The Girls joined me for breakfast this morning at the Hotel, with my Spanish skills improving, especially when it comes to asking for a ham and cheese omelet. We brought both our Go Pro and the Go Pro Fusion, but the Fusion is so old that it isn’t truly supported, and I had been struggling to download the videos into something consumable. I finally got it this morning, which meant that I could see our Paratriking videos, and also be ready to record our Sea Lion encounter in 360 degree video.
Today’s adventure toook us north of Lima to the neighborhood of Callao, very different from Miraflores and mostly industrial. We took an Uber to where we said we needed to go, and I don’t think Amy and Charlie wanted to get out it looked so bad. We walked into a Cafe, where sure enough we were in the right spot and were checked in. After some coffee, we eventually made it to the dock, got on a zodiac, and headed out into the Pacific Ocean. The guide spent a lot of time talking about two islands we went through, one of which was and is a Naval base, and another that was an Alcatraz style prison until a revolt in the late 1980’s.
And then came the familiar sights (and smells) of penguins. Another species on Amy’s list, these were Humboldt penguins, which seemed to be making their nest amongst all the rock croppings, as witnessed by the huge amounts of guano they were walking around. After a lot of rocking amongst the waves and the rocks, we made it to the Sea Lion beach. We were all assigned a wetsuit, and in the water we went. The crew positioned us in a line parallel to the shore, and the Sea Lions knew that meant it was time to jump in and swim around us. Charlie was the most couragous of our bunch, and the crew pushed her up front.
After we were done with our experience, it was back on the boat, wetsuits off, and time to nurse our sunburns and have some snacks. We made our way back to port, past a bunch of boats with black tarps on them, which we learned was a burd deterrent, and some rock beaches where sunbathers were out in force. We voted for Uber back to the hotel to regroup.
While the girls rested, I went out for a run. When I ran the 300ft of vertical to get down to the shore, I ran by large groups of surfers – hanging out, grilling, and chilling. I also found a great spot beachside to get a dinner reservation, authentic clay courts, and lots of people out and enjoying the sunny day. Going back up the 300ft in 80+ temperatures took everything I had.
The rest of the night consisted of mall shopping and dining at Insumo, the rooftop lounge and restaurant at our hotel. More great views of the Pacific, great Pisco Sours, great Paella and Buratta – A great last night in Miraflores. On the way to Miraflores, we had a crazy taxi driver, and we had told him we needed a ride back to the hotel, but provided him no other information. We wondered whether he would show or if we needed to find another way to haul all of us and our gear for tomorrows adventure, but he was there like clockwork! He got us back to the Wyndham Costa Del Mar, the place the Nat Hab had setup for us to stay before our trip to the Sacred Valley. We got tucked in, had a drink at the bar while watching NFL in spanish, and called it a night. Tomorrow we take off for the Sacred Valley.
