Lima, Perú (Day 2)

Saturday, February 2, 2019

Today was my second day in Lima and I have been falling behind in my postings on this blog. The primary reason for the delays has been the quality and the administration of Wi-Fi on this cruise. So, in an effort to get caught up (as well as to download some entertainment) I went ashore once again, this time in the daylight.

Our ship, the Amsterdam, is not actually docked in Lima. It is docked in Callao (kai-YOW). Callao is a district of Lima that lies to the northwest and is the chief seaport for the area. Callao is a rough-and-tumble place and we have been warned not to venture outside the gates of the dock and meander around the partially paved streets in Callao. “It’s dangerous,” we are told. For this reason, there are shuttles and tour buses that take us from the ship, safely through Callao, and on to prettier places that cater to tourism.

In the bus, and once outside the gates, I got a glimpse of Callao and it was pretty much as it had been foretold to us. These photos help to tell the story.

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The place is rather run down and dirty. There is little evidence in Callao of civic pride. It is clear that many people here are just trying to keep food on the table and do not have much time for community involvement.

Anywhere you go in Perú you have to live with very aggressive drivers. The rules of the road seem to be largely based on the idea that the bigger the vehicle, the more likely they are to demand the right of way. God help the people on small motorcycles, and there are plenty of them! Some drivers seem to disagree with this “fait accompli” and when they do, their only recourse is to lay on the horn. So, that is what you hear, anywhere and everywhere in the greater Lima area: loud, blaring, rude horn honking. I’m so very happy that I will not be doing any driving anywhere near here.

It does not take long, however, to get to wonderful places like the Miraflores District where a beautiful beach and modern buildings greet us. A 30-minute ride can make a huge difference in the environment in which you find yourself.

At least part of the reason for such dramatic differences in the forty three districts of Lima could be that each district has its own government with its own leaders. The economy of one district (and the tax money gained therein) has no bearing on any other district, even the ones right next door.

My tour bus dropped us off for a few hours of shopping in Miraflores. Rather than shopping, I used the time to find a place to sit down, have a beer, and reduce my backlog of pending Internet communications.

Here is where I find a marvelous place with a good Internet connection, but with even better beers! The BarBarian, for me, was a little slice of heaven. This place had some very good food, but the real excitement came from trying diverse beers that are made by this very company.

While I sat in this place, I almost felt like I was at home. It seems to me that if you can find a place that makes and serves quality craft beer, that place is likely to look and feel very much like good craft beer outlets anywhere in the world. I enjoyed more beer here than I can remember doing at any place in the last several years. There were twenty different craft beers on tap, several of which were made by BarBarian and the others were guest beers. Personally, I tried their Double IPA, their Session IPA (which, at 6% alcohol is the strongest session ale I’ve found), and even a porter. I’m not a big fan of porters, but this one was a delight! Perhaps I’ve just been away from home for too long. Still, if David Hibler or Matt Tolle were here to see me down that pint, I’m sure they would have been amazed.

And, if one was not attracted to the tap beers, one could certainly find something among the bottled beers that they might be taken with.

This place, BarBarian, is so dedicated to the making and serving of beer that some of that enthusiasm spills over (ooooooo, another bad pun?) into the washrooms where fresh clean water is always on tap.

My afternoon joy passed all too quickly and, sooner than I would have imagined, my time here was up. I needed to run back to the shopping center if I was to catch my bus back to the ship. As we approached the gate we needed to pass through security where a man in charge of security would board the bus and make sure that each of us had ship-issued ID. While I waited for the security officer I looked out my window and saw a sign that was trying to explain the security stop. One particular part of the sign certainly made it look like security at this gate was a matter to be taken personally.

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And, finally, back to the ship where our “Sail Away” party was just about to begin.

Once again, I’m on the Lido deck, aft, to watch Lima slowly disappear behind us as we sail away to our next port.

What is it?

It may be too soon since my most recent post to declare the identity of yesterday’s towel animal. So, I’m not saying anything about that right now.

But, there’s no reason that I can’t offer you a new mystery animal for you to identify. Therefore, that’s what I’m going to do. Here is your new animal:

As always, you may comment directly via this post or send me a message by any of the many ways the Internet provides. It’s OK. I’ll just need to find a nice pub in order to wade through all of the communications. 😉

That’s all I have for today. Tomorrow, I’ll spend all day at sea.

G’night!