Lima, Peru

After a standard, rather uneventful flight from Toronto to Lima via Miami, we arrived at the hotel  just after 11:00 last night. We, and two other couples from our tour, were met at the airport by one of the local tour operators who gave us a few quick tips about Peru in general and Lima in particular. Did you know, for instance, that it hasn't actually rained in Lima since 1970?? There's quite a bit of humidity in the air, but it falls more as mist than as rain. Our guide from last night said that he remembered when it rained 44 years ago - the buildings here are made with flat roofs and no allowance for excess water - and that the water that fell on the roof of his apartment building all drained down through the elevator shafts!

Our hotel, the Belmond Miraflores Park, used to be the Orient Express hotel and is one of the nicest in the city, according to our guide. It certainly is beautiful and in a very nice part of town, right by the ocean.

 

The lobby meeting and sitting area looks
like a library

There is a little pond outside the main entrance that is
home to quite a few of these guys

 

Our room is quite large - in fact, we might guess that the bathroom itself is about 3/4 the size of one of the bedrooms at home - and has an ocean view. The room, not the bathroom!!  The sitting area is right in front of the picture window with a couch and two chairs. Very comfortable!

This morning after a lovely buffet breakfast we took a walk through the park across the street and along the cliffside. Our guide from last night told us that there is a shopping plaza, the Larcomar, UNDER a park a short distance from the hotel, so we decided to check that out. Only here could they think of building a two-level mall into the side of a cliff!!

We stopped at the Juan Valdez Coffee Shop for a mid-morning coffee (instead of Starbuck's which was on the next level up) and scoped out places to try for lunch.

After spending a little time relaxing in the hotel's lobby bar with our e-readers, we wandered back to Larcomar for lunch. We ate at the Mangos Restaurant, outside overlooking the cliff and the sea. It is a bit cool, not so much from the temperature but from the breeze. You could tell that we must be tourists since the locals were wearing long sleeves, jackets or sweaters, and many of the women were in boots!!

Larry looking forward to trying his fish ceviche

Quinoa salad with fried prawns - and a Pisco Sour,
the national Peruvian drink, on the side
 

We're back in the hotel now, getting ready for the evening. There is a very nice restaurant in the hotel called Tragaluz where we plan to eat dinner. We will be meeting our tour director, Marcos, and the rest of the group at breakfast in the morning.

We've taken a quick look at the itinerary Marcos has sent for us, and it looks like we will be in for our share of early mornings and long days on this trip as well, although not quite as early or as long as the African Safari last year. We will probably have some time to work on blog posts most days. Keep an eye out for updates.

 

Off Again to South America

Hello again! Here we are in final preparation for our adventure to Peru and Bolivia. We were just saying that it seems that we spend quite a bit of time in South America - this will be at least the fourth time we've been there. Maybe it's because there is so much to see and every country has something different and interesting to offer. Nevertheless, this will be the first time we spend a lot of time in one area and we're really looking forward to it. Of course, having had Machu Picchu on our 'bucket list' for many a year doesn't hurt the anticipation factor either.

As usual, we have to start the blog with the requisite cat photo. Franklin is getting a bit better at nosing around in the suitcases but we can't always guarantee a Thomas-like plant on top of our clothes, so we'll take the next best thing:

As long as I stay sleeping here you can't leave!!

We are doing a ten day escorted tour with Tauck Tours, the same company we went to Africa with last year, so we know it will be a great trip. We will be on our way on Tuesday morning with a recovery day in Lima on Wednesday while we wait for the rest of the group to arrive. The tour officially starts on Thursday. Hope you have fun following along with us on this adventure.

The Picture Post

Since we really didn't do too much after our stop in Bridgetown, we'll use this last post for photos of sailaways, things to see around the ship, and food!

At our last report, we had been invited (along with 200 of our closest friends) to a heli-pad sailaway from Dominica. It certainly did give us a different perspective on the ship:

              

The next day in St. Maarten was pretty much a stay-on-the-ship day with the exception of a little shopping we managed to do in the pierside shops. The local authorities are continuing to develop the harbour area and have now blocked the easiest foot access to town. So the options are to walk along the road (not dangerous but a longer route) or take the water taxi, whose rates have now gone from $5 return trip to $7. Considering we didn't absolutely have to go into town, it wasn't worth the cost.

