I’ve been under the weather the past few days – everyone on the ship has been hacking away. I went to a pharmacy in Paracas and ran into a fellow traveler who was getting antibiotics. You can buy them over the counter in South America. I brought some which I started taking. It’s probably just viral and the antibiotics won’t help but I am feeling a tad better. Just lying down gets difficult because of the cough. I can’t imagine I have Covid. I just had it a month ago so I should still have antibodies.
I don’t usually do ship tours but it was easy not having to figure out what to do and this tour sounded good and reasonably priced at $109 per person. I have to say the ship tours in South America have been very expensive. Another reason not to do them besides feeling like cattle being herded onto a bus.
After a 15 minute wait in the theater, we made it on the tour bus!
Our cruise director, Ed, said that right outside the gate the neighborhood was extremely dangerous and we should not walk there. As we drove by the area, we could see the impoverished neighborhood was expansive. Many of the buildings did not have roofs because without roofs they could not be taxed. How sad for these poor people that they could not even use tourism to help them out of poverty.
In the distance, we could see a church.
As we neared the yacht club the neighborhood seemed to improve. The yacht club was small but there were several boats to accommodate our adventure. The tour company was Mar Adentro Excursiones. We donned our life jackets and were off!
The writing on the mountain was Peruvian Coat of Arms. It was put there by their military and they used plants for the lettering.
The guide called this Moai, after the same face like sculptures on Easter Island. If you look closely at it you could see 3 faces. He said this was used by fishermen as a guide.
It was a beautiful ride to Palomina Island.
We finally saw a group of penguins.
Then we reached Palomino Island, the home to thousands of sea lions.
The smell was horrendous. We were warned but I had to keep breathing into my hand until I adjusted to the smell. The water temp was 64 degrees. Since I’ve had a cold, I decided not to swim. None of the sea lions approached the swimmers so I was glad I decided not to get wet!
After spending time with the sea lions we headed back to the yacht club.
A submarine given to Peru by the US is in the harbor. It is used as a museum.
A few pelicans gathered on the rocks!
It was a fun afternoon spent looking at the wildlife if Peru!
In the evening we were treated to a Peruvian musical company! They were fantastic!
What a great day!
#marsadentroexcursiones#moai#peru#sealions#pelicans
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