Salaverry and Trujillo, Peru

We docked in Salaverry and took the shuttle to Trujillo. This was the pretty little square where they let us off.

There was a lovely cathedral across the street.
One of the streets we walked down.


The photo was from the front of the ship. As you can see it is very dry here. There was sand everywhere. I never realized Peru was so desert like.
Here I am with my new Inca friend. Bought another new hat from a vendor in port.
Sail away at 4PM for Lima.
We have two tours booked as we are staying overnight.

Sea Day

Another leisurely sea day as we make our way to Salaverry, Peru. 

This morning we did a 4 mile walk on the Promenade Deck. The seas have been very calm so it makes for a very easy walk.

Dr. Jay Wolff gave his final lecture of the cruise. He is Jer’s favorite lecturer so he is sad to see him go. He will be leaving the ship in Lima. His talk today was “The Story of Peru.”  He talked about Francisco Pizzaro and Pirate Extraordinaire, Francis Drake. The Incas were conquered, the city of Lima arose and the gold Spain plundered was stolen by a better thief, Francis Drake.

Lunch in the Lido and then another lecture in the afternoon.

The maritime lecturer has been Bill Miller. He also is getting off in Lima. His talk today was “Gateway to the World. The Great Port of New York.” He talked about the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the bridges and the different skyscrapers of New York. It was very interesting.

At the beginning of the cruise the Captain had a Welcome aboard reception. He mentioned the nationalities of the Full World Cruisers. Here is the breakdown.   Australia(8), Austria(2), Brazil (1), Canada (63), Switzerland (2), Germany (6), Denmark (1), Great Britain (21), Japan (17), Mexico, (11), Malta (1), New Zealand (2), USA (469).

As I said earlier, many, many, of the world cruisers have done numerous world cruises. Most travelers on here are very well traveled. We have traveled a lot, but we are novices compared to most on here.

When we get to Lima, it will be the end of the first segment of this trip. We will have five more to go. This segment was sold out and I do believe the next segment is sold out also. The next segment crosses the Pacific to Auckland, New Zealand. We will have new lecturers come on board for this segment. There will be quite a few sea days on our way across the Pacific, but we also have some interesting ports, so stay tuned.

Tonight is formal night so everyone will be out and about in their finery. Dinner in the Crystal Dining Room and then the concert pianist in the Galaxy Lounge. 

We are kind of curious about who is following our blog.  So, if you are, please leave us a comment.  Just click on comment at the of any post and leave us a note.  Thanks.

See you in Salaverry.

Guayaquil, Ecuador

The day started out very rainy, but it stopped when we got on the 10AM shuttle that took us from the port into the city. It was about a 30 minute bus ride as this is a very large city with 2 million inhabitants.

The shuttle bus dropped us off at the Parque Bolivar which is the home to these friendly iguanas. They grow to between 4 to 5 feet in length. 

The Malecon El Salado is an attempt to reclaim the waterfront for everyday use of its residents. There are beautiful gardens and little cafes and I am sure on the weekends it is jammed packed with families. It was a lovely walk even on a humid and overcast day.

This is a very beautiful cathedral outside of the park where the iguanas live. We went inside which was very dark, but the stained glass windows were amazing.

On one of the hillsides there were these multicolored homes.

We were back on the ship about 2PM and we sail at 9PM. There are some passengers that went to the Galapagos early this morning and will return this evening. There are also passengers that will leave this evening to go to Machu Pichou and will meet the ship in Lima on Friday.

Tomorrow is a sea day so will have some lectures to go to.

Our next port will be Salaverry, Peru.

 

 

Manta, Ecuador

Today we started out on our private tour with seven of us. Our first stop was at a local fish market. Manta is known for their yellow fin and skipjack tuna. This market is for the locals. The market opens at 5AM and closes by noon. We got here about 830 and many of the stalls were already closed.

Right next to the fish market they were building fishing boats. Almost all of the fishing boats are made out of wood and the sealant between the wood planks is coconut fiber.

Ecuador is famous for their handmade Panama hats. You may wonder why they are called Panama hats and not Ecuador hats. They are called Panama hats because when they Panama Canal was built the workers wore these hats, so they were known as Panama hats. This is a statue of a young lady weaving a Panama hat.

This is a picture of a woman weaving a Panama hat. She leans onto pedestal as she weaves the hat. I can’t imagine her poor back.

Of course, I had to buy one!!!!