              

With our last sea day about half gone, we'll get the bulk of our packing done before we head out again. We did get to two lectures from ship's officers about navigation and the ship's engineering and propulsion systems, so it hasn't been an entirely 'wasted' day. So to finish off the blog for this trip, here are a few more photos. If there's anything else of interest to tell you about, we may post a little more later on.

The Gelato Bar

             

Lemongrass Creme Brulee



Larry's Three Cheesecake dessert

 

 

The Martini Bar - yes, the bar top is frosted over!

 

Crush - the other part of the wine bar. That frosty looking
stuff in the middle of the table really IS crushed ice!

 

 

One of the specialties of the bar is the Martini flight. The bartender
has made 6 different mini-martinis (1.5 oz each) and is
pouring them all at the same time.

 

Seafood salad

Branzino (snapper) seems to be the executive chef's favourite fish!

Why do we have a photo of a cake? Because it's not
a cake, it's a glass sculpture!! Made by one of the Corning
Glass Museum artisans on another cruise. It looks
positively delicious!

We've been very impressed with just about everything we've seen on this ship, and can understand why so many of Larry's clients are booking Solstice class. Though the ship is 'large' the public areas are all on a human scale, not overwhelming but big enough that everyone is comfortable and no one seems crowded. The only disappointing area has been the production shows. Although they've done a lot of work on them, two of the three didn't seem to have a theme to tie the individual acts together. The last one, Equinox - the Show, is a Cirque du Soleil style acrobatic show. The specialty performers were fantastic, but we couldn't figure out the set design, odd costumes (the ensemble dancers looked like a cross between Hobbits and Ewoks and the singers' costumes might have been designed for Star Wars) or the music and how it all was supposed to tie together.  Oh, well, maybe somebody else can explain it to us sometime. Overall, a relaxing getaway from the cold winter. Back to snowy reality tomorrow - we know; we can already hear all those little finger violins playing in the background!

               

In The Warm Caribbean

 Sorry to be rubbing it in when you're getting so much snow at home - thanks for the e-mails and, from Judy and Maureen, the photos, letting us know what kind of weather we're missing.

Since our last blog post, we've visited St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Barbados and, today, Dominica. We have had the odd sprinkle to deal with, but only little squalls and no downpours. Of course, our standard response to that is, "You don't have to shovel rain", and many of our Canadian and American fellow cruisers have been agreeing. For once, we have a common conversational topic in that almost everybody we've talked to has had some form of bad weather to deal with since December.

But let's go back a few days and bring you up to speed. One of the added entertainment features on some of the Solstice class ships is the Glass Blowing Exhibition. Artisans from the Corning Glass Museum are on board to demonstrate their craft make numerous gorgeous pieces for display at the museum. Apparently they also will auction off a few of the items they made at the end of each cruise with the money raised going to charity. Here are a couple of photos of things that they've made.

A sea shell

Ryanne working on a colourful fish

       

We decided that it would be easier to have breakfast in our suite on tour days, just to save us having to join everyone else in the buffet. Not that the buffet is by any stretch inferior to any other food we've had. In fact, we like the layout - large stations for the various types of foods (and more than one of each); plates, bowls and cutlery available everywhere; and most importantly, lots of room to get around all the other diners. But since we have Jean, our butler, ready and willing to bring our breakfast to us, it is less rushed and stressful to do it that way.

On Monday morning, we arrived bright and early in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. Or, as Larry likes to call it "the Disneyland of Shopping". Our catamaran tour was taking us to Buck Island, 3 miles off St. Thomas, to go snorkeling with the sea turtles. The island is a nature preserve so you can't set foot on it, but that doesn't mean you can't sail up to it. There must have been another 5 tour boats there with groups doing the same thing, but it seemed to be fairly well managed and we never got groups mixed up with each other. And Monica did get up close to one of the turtles, too.

That thing in the middle is a sea turtle just starting his 'flight'
from the sea bed to the surface.

Just under the surface at the coral reef. Those striped
fish are called Sergeant Majors

               

After our snorkeling, we motored over to Honeymoon Beach, which is actually on one of the small islands that make up the harbour protection for Charlotte Amalie. Here the captain took the boat as close to the beach as he could - close enough that even Larry managed to get into the water.

What decadence! A warm sandy beach AND a
fruit punch without having to get out of the water.

