Today is the first of 4 tours we have booked with Bill and Christy, a couple on Cruise Critic who have organized multiple tours in every single port of call (and they’ve been on the ship since Buenos Aires). They are amazing – the spreadsheet they have to keep track of everything is a work of art on its own – but the fact that they’ve organized all this, have booked the tours, appointed group leaders then have meetings before we all leave the ship – fabulous.
We are on tour 5 in group 9, and we meet up with all our other tour mates in the passport lounge where Bill organizes us in our groups and gives us our instructions (don’t be late, sit in your same seats on the bus, etc.). He’s gotta be a travel agent or tour guide or scout master or something in the real world! Bob is our group leader and we follow him off the ship onto the port shuttle that will take us into Lima, dropping us off at a plaza near a shopping mall where our tour guide will pick us up.
The ride takes about 30 minutes in heavy traffic – and it’s only 7:30am. There are long lines of people waiting or buses and little vans on the side of the street, and more people walking around. This is a busy, busy city. Arriving at the plaza, it is awash with cruise passengers, tour guides and taxi drivers all looking out for customers and clients. Crazy! It all gets sorted out rather quickly – our guides all have signs with Bill’s name and a group number, so that’s easy enough. Unfortunately we hit a little bump in the road when our tour guide hasn’t shown up yet. A guide has our sign to organize us, but he’s just holding the sign. It takes a little while, but finally we have our guide (although, this guy was standing with Bill for a while, and then gave him a card or something out of his wallet, so I’m sort of convinced he’s the back up guide – but he’s ours for the day nonetheless). Yanny (pronounced that way, I’m sure it isn’t spelled that way) takes control and marches us down the street to our waiting van and driver, Luis, (which btw has the number 8 in the window, which I know will sow confusion down the road) and we head off into the traffic.
Our first stops today will be the 2 main plazas of Lima, then we will go for a “food” tour at 3 different restaurants. A little bit of cultural history and a whole lot of food culture – our kind of tour. Ok, so, for simplicity’s sake, I’m just going to list what we do next, because, it is exactly the same tour we took 3 years ago in Lima – and I’ve already written all about it and posted all the same pictures we are about to take on the aPRIL 14, 2016 blog entry (helpful link here).
- First stop: Plaza San Martin for the Hotel Bolivar (where we take a restroom break), then wander through the plaza listening to the same story about the llama on the statue’s head – but different from last time, this time Yanny and another guide are stopped by the police and asked for their IDs and questioned (we later find out it is because unlicensed guides are a big problem in the city and the police are trying to crack down on them – we all figured it was just graft and the copy wanted a pay out, but Yanny says no).
- Second stop: Plaza de Armas for the great architecture with the beautifully bright yellow facades, the president’s house, the mayor’s house and the main cathedral. Then to the Chocolate museum for chocolate tea, then to the oldest bar, El Cordero.
- This is where the tour differs from last time. This time instead of parading through it, we actually stop here for our first set of appetizers. We are shown to a back room where we can all sit together (and away from the regular patrons) and are served Butifarro (ham sandwiches) and Causa (a stacked dish made up of mashed corn on the bottom and top with chicken salad in the middle) and the beverage of our choice, including beer. Very nice and very fun diversion.
- Then it is on to the Saint Francis cathedral for the catacombs museum, which again is the exact same as last time. Although this time there are hundreds and hundreds of people lined up waiting to get inside the cathedral. It is because it is the 28th, and on the 28th of every month people come to pray to St. Jude, the patron of lost causes. The line is crazy, wrapping back and forth 5 or 6 times in the courtyard outside the church, most of those waiting with flowers in their hands. Yanny says we can go inside the cathedral without waiting in line, and we do eventually squeeze our way past the waiting pilgrimage. But the chapel for St. Jude is right next to the front door, so it is still jam packed inside, plus there is a mass being said, so we don’t last very long – 2 quick pictures (that I don’t even feel comfortable about) and we are squeezing our way back out the door. Phew. What a scene!
