Next stop Miraflores Park high above the Pacific Ocean with sweeping vistas along the coast. Then it was on to the Indian market and while Izzy explored the market, I took a harrowing 5 minute taxi trip to a nearby grocery store to buy some wine. With 4 bottles in hand I took the reverse trip and was soon back at Indian market. The 4 bottles cost about $30 plus about $4 taxi fares, compared to the average price of a bottle on board ship at about $30, the effort was well worthwhile. The traffic was incessant and drivers seemed to follow few rules, constantly on the horn, moving into any space available. Back at the ship, we had lunch then vegetated the rest of the day watching the events dockside. One of the ‘events’ we did not witness but saw the results of, was a failure in the pipe joint pumping fuel oil onto the ship from a tanker trailer on dock. The joint failed under pressure and sprayed oil over a large area of dock, the side of the ship and part of the gangway, fortunately it did not affect any passengers and when we saw it they were washing down the side of the ship and sweeping up oil soaked sand from the dock. I’ve never seen so many seagulls in one place there are thousands of them around and there effects can be seen all over the dock, like a Jackson Pollock painting, every square meter is dappled white with little of the underlying surface visible, it’s quite a nice effect. Two medical emergencies yesterday, an old guy passed out in the restaurant right behind our table and an older woman broke/injured her ankle and was stretchered off, presumably for treatment at a local hospital. Considering the age of the average passenger, I expect they won’t be the last medevacs we see. After dinner we watched a movie, had a couple of drinks and then went to a folkloric show in the main lounge.
Friday January 30th, slept late as we didn’t have any plans for the day, even though we were still docked in Callao until 01.00pm. The small local market set up dockside yesterday, was still there today so we took a walk ashore and bought a couple of teeshirts before having lunch then watching the sail away from the promenade deck. I was surprised at Lima, it was different than I had imagined and I could probably live here, except for the fact that they have constantly humid conditions that might get a bit wearing after a while. I’ll may not post again for 3 or 4 days as it’s 2032 miles of ocean to Easter Island, so the next 4 days are sea days and unless something unusual happens I‘ll vegetate and enjoy the warm weather.
