busy hombre the last three days. I am not sure I can keep this pace up for 113 days. Well, actually I am down to 100 days as of today. How fast they fly by. We are at sea today so I am trying to play catch up. I have a lot to share with anyone who may care to follow along...
But first a complaint. How on earth am I supposed to be able to take part in all this eating they make you do? I mean they are putting food of all different sorts out in front of you all the time and well, they went to all that trouble to fix it. I would feel guilty if I didn't partake in it. I certainly don't want to hurt their feelings. So, that diet I went on and that weight me and Vialula lost? Well, it's more than a little easy to find it again. But I must be strong......I think I will go be strong down by the sundae bar.
Anywho, three days and two stops. Both in Peru. One in Trujillo and two days in Lima. As for Trujillo, I will only say that we saw a lot of olden day temples, ruins, and archealogical sites. And when I say olden, I mean prior to the Inca's. They were a very advanced people in terms of their ways. But, they did perform human sacrifices pretty regularly too so.... It was really very interesting and a good excursion but it is hard to describe it in a blog setting. Vi will include a picture to two in here somewhere so you will see it. Speaking of pictures, we are averaging about 150 to 200 a day so can you say "needs weeding out?"
Lima is a city of about 11 million people. Huge. The port we come in to is called Callao. Huge. The ships in and out of here are too many to count. Huge. Tankers, Container ships, Cruise ships, Fishing ships. All Huge.
Our first trip out was on a little boat out to some outlying islands. Like the big boat we have been on hasn't been good enough. It was a "three hour cruise".... "a three hour cruise" The mate was a mighty sailing man, the skipper, brave an....ok, you get the idea.
The highlights of this trip were two or three things. We saw birds by the hundreds of thousands. We saw Humbolt Penguins, and then we saw sea lions. Let's mention the birds quickly. The emphasis of the birds is their droppings. The hills on the islands are completely white. And it isn't from the salt in the air. Absolutely, positively covered completely in guano, There are no predators on the islands and the sheer number of birds there produce a lot of s**t. And believe it or not but they "harvest" the stuff for fertilizer. Tankers full. And guess where they ship a lot of it.....right to the good ole USofA. China too. The smell is not pleasant. I will say it again. It stinks. So, does any one need a job?
Situated close by is Palomino island. It is home to another critter with no predators around. Sea lions. By the thousands. This colony has around 10,000 sea lions in it. It is UNBELIEVEABLE!! They are everywhere. The mountain looks like it is alive. Mature males with manes, thus where they get their name, females, pups, etc. Each alpha male has about 8 to10 females and each group kind of sticks together. And that little boat I mentioned we were on,....gets right up close to them.
They see us in our little boats which weighs about the same a two of the big alpha's and they start sliding or flipping or falling over each other and drop into the ocean. Barking like dogs. The sound is deafining but oh so cool. And they are not afraid of us in the least. In fact, they come out to us in herds. Absolutely everywhere. It is so cool!
Now the water here is cold. About 54 degrees. Still, they invite you to go out and swim with these big boys, and wild horses couldn't keep Vialula away from splashing around with all these things! Well, I couldn't let Vi show me up so I made my way to the back of the boat to take the plunge. Only about 5 or 6 of the twenty or so of the folks in our boat went. And LeRoy, being the big tough guy he is, forsook the use of a wet suit and with shirt on and life jacket securely buckled on, jumped into water so cold that it took the breath away. Now I know why those big dumb sea lions wear so much blubber. Whose the smart one now?? It didn't take too long for me to turn purple from the cold which made me look a little more like they do rather than the other odd pink people around me.
Anyhow, it doesn't take long but soon there are so many creatures swimming around you that you don't know where to look first. They have thousands of them barking on the land and they have thousands of them barking in the water. Right in front of you. They seemed to raise up in the water to kind of size you up and then they would flit off. It's hard to tell if they are just being curious about us or if they are judging whether or not we could be food. They get within 2 feet of you and then they jump up or lunge sideways or dive down. And boy can they swim. As cumbersome as they are on land, they make up for it in the water. Moms with their pups near by, younger males, etc. All flying by you. I have never experienced anything like it. It was so much fun and so much different than going to Seaworld. This excursion alone was worth the trip. I didn't want to get out of the water...even though ice was forming a cube around me.
Our next day's adventure was much more tame. No wildlife involved but I think I was more at risk. 11 million people makes for a lot of traffic. And signs and lights and lanes and limits are more a suggestion rather than the law here. But we had a good bus driver, and we all survived getting to and seeing some of downtown. We toured the oldest house in Lima and some old cathedral. And then we went to the Gold Museum. I think I will let Vialula explain most of that cause she is better at that kind of nonsense.
This morning Vialula and I went to church service, and then we went and did a 5K walk called "On Deck for a Cause" It is a cancer awareness and fund raiser here on board and thru-out the Holland America Cruise Line. All ships and cruises take part in it and they have raised over 6 million dollars thus far for cancer research. We thought it was a good thing to do.
Anywho, that's enough for now. We are heading south right now on our way to Chile. Will be there tomorrow (Monday). Tonight we get to watch the Superbowl on board. Oh, and eat too. Go Rams!
