Lima, Perú (Day 1)

Friday, February 1, 2019

I spent most of today aboard ship. Why? Because I was just in Lima about 5 months ago and I was pretty sure I had seen the best of it. Still, I reserved my evening hours to go downtown to see the “world famous” Circuito Mágico del Agua. More on that later.

At the designated time, those of us on the tour were gathered up and loaded onto the bus. Our tour was to include a visit to the Plaza de Armas in the Colonial district of Lima, and from there to go to the park to see the water and light show.

The trip to the Plaza de Armas from the ship was to take about 30-40 minutes. However, by the old gods and the new (I’m re-watching Game of Thrones) there was no luck for us. Maybe it was because it was Friday night. Maybe it was because the high school and college students are out of school for the summer. Maybe it was because there is some political unrest in Perú owing to the stagnant economy causing demonstrators to take to the street. Maybe it was some combination of all of those things, but it all added up to really bad traffic for us.

After we had been stuck in traffic for 90 minutes, our tour guide announced that we would have a very brief visit to the Plaza de Armas so that we would not miss the light and water show at the park about 20 minutes away from the plaza.

After another 45 minutes of being stuck in traffic our guide asked if we’d just rather skip the tour of the plaza and go directly to the water show. Although there was a unanimous cry of “YES!” from the passengers on the bus, our guide had to call in to get permission to skip part of the tour that we’d all payed for. Apparently the tour guide was told he could not skip any part of the tour and so the bus whirled us around one lap of the Plaza de Armas. If we wanted photos, we’d have to take them through the windows of the bus. So, I’m not happy with this (you already know how much I like to explore plazas de armas in colonial cities) but it’s not the fault of the tour company, and I really do want to see the water show.

So here are some photos from a lighting-fast lap around the Plaza de Armas in Lima, Perú.

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After applying muscle cream to treat my mild case of whiplash from our victory lap around the plaza, the bus headed on to the park so we could enjoy the water show.

We arrived at the park just in time for the beginning of the water show. Our guide seemed to know just where to stand to get the best view. We were by no means alone in our position; the park was packed with people on a warm summer night. Still, I’m convinced we had the best possible view of the show, as long as one could see over the tops of other people’s heads. For me, at 6 feet tall, it was not a problem as the general population here is considerably shorter than I am.

The show itself uses jetted water that is set in time to a musical background. The jets of water can take on almost any color. Additionally, there are lasers that shine into the water to make marvelous shapes and visions. On top of that, the water can be set to create a fine mist, perfect for projecting video images, using the misted water as a movie screen. So, here’s a part of the show:

After this, the main show, our guide took us on a walk around the park to see many of the other beautifully illuminated fountains. Here are a few:

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But, on a warm Lima night, this might have been the most fun fountain of them all!

On the way home, I got to see a seedier side of Lima. Lima is a very large city. It has over 11 million inhabitants. All big cities have their problems, there are seedy areas. Perhaps our bus was simply on the shortest route back to the ship ands that route happened to take us through the “darker” areas of town. I don’t know. But I will tell you that I have lived in Los Angeles and San Francisco and even San Diego back in the day. All of these places have sex workers, but I saw more prostitutes in Lima this night than in any other city I’ve visited (or lived in) so far in my life. On a more positive note, they were also the most attractive prostitutes that I’ve seen in any city. God bless them all.

We got back to the ship at about 11:20pm, a little late according the schedule, but that was fine by me. I’d had a (mostly) fun evening and I’d seen things that I had not seen before. And, for some reason, this night seemed like a good one to do a little midnight dessert, pairing some very special chocolate with a glass of red wine. Within an hour, I was very much in my happy place!

They’re back!

Ok, it seems as though a large number of you, my readers who fill my heart with joy, are up for some more towel animals. Here’s the latest one. I’m expecting to hear from you many on-the-nose guesses as to what it is.

So, what is it? Think you know? I think this one is very easy so let’s have some fun. The first three readers with the correct answer will earn the pleasure of buying me a beer at the bar on the Lido deck at just $11.15 per beer!

Excited? Of course you are! Now, start sending your guesses.

G’night!