Well,  I cannot believe it has already been 2 weeks .  If anyone thought a ship full of “old” people would be boring, well think again.  There is so much to do each day and then it has been a bit crazy trying to get unpacked and settling into the cabin and a routine.  We headed out of Ft. Lauderdale and around the north & east side of Cuba.  Coming down between there and the Dominican Republic entering the Cariibbean.  The Southbound trip was quite rough and it was a tough go for a day but “C” and I seem to be getting our sea legs under us now. 

Cartagena was a pleasant surprise.  It is an extremely clean city and port.  Actually the port area itself had a lot of fun things for us.  We saw a toucan in the tree right after getting off the shuttle. 

 

 

There were lots of parrots, flamingos and peacocks all wandering around as well.  It gave “C” a chance to try out his new camera right away.  We hired a tour guide with a mini bus with 6 other passengers and we had a quick tour around Cartagena.  We stopped at the El Castillo de San Felipe de Borajas.  

An amazing fort that sits high up on the hill protecting the city from the many attacks it experienced during its history. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there we visited the old walled city.  It has amazing examples of colonial architecture and was a photographers dream.  We even saw some Christmas street decorations, lacework strung over the roads. 

 

 

 

 While enroute to our final stop, we saw the infamous secret service hotel.  The last stop on our short trip was to an Emerald museum/shop.  They had a very neat exhibit about the mining process and what makes Colombian emeralds different.  Overall the city is quite a contrast between old colonial and ultra modern construction.  

  

The next day found us transiting the Panama Canal.  We were up before sunrise to watch us entering the Gatun Locks.  C found the first lock interesting but from then on it was much the same.  Gavin got a great shot of the ship passing through the Miraflores lock later in the day.  As we entered the Pacific Ocean, we could see Panama City off in the distance with the newest of the Trump “sail” buildings and a building by the architect that built the Guggenheim in Europe.  The latter was quite colorful.

The sea day allowed me to finally get us unpacked.  That evening, we had an interesting talk by John Amos.  He is famously known as JJ’s dad from Good Times and also from Roots.  He did numerous episodes as a recurring character on the Mary Tyler Moore show as well.  He talked about his life and how he came to be an actor via a career in football and advertising.  He remained with the ship until Lima.

Following this sea day we visited Manta, Eucador.  It is a nice fishing town were we visited a local market with handicrafts, the most famous being the Panama Hats.  They are actually from here not Panama.  We purchased a pelican that was carved from a nut/fruit that grows on a palm tree. 

Following 2 more sea days, including the 2^nd of 19 formal nights, we arrived in Lima, Peru for a 2 day visit.  On the first day we took the shuttle to Miraflores, a suburb of Lima.  Here we visited a shopping mall that is tiered on the side of a cliff.  “C” had a burger at Burger King.  We then took a taxi ride to the Herrera Museum.  They have approx 44,000 antiquities there, detailing much of the Peruvian history.  This museum’s founder is largely responsible for helping to distinguish the different periods of history rather than just lumping it together.  We learned the ancient Peruvians viewed the heavens and Gods to be represented by birds, the earth existence to be represented by felines and the dead to be represented by serpents.  They view it all as a continual circular progression.  There were many amazing gold and silver pieces in the permanent exhibits.  Almost as amazing was the store room which contains an outstanding 40,000 pieces of art that is available for the public to look at.  This storeroom is a renowned locale and many scholars come to study the pieces found here.

That evening, we had a BBQ poolside for dinner with wonderful beef cooked on a long skewer.  The evening’s show was a local dance group called Inkamerica.  It was a fun and entertaining show.   “C” lasted through much of it before becoming too sleepy since it was at 9:30.

The 2^nd day in Lima we just wandered to the local Indian markets.  Connor purchased a damaso, a small drum with balls attached to strings on either side.  You play this drum by rolling the handle between your hands, causing the balls to strike either side of the drum.   I purchased a pendant that represents the Incan calendar. 

Our final destination in Peru was General San Martin.  We took a wonderful tour arranged through cruise critic.  We headed out on a speedboat to the Ballestas Islands off the coast.  When we arrived there we saw 3 species of Boobies, the most prevalent of them being the Guana.   They build their nests of guana and every few years there are people who go collect the guana from these islands to sell for fertilizer.  It makes a lot of money for Peru. We also saw Humboldt penguins.  We were fortunate to see babies of both species.  We were also taken up close and personal to sea lions.   There were several large bulls and many females and babies, both in the water and sunning on the rocks.  It was pretty amazing to see all of these creatures up close and in such numbers. 

baby humboldt penguin
 

En route to the islands we had seen the Candelabra, a fascinating “structure” in the sands of the desert. 
They don’t know who put it there or why, but it has been there for a very long time.   After stopping at a local mini market, the tour concluded with multiple stops in the Paracas (strong winds) Reserve.  The whole reserve was under the ocean many years ago and was located in Patagonia (off Argentina).  It has moved to Peru due to shifts in the tectonic plates.  We visited sites with fossils both inland and on the harbor.  We also saw where the earthquake of 2007 destroyed a portion of the natural bridge archway and left huge cracks in the ground.  All in all it was a wonderful day.

Now we are at sea for 4 days heading to Easter Island.