But first a complaint. How on earth am I supposed to be able to take part in all this eating they make you do? I mean they are putting food of all different sorts out in front of you all the time and well, they went to all that trouble to fix it. I would feel guilty if I didn't partake in it. I certainly don't want to hurt their feelings. So, that diet I went on and that weight me and Vialula lost? Well, it's more than a little easy to find it again. But I must be strong......I think I will go be strong down by the sundae bar.
Anywho, three days and two stops. Both in Peru. One in Trujillo and two days in Lima. As for Trujillo, I will only say that we saw a lot of olden day temples, ruins, and archealogical sites. And when I say olden, I mean prior to the Inca's. They were a very advanced people in terms of their ways. But, they did perform human sacrifices pretty regularly too so.... It was really very interesting and a good excursion but it is hard to describe it in a blog setting. Vi will include a picture to two in here somewhere so you will see it. Speaking of pictures, we are averaging about 150 to 200 a day so can you say "needs weeding out?"
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| Vi and me at Huaca de Sol |
Lima is a city of about 11 million people. Huge. The port we come in to is called Callao. Huge. The ships in and out of here are too many to count. Huge. Tankers, Container ships, Cruise ships, Fishing ships. All Huge.
Our first trip out was on a little boat out to some outlying islands. Like the big boat we have been on hasn't been good enough. It was a "three hour cruise".... "a three hour cruise" The mate was a mighty sailing man, the skipper, brave an....ok, you get the idea.
The highlights of this trip were two or three things. We saw birds by the hundreds of thousands. We saw Humbolt Penguins, and then we saw sea lions. Let's mention the birds quickly. The emphasis of the birds is their droppings. The hills on the islands are completely white. And it isn't from the salt in the air. Absolutely, positively covered completely in guano, There are no predators on the islands and the sheer number of birds there produce a lot of s**t. And believe it or not but they "harvest" the stuff for fertilizer. Tankers full. And guess where they ship a lot of it.....right to the good ole USofA. China too. The smell is not pleasant. I will say it again. It stinks. So, does any one need a job?
Situated close by is Palomino island. It is home to another critter with no predators around. Sea lions. By the thousands. This colony has around 10,000 sea lions in it. It is UNBELIEVEABLE!! They are everywhere. The mountain looks like it is alive. Mature males with manes, thus where they get their name, females, pups, etc. Each alpha male has about 8 to10 females and each group kind of sticks together. And that little boat I mentioned we were on,....gets right up close to them.
They see us in our little boats which weighs about the same a two of the big alpha's and they start sliding or flipping or falling over each other and drop into the ocean. Barking like dogs. The sound is deafining but oh so cool. And they are not afraid of us in the least. In fact, they come out to us in herds. Absolutely everywhere. It is so cool!
Now the water here is cold. About 54 degrees. Still, they invite you to go out and swim with these big boys, and wild horses couldn't keep Vialula away from splashing around with all these things! Well, I couldn't let Vi show me up so I made my way to the back of the boat to take the plunge. Only about 5 or 6 of the twenty or so of the folks in our boat went. And LeRoy, being the big tough guy he is, forsook the use of a wet suit and with shirt on and life jacket securely buckled on, jumped into water so cold that it took the breath away. Now I know why those big dumb sea lions wear so much blubber. Whose the smart one now?? It didn't take too long for me to turn purple from the cold which made me look a little more like they do rather than the other odd pink people around me.
Anyhow, it doesn't take long but soon there are so many creatures swimming around you that you don't know where to look first. They have thousands of them barking on the land and they have thousands of them barking in the water. Right in front of you. They seemed to raise up in the water to kind of size you up and then they would flit off. It's hard to tell if they are just being curious about us or if they are judging whether or not we could be food. They get within 2 feet of you and then they jump up or lunge sideways or dive down. And boy can they swim. As cumbersome as they are on land, they make up for it in the water. Moms with their pups near by, younger males, etc. All flying by you. I have never experienced anything like it. It was so much fun and so much different than going to Seaworld. This excursion alone was worth the trip. I didn't want to get out of the water...even though ice was forming a cube around me.Our next day's adventure was much more tame. No wildlife involved but I think I was more at risk. 11 million people makes for a lot of traffic. And signs and lights and lanes and limits are more a suggestion rather than the law here. But we had a good bus driver, and we all survived getting to and seeing some of downtown. We toured the oldest house in Lima and some old cathedral. And then we went to the Gold Museum. I think I will let Vialula explain most of that cause she is better at that kind of nonsense.
This morning Vialula and I went to church service, and then we went and did a 5K walk called "On Deck for a Cause" It is a cancer awareness and fund raiser here on board and thru-out the Holland America Cruise Line. All ships and cruises take part in it and they have raised over 6 million dollars thus far for cancer research. We thought it was a good thing to do.
Anywho, that's enough for now. We are heading south right now on our way to Chile. Will be there tomorrow (Monday). Tonight we get to watch the Superbowl on board. Oh, and eat too. Go Rams!
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