Once we all manage to extricate ourselves from the cathedral, we hop back in the van to head to Miraflores, the modern area of town to go see, of all things a pyramid. Huh? We had no idea there was a pyramid in Lima! But, indeed there is – in the middle of Miraflores with a tall glass office building as a back drop. Huaca Pucllana is dated from sometime between 20 AD and 700 AD, built as a ceremonial center with tombs inside. Most of the structures have been destroyed as Lima has expanded into the Chancay and Lurin valley areas, but this pyramid remains, as I said, surrounded by modern buildings The existing complex sits on 6 hectares (15 acres) of land, towering above us in stark ecru adobe, looking very Mayan – but I guess really Aztecan. It is pretty amazing to think that more of these structures existed in the city but were destroyed as the population moved outward from the city. Even though this pyramid was conserved it is still smaller than the original structure which is estimated to have been as large as 18 hectares (45 acres).
After a few moments of picture taking, we are escorted in the Huaca Pucllana restaurant for our next round of appetizers. Talk about a great venue! We are seated outside, underneath a tent roof, adorned with wooden tree trunks as supports, overlooking the pyramid. It’s white linen table cloths with black clad waiters who serve us an excellent sweet pepper roll to go along with parmesan encrusted scallops, fried shrimp (minced) wrapped around crab claws, beef hearts, and – are you ready? – Cuy! Yes, Cuy – or Guinea Pig – the Peruvian delicacy. We can’t believe it! We've been talking about it, and guessing whether we’d be served any – but we’d always figured no way would they do that – and here it is – all laid out beautifully atop a fried plantain chip. Oh yummo! Everything is absolutely delicious (well, I don’t know about the beef heart – I didn’t even go there!), and the Cuy is wonderfully prepared – not like anything we had in Cusco – this is fried and crispy and reminds you of pork belly. Totally excellent!
Our last stop of the day is at Punto Azul – a local seafood restaurant. Here ceviche is the specialty, but they have tons of other seafood offerings as well. Yanny says tourists don’t normally come here, and that there are no reservations so locals can wait 20 or 30 minutes just for a table. But of course, he’s worked something out for us! After arriving, we make our way through the throngs at the door and end up having to wait in the stairwell off the restrooms for 5 or 10 minutes until our table is ready. We are seated upstairs in a little room where we make up the bulk of the guests and treated to a fantastic seafood meal. Ed and I decide to split a ceviche mixto while he orders his Pulpo Emparrillado (grilled octopus). Others around the table order shrimp in an almost curry type sauce and parmesan baked fish or scallops. There are corn nuts on the table (oh joy!) plus we can have the drink of our choice – a lot of folks got the Pisco Sour to try, but I stuck with white wine, Ed with beer). The food comes out in heaping portions (just as Yanny promised). It all looks so good, and everyone seems to enjoy their choices. I know we enjoyed ours! The ceviche mixto is chock full of tasty white fish, shrimps, some octopus slices and clam pieces, all in an excellent traditional lemon-lime juice/sauce. There are huge pieces of yummy corn (I’m guessing choclo) and tons of onions to give it just the right amount of flavor. Ed’s octopus is huge and perfectly cooked over a bed of what appears – and tastes – like potato salad. Wow – what a spread.
We manage to finish all the protein on our plates, but there is definitely no dinner in our future – por supuesto! What a great tour!
We all groan our way back to the van, where we bid Yanny farewell and go with Luis back to the port. The drive is pretty, along the coast most of the way, then inland again, past the new soccer stadium being built for the Pan-American games, and along the same roads we took leaving this morning. Traffic picks up a little at the port, and while we are waiting to cross the road to go into the port area, we sit outside what appears to be a private residence with a steel frame pool outside. We can’t decide if this is someone’s personal pool sitting in the street, or if they are selling the pools? If it is personal, it takes living on the street to a whole new level!
At the port entrance, after some lengthy discussion including ID examination, Luis is turned away, to which the entire bus says “uh oh.” But, after a few minutes of unease, turns out to be fine as we pull into the main entrance to the port and are greeted with the huge line of passengers waiting to board the shuttle to the ship. Phew – no worries now!
The wait turns out to be not so bad, and we are on the bus and back to the ship in a relatively short time. We don’t even have to stand in line to board the ship, because virtually everyone on the 3 buses in front of us has run to the little souvenir tents that have been set up portside – so while they shop – we board.
Just in time for our evening routine to begin! Although tonight we are varying the routine, by not going to Blu for dinner, but heading up to the buffet for a salad. Period. Then skipping the show, I nap, Ed reads, and then head out for a late night music show where Sashi, an excellent solo guitarist/singer, performs a spectacular rendition of Adele. She has an amazing voice and talent, and now we are scoping her out in all her venues across the ship.
And that is the end of another good evening aboard the Celebrity Eclipse.
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