Callao & Lima, Peru

Having been warned that Callao, the port area for Lima, Peru, was quite dangerous with muggings and other nastiness we opted to ride the ship's bus into town. Lima is a city of 10 Million people in a country of 31 Million people. While it was not a terribly long distance from the port it took about 45 minutes because the traffic is a cross between Rome at rush hour and Bankok.

Traffic control is handled by a female police force wearing snazzy white gun holsters, but according to our guide they never give tickets. Based on what we witnessed they never actually venture into the traffic either. As with other countries we have visited the traffic light system money could have been better spent on landscaping---as they are completely ignored! We experienced total gridlock at intersections where cars trying to turn left did so in front of buses, container trucks, tuk-tuks, you name it. What you ended up with was a game of inches. When someone moved the person with the most guts edged a few inches into the vacated space. And so it went on for 25 minutes at one intersection. Of course, this was accompanied by a horde of pedestrians, taxis going the wrong way, and horns honking! We were glad to be watching from a very comfy, state-of-the-art, bus!

Arriving in Lima we were just in time to watch the changing of the guards at the Government Palace. This impressive building faces the Plaza de Armas de Lima which is surrounded on the other 3 flanks by equally stunning edifices. 

From there Mum & Dad went off to the department store and the guys and I wandered the steets ending up at a local restaurant for some refreshment.  We did stick to beer nuts after having difficulty with even the English language translation menu. one of the sandwich fillings was translated as "guinea pig" which someone on our bus said was correct! Yikes, not fluffy!

Quick lesson on how to stand out like a sore thumb in a foreign city:

Announce in your best Monty Python voice "and thanks go to the Minister of Silly Walks for putting on this special performance" while standing in front of the palace for the Changing of the Guards (thank you Andrew).

Wearing shorts (ok, so it was 70 degrees) when all of the local are in dark suits or long pants, jackets, and in some cases scarves and hats. (Everyone guilty--see top photo above)

Standing head and shoulders above the locals, who average about 5 feet talll, and having lighter-colored hair or facial hair. (All guilty)

Trying to pour a oz. beer into a 12 oz. glass then mopping it up with a tiny cocktail napkin. (Fritz)

Still, the locals seemed to tolerate the odd-balls with polite smiles and we throughly enjoyed our time in Lima (except for the traffic).

Here are a couple of additional shots of Lima.

 Gorgeous Architecture

Great street signs

 Lots of shoe shine stations, all busy!

One added attraction in Callao worth mentioning is the port construction that is taking place across from the ship. We are in port for two days and the men, particularly Roger & Fritz, have spent ages watching the process from the balcony, commenting on the way that they would have done it, and have decided that their expertise could be invaluable. We have offered to leave them here to supervise--stay tuned!