FROM PERU-March 11
Because our first scheduled stop (Coquimbo) was cancelled due to the Insignia having to wait for us travelers from Toronto on Sunday we started the cruise with 3 sea days. Today is the first of 3 shore days in Peru. Betty came down with something and spent Tuesday in bed. She tho
ught at first it might be seasickness, but I think it is just a delayed reaction to stress. Wednesday she accompanied me to meals but isn’t ready to eat just yet.
The ship is relatively small (compared to our previous cruises) and our stateroom is also smaller although quite adequate. The meals, on the other hand, are fabulous. On Tuesday while Betty tried to down some room service consommé I headed out to the Captain’s champagne cocktail party and then on to dinner in the Grande Dining Room. There I started with a huge mound of black caviar, skipped the soup and salad courses, and then went directly to my prime rib which I washed down with an excellent Cab from California. It was difficult to choose the prime rib over the Peking duck and the Maine steamed lobster, but I did manage. Last night we (really just I) ate at one of the specialty restaurants where my oysters were followed with about the best rack of lamb I have ever tasted. The wine list is very good with lots of affordable wines from California and South America. There are also lots of high end French wines, but I fear that many (Chateau Petrus, for example) are out of my price range. There are also a lot of wines from Uruguay which I have yet to try.
There is open seating in all the restaurants and we usually ask to be seated with others. Virtually everyone on board is retired so in a way you could call this ship a floating nursing home. Nonetheless, each passenger is interesting in his (her) own way. At the table last night was a nuclear physicist who was just publishing his first novel and a dentist who will follow this cruise with a trip to Scotland to chase ghosts. Most are veteran travelers who have been to many more places than we have.
This morning the ship docked in Callao (a city port of about 1 million) which runs into Lima (9 million people). Prior to the trip 12 people via the internet arranged a two-day tour of Lima. Our bus/van picked us up at 8:00 this morning and it was a long day.
Because of this being an earthquake area no buildings are tall so the city is spread all over. Some of the city is nice but huge portions are slums and our tour guide seemed to want to show us all of them.
Peru is still a very Ca
tholic country. Until 1920 you could be sent to jail 
for not being 
Catholic. Part of that heritage was to build churches everywhere and I think I walked through all of them today. First we saw 100’s of paintings of dead Catholics. Then we saw 100’s of statues of dead Catholics. Then we went down to the catacombs under the biggest Cathedral and saw 1000’s of very dead Catholics.
At noon we went to the changing of the guard at the President’s Palace. Unlike the wimpy ceremony in Stockholm last year, this one was quite impressive. On the other hand, it seemed a bit like watching an old Zorro movie.
Because our first scheduled stop (Coquimbo) was cancelled due to the Insignia having to wait for us travelers from Toronto on Sunday we started the cruise with 3 sea days. Today is the first of 3 shore days in Peru. Betty came down with something and spent Tuesday in bed. She tho
ught at first it might be seasickness, but I think it is just a delayed reaction to stress. Wednesday she accompanied me to meals but isn’t ready to eat just yet.The ship is relatively small (compared to our previous cruises) and our stateroom is also smaller although quite adequate. The meals, on the other hand, are fabulous. On Tuesday while Betty tried to down some room service consommé I headed out to the Captain’s champagne cocktail party and then on to dinner in the Grande Dining Room. There I started with a huge mound of black caviar, skipped the soup and salad courses, and then went directly to my prime rib which I washed down with an excellent Cab from California. It was difficult to choose the prime rib over the Peking duck and the Maine steamed lobster, but I did manage. Last night we (really just I) ate at one of the specialty restaurants where my oysters were followed with about the best rack of lamb I have ever tasted. The wine list is very good with lots of affordable wines from California and South America. There are also lots of high end French wines, but I fear that many (Chateau Petrus, for example) are out of my price range. There are also a lot of wines from Uruguay which I have yet to try.
There is open seating in all the restaurants and we usually ask to be seated with others. Virtually everyone on board is retired so in a way you could call this ship a floating nursing home. Nonetheless, each passenger is interesting in his (her) own way. At the table last night was a nuclear physicist who was just publishing his first novel and a dentist who will follow this cruise with a trip to Scotland to chase ghosts. Most are veteran travelers who have been to many more places than we have.
This morning the ship docked in Callao (a city port of about 1 million) which runs into Lima (9 million people). Prior to the trip 12 people via the internet arranged a two-day tour of Lima. Our bus/van picked us up at 8:00 this morning and it was a long day.
Because of this being an earthquake area no buildings are tall so the city is spread all over. Some of the city is nice but huge portions are slums and our tour guide seemed to want to show us all of them.
Peru is still a very Ca
tholic country. Until 1920 you could be sent to jail 
for not being 
Catholic. Part of that heritage was to build churches everywhere and I think I walked through all of them today. First we saw 100’s of paintings of dead Catholics. Then we saw 100’s of statues of dead Catholics. Then we went down to the catacombs under the biggest Cathedral and saw 1000’s of very dead Catholics.At noon we went to the changing of the guard at the President’s Palace. Unlike the wimpy ceremony in Stockholm last year, this one was quite impressive. On the other hand, it seemed a bit like watching an old Zorro movie.
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