The ultimate swim-up bar

              

After the tour, the only thing we really had to do was take Monica's sapphire watch back to H. Stern to get the battery replaced - at least that's what they said 5 years ago when we bought it. Unfortunately, they don't do battery replacement any more, so we have to find someone at home with the 'right quality' of battery for the watch. But if that's the ONLY problem we have...

Charlotte Amalie

 On Tuesday we visited St. Kitts. We had been here before, but had only gone to specific sites and hadn't seen much of the island. We decided to remedy that this time, and took the "Rail and Sail" tour. The first part of the tour was on a narrow-gauge railroad, and after that we transferred to a catamaran for the trip back to Basseterre and the ship.

We discovered that St. Kitts, even though it is no more than 68 square miles in size, has a lot to offer in terms of things to see and do. Tourism is now the major economic source for the island; they officially gave up on sugar cane in 2005 because it is such an expensive crop to grow and process that it was no longer bringing in enough revenue to support the population and services. All of the people we met were great ambassadors for their nation and, with what we saw during our tour, we decided it would be a really nice place to come back to for a couple of weeks vacation. Clean, friendly, diverse, and always warm and sunny - what else can you ask for?

The train itself is a narrow-gauge railroad that was built originally to transport sugar cane to the processing plants on the coast. It now hauls five two-deck passenger cars for the tour around the southern half of the island. We actually sat on the open upper level, which made for a rather noisy, and "rock-and-roll" ride as the narrow gauge of the tracks, combined with height of the cars, makes the cars sway from side to side. Still, a comfortable journey, made all the moreso by the fact the bar opened as soon as we got onboard, at 9:15 AM, and stayed open until we got to the end of the ride 90 minutes later! Pina Coladas for breakfast anyone??

On the train, looking toward the mountains and the
longest rail bridge on the island

A view of one of the 68 sugar mill ruins on the island with
St. Eustacius in the background

From the train, it was a short ride to the pier and the catamaran for the one hour sail back to Basseterre and the ship. And the bar opened there as soon as the ship left the pier! See a pattern developing here? The good news is they also gave us lunch, and no one over-indulged. After sailing through a brief shower, it was sunshine and warm weather back to the pier, which was conveniently located right next to the shopping mall at the end of the pier where the cruise ships dock. Such a coincidence!

The view from the catamaran

   

On Wednesday we stopped in Barbados. We had been here before as well, but a long time ago and we were looking for a good tour to see more of the island. Well, we got it, but there weren't that many good opportunities to get photos. Barbados is only 166 square miles, and we figure we probably saw about 100 of them! Our driver, Ian, took us through 6 of the 11 parishes that make up the island and gave us lots of information along the way. Here are a few shots we could get:

                              

One of the very old churches on the island. This one has structural problems and
can no longer host services. There is active fundraising to get a
company from England to try to repair it.

 

Our jungle drive. One of the huge banyan trees. Although
Green Monkeys are all over the island, we didn't see any

 

At Bathsheba Beach on the Atlantic side

 

One of the golf courses at the Sandy Lane Resort. Looks really nice!

Part of the tour included a visit to Harrison's Cave, one of the premier attractions of Barbados and one that can't be duplicated anywhere else in the islands. This is because, unlike the Windward and Leeward Islands that were formed by volcanic eruption, Barbados is a product of plate tectonics. The Atlantic Ridge and the Caribbean Ridge pushed against each other with the Atlantic Ridge moving underneath millions of years ago. Over time, sediment and the calcified remains of gazillions of small sea creatures built the area up, and ultimately a few tectonic heaves pushed the top of the mass through the surface of the ocean. Now if you look closely at the rock faces you can easily see fossilized shells and rudimentary types of coral. As a result of this development, a large cave system was also created basically across about 2/3 of the island about half-way between the north and south ends. As the land where the original entrance was found had been on land owned by  one Thomas Harrison, it became known as Harrison's Cave.

The ride through the cave is about 40 minutes long and is done on very quiet electric-powered trams with a guide pointing out all sorts of things along the way. Even Monica, whose claustrophobia is well-known, managed to get through the tour without any problems - even when all the lights were turned off to show us just how dark the inside of a cave really is.