We stopped at a cultural museum and then were back to the ship. Sail away was at 1PM. Short stop here, but there wasn’t a whole lot to see. The people were very friendly, quick smiles , and always a Buenos Dias. 

We are now off to Guayaquil. Will get there about 3AM as some folks are going to the Galapagos. They will be back for sail away at 9PM. A very long day to look at some big turtles!!!

Sea Day

Just relaxing today. Getting some laundry done and and catching up as the next three days will be in different ports.

Jer was up early and in the gym. When he came back we were off to breakfast in the Lido. Lots of wonderful fresh fruit.

Went to the lecture called “Radical Terrorists on the March.”  The lecture was presented by Owen Ullman. He talked about all the terrorists groups around the world. It wasn’t a pretty picture.

They had a special Brunch today in the Crystal Cove. This is one of the ice sculptures. The other picture was the theme of the brunch, An American in Paris. We had a difficult time figuring out why they did Paris as we are not going any where near France.

Dinner in the Crystal Dining Room was the best on the cruise so far. We had escargot, salad, sea bass, lamb chops, and the best of all, Grand Manier soufflé. Oh my, it was delicious!!!

The evening entertainment was a tribute to Edith Piaf, the French singer, so I guess that is why we had the French brunch and French dinner. I didn’t know what to expect, but it was an extraordinary performance. The lead singer was outstanding. 

We are in Manta, Ecuador tomorrow. Doing a private tour with just eight. See you tomorrow.

Panama Canal

Panama Canal, wow. What a day. We were up early again as we started our transit of the canal at about 730.

As you can see there were two cargo ships in front of us.  This is a great picture to show you how the locks work. The ship on the left is in the first lock and the ship on the right is in the third lock. You can see how much higher the ship is on the right as we have to raise up 85 feet to exit to Gatun Lake and then transit the canal.

Closing the gates once we were in the lock.

This vehicle is called a mule. There were at least three on each side to keep the ship from hitting the walls of the locks. A lot of people think they tow the ship through the locks, but they just keep the ship steady. You can see the cables that are attached.

Into Gatun Lake and then on to the transit of the canal. While we were transiting, we did a 5 mile walk on the Promenade deck. 

Cruising through the canal. It was a winding waterway and parts were quite narrow. This is the Culebra Cutand the narrowest part of the canal 

This is the Pedro Miguel Lock. This lowered us 31 feet.

We entered Miraflores Lake and then into the last two locks.The Miraflores Locks lowered us 27 feet each. Down 54 feet back to sea level.

This is the museum and observation decks at the Miraflores Locks. Thousands of people come out to watch the ships pass through the locks.

Bridge of the Americas and out to the Pacific Ocean.

What a wonderful and interesting day. Off to dinner at another specialty restaurant, Tastes. Tastes is a very casual venue that offers Tapas and small plates. 

Still having an awesome time and there is so much more to look forward to.

Cartagena, Columbia

Last night was an early night. We had dinner in the Crystal Dining Room and then we went to our room to watch a movie called, “The Way.” It was about a trek through France and Spain.

Today we were in Cartagena, Columbia. We docked about 7AM and we were off the ship at 730. Jer had set up a private tour with Marelvy Pena for a walking tour in Cartagena. There were just three of us which was a big difference from the big bus tour we did in Curacao. 

Marelvy’s daughter met us on the dock and walked us to the van where Marlvy was waiting for us. We first stopped at the Convento de la  Popa. It is a monastery above Cartagena and was quite beautiful. It is 400 years old and built on the foundation of a razed Indian Temple.

We then went to the Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas. It was completed in 1789, creating the largest fort to guard the city from pirates.

The tour then went to the Gold Museum, which included pre-Columbian gold artifacts. We continued to the Palacio de Inquisicion. It is a beautiful building, but there were some horrfic things that went on inside. 

There were many beautiful balconies that were covered in flowers. The streets are quite narrow so they are only open to pedestrians.

There were many street vendors. The fruit  looked awesome. We should have tried some, but we didn’t. Most of the ladies selling fruit were dressed in these colorful dresses.

We have always had such a misconception of this beautiful city. Always thought of drug cartels and mafia. Not so here in Cartagena. We felt very safe. I would love to come back and spend more time here. Just one day was not enough.

We sailed at 3PM. Louis Armstrong once again sang What a Wonderful World. It always makes us feel so fortunate.

Jer is off to another lecture on the Panama Canal. Tomorrow we transit the canal. Should be an interesting day and we are looking forward to it.