Tuesday April 19th. 2011 At Sea

11.45am

A late start for me today, well I mean, what the heck are sea days for!!! No rush, lay back, take what comes. I had a restless night, sleep would just not come so I read on and off. Dorothy was not too happy with me, I would have gone out on the balcony so as not to disturb her but it was howling out there.

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Dorothy woke me at 9.30am, "where am I" was my first thought, then everything fell into place, she took off for some pool therapy, I nipped up for a coffee and a bite to eat after attending to my grooming and other functions. Joined the already assembled group discussing our upcoming tours in Lima and the one in Costa Rica.

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My turn to laze in the thalasso pool, I was alone with both jets blasting, we really have enjoyed our time up there. The main reason we bought the package was for Dorothy's neck problems but it's helped mine too. After that I sat in the steam room with a guy from Dallas. He was interested in the fact that I was from Calgary, after telling me he did business with the Calgary Stampede Board and would be attending the Stampede this year.

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I'm assuming that "not everything is BIG in Texas" as he clung to his towel while sharing the steam room, on the other hand he may have been sparing me embarrassment. ;)

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The ocean is smooth this morning but the wind is still up there, we seem to have slowed a bit which is strange as the captain  told us it was peddle to the mettle if we were to make it to San Martin by noon tomorrow! His noon time voice from the bridge announced that we'd made good progress throughout the night so perhaps he's conserving fuel..

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Went up top for ice cream hour, there are always two flavors but no sign identifying what is what. I did ask the "ice cream man" but couldn't make out what he said, so had one scoop of each and still don't know what flavors I had plus, they seem to have run out of chocolate sprinkles!!!.

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Less than 24 hours till we set foot on dry land again after seven days at sea. Because all tours bar one were canceled due to our late arrival, the tour to Tambo Colorado is full. They have provided shuttle busses to beautiful down town San Martin for us though, it's a small fishing village located about 145 miles south  of Lima, not far from the town of Pisco so no doubt copious quantities of Pisco sours will be consumed, to celebrate  this fact. There are docking facilities at San Martin, always nice not to have to tender, it's on the Paracas  Peninsular surrounded by sand dunes with an average temperature at this time of year, 85/90 f.

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Apparently the ancient Paracas culture thrived here from 1300 BC to 200 AD. This was discovered  by archeologist J.C.Tello in 1925. The tombs contained woven textiles from this period along with mummies and other artifacts.

Leaping ahead 1200 years to the Inca period you'll find the Tambo Colorado fortress, built of adobe and stone in 1440 and is believed to be the site which housed the high priest and was used  for sun worshipping, studying astronomy and agriculture. Here also is a temple, food silos and the high priest's chambers, along with a sacrificial altar and soldier barracks.

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The mini Galapagos, "Islas Ballestas" are just a two hour cruise away, but unfortunately our stop does not give us time to visit them, sooooo it's down town San Martin or nothing for us.

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Hasta Manana.