Stalagmites growing from the cave floor

Entering the 'Great Hall' over 60 ft high. The only
thing you have to watch for is the cave rain that
drips down on you

Water flowing across the white 'flow stone' rich
with calcium. Sometimes you think you're
riding along an ice wall, or maybe an icing wall

                              

So that's been pretty much it for now. We've been making a point of getting to the gym and have so far managed both Tuesday and Thursday (this) mornings, thereby keeping to our regular routines to some degree. The gym is quite well equipped so we're not having any trouble doing at least a few of our regular exercises along with our cardio.

Dominica has been a stay-on-the-ship day since most of the tours went to places we've already been, but we received an invitation this morning for a heli-pad sailway party (on the bow) as we leave. So we'll have a few more photos of the island coming up. We're having dinner tonight with Sue, one of the other consultants who works with Larry, and her husband Lou. They managed to get a last-minute booking and we've run into each other once or twice already.

Celebrity Equinox

We had a really nice dinner with Susan on Thursday evening at Market 17. This restaurant's menus are entirely market-based and will change on a daily basis depending on what is available. Talk about constant inspiration for the chef. The menus also list the sources for the meats, seafood and produce that was used in that day's creations. It was funny that although we have stayed in the area many, many times, we had never really noticed that the restaurant was there right beside the Bridge.

               

 

 

On Friday morning, we wandered over to the Harbour Cafe for breakfast, as we like to do when we're in the area. Just like with Market 17, it was amazing how much more we could see by walking around instead of driving. Now there are even more little places to check out, from Irish to Mexican and Italian, no more than a few minutes' walk from either the Hyatt Place or the Hyatt Regency.

Once we were checked in and on board Celebrity Equinox, we started our regular wander around to get oriented with the ship and where everything is. Our first impression: it is a beautiful ship, and very nicely laid out so that there never seems to be a crowd anywhere (but then we haven't been at the outside pool on a sea day yet!). Lots of windows in the public areas and the seating is really thoughtfully done; there are little alcoves where a small group can gather, many of them partially divided from the corridor with lightweight curtains to give the idea of some privacy and hold the sounds from conversations inside the area.

                

The specialty restaurants, Tuscan Grille (Italian), Murano (Continental) and Silk Harvest (Asian), are all in one area and have their own bar.  It is a really nice way to elevate the specialty dining experience.

The hallway from the bar/lounge to the specialty restaurants

            

The Bistro on 5 is a great alternative dining venue for something light. They do really nice salads, soups, panninis and even crepes.  In fact, the specialty is crepes - breakfast, lunch and dessert types. Really good, too! And on the other side of the ship is the Cafe al Bacio, where you can get a selection of coffees, teas and pastries.

               

The Bistro on 5

                

Cafe al Bacio

The central foyer is actually called Entertainment Court. They have everything there from dance lessons to a table tennis tournament between officers and guests. The whole area is covered by a glass dome up at the pool deck so there's lots of light during the day, and the elevators are all glass-fronted, which some people we've ridden with have found a little disconcerting.

               

              

We've had dinner at the Tuscan Grille and Silk Harvest already, and have been very pleased with the food and the service in both. We purchased a package that discounts the cover charges for the specialty restaurants, so we have one more dinner in each along with one at Murano. Then we found out that, as suite guests, we also have two complimentary dinners, so we've added one more at Murano and another at Tuscan Grille. So we're not going to be spending much time in the dining room this cruise!

Dessert creme brulee at the Tuscan Grill

             

More food photos to come, of course.

Our suite is a nice size, facing aft so we get the soothing sounds of the ocean when we sit outside - except that sometimes people scrape the chairs on the deck above which happens to be the outdoor eating area of the buffet restaurant and it sort of grates a bit. Not a big problem, though. The only thing about where we are is that, as usual, there are only two elevator/stair lobbies on each deck, so we have to walk about 1/3 of the way up the ship to be able to get anywhere. We'll keep you posted on our Fitbit mileage!

              

We've been to a couple of lectures by an astrophysicist from the Austrian Space Forum. He specializes in development for manned missions to Mars and is as enthusiastic about his particular field as any of the other astrophysicists we've seen on 'The Universe' and similar programs on TV. He's hoping to be able to do some stargazing one night, and is also hoping for good weather where we may be able to see a couple of flyovers of the International Space Station.

Tomorrow we're in St. Thomas. We're doing a catamaran/snorkel/beach tour just for something different. Hopefully the weather will be better than the captain's forecast - clouds and some showers.  Right now it's a nice day, just windy and a very little on the rough side. More later...