pstone1

I missed this yesterday! I feel the same way! I bought a really nice Kindle a year ago, and still have not used it! I too love reading real books and although I packed a couple, I am so happy with the beautiful Library they have set up on Deck 12 with so many reading choices!

We enjoyed today’s Top Tier Party! Josh does a fantastic job! Lots of laughs today!

We’d love to visit the Galápagos Islands too someday! I would especially love to see the Blue Footed Boobies and Giant Tortoises!

Thanks! Seemed like it took forever! Jim reset his alarm multiple times!

I didn’t either! I looked yesterday to see how far west they are - about 672 miles west of Manta!

It was 3:09am on our photo. Long night! 🤣

Wow! That is truly an adventure! We spent the afternoon, and even ate dinner on our balcony watching the ocean, but we did not see any Mantas! The ship is still not quite at the Equator yet! We are keeping an eye on the TV so we can take a picture of 0 degrees south position! At the rate we’re traveling, it might be midnight! 😉

Jim just read that the there is a huge (estimated at 22K) population of Manta Rays off the coast of Ecuador! Some have wing spans more than 20 ft.! Will be watching for those this afternoon too, as we are sailing north! Honestly, who would have thought - Manta Rays off of Manta, Ecuador! 🤣🤣

Same here! I called it a dolphin train - so many swimming past! Looked like some were having a blast jumping the ship’s wake!

Yes, that was odd! We also drove by however, we were sitting on the wrong side of the bus, so no photo! I think the fenced ruins were a couple blocks long! We never traveled that way again so didn’t get a second chance!

Of course! 🤣🤣

Amazing! There are so many interesting things to see in Lima! I’m sure we didn’t even scratch the surface!

It will be interesting to see how many snarky comments are made as if they are the first!! 😉🙄

Aww, thank you for being nice! The story was on Reuters right next to a current Machu Picchu story and didn’t mention a year! My bad! I should not have been looking at the news! I’m on vacation! 🤣

Glad you had a good tour and enjoyed your pictures too! Your lunch looked delicious!

I can’t say enough good things about Haku! The guides and tour were top notch! We passed that Boutique Hotel! It looked like the perfect place to stay! Next time! 😁

Yes! I could have spent an hour in that hotel and wouldn’t mind staying there! Loved the elevator too!

Yikes! Just read that the Mayor of Manta, Ecuador, was assassinated Sunday. Glad Royal cancelled that Port and continues to keep us safe!

We ate at a little Peruvian Cafe. Jim had a traditional Peruvian dish for an appetizer, Papa a La Huancaina (potatoes in spicy sauce) picture below, and I had an avocado salad, very fresh and delicious. For the main course, I had Lomo Salgado, (Peruvian beef stir-fry), picture below, and Jim had fish (mahi). I ordered chicken, but they brought beef and it was delicious. I forgot to take food photos so I copied a couple of Jim’s appetizer and my main. Our food looked identical.

Our last stop of the day was in the Barranco District, or arts district. This was my favorite area, with the brightly colored murals and interesting statues, just a few blocks from the beach! Each mural has a complicated meaning - all interesting! This tour was amazing! We left the Port around 8:30am and finished at the Miraflores bus pickup spot at 5pm. The tour started with 6 people, but just 4 of us after lunch in a new, comfy van. Big kudos to our driver - can’t imagine navigating Lima on a daily basis. Streets full of traffic and crazy drivers! We loved our time in Lima!

We next visited the top of “On Moro Solar”, to see the “Christ of the Pacific” and a beautiful view of the City, including the haphazardly constructed shanty homes on the way up. They are put together by squatters, who end up owning the land if they stay long enough!

We also re-visited the Presidential Palace and saw the changing of the guards (from outside the barriers), and visited the Lima Cathedral Catacombs, built under the Basillica and the Convent of San Francisco (no inside photos allowed), which are undergoing restoration. After lunch, we visited several Parks and enjoyed another dessert snack, a Picarones at “Picarones Mary’s”, famous from “Street Food Latin America”, a Netflix show. Picarones are sweet potato and pumpkin “donuts” drizzled in sugar cane syrup.

Our tour went on to visit “Union Street”, with its UNESCO protected historical buildings. Beautiful mixture of architectural styles and a stop for delicious chocolate filled churros, handmade right in front of us!

In the center of the Plaza St Martin, there is a statue of Jose de San Martin, the liberator of Peru. At the base of the statue, you can see a smaller statue of Madre Patria, the symbolic mother of Peru. The artist was supposed to give her a crown of flames, but in Spanish, flames means llama, so they put a llama on her head! Too funny!

Yesterday, we ended up on a fantastic full day Lima City tour that included lunch with Raku Tours! A driver and assistant tour guide picked us up at the gate and drove us to the Plaza St Martin, in the historic center of Lima. While waiting for the other 4 people in our tour group of six, we stepped into the Gran Hotel Boliver, the first modern hotel built in Lima in 1924. In the 1940’s and 1950’s lots of celebrities and politicians. It was also known for its Pisco Sours. The hotel is still quite grand, but apparently people don’t feel safe staying in that area anymore due to the many protests in the Plaza across the street. The hotel also had a lot of interesting art on the walls. We enjoyed wandering around before our tour!