This trip started with finding a really good deal on a tour with G Adventures. Most of the time my trips start with a deal on flight but post covid those seem harder to find.

March, 2023

Lima’s airport is in a notoriously dangerous area so I had prebooked a ride with Gringo taxis as it came well recommended. Thomas was there to pick me up and dropped me of at the Hotel Santa Cruz. By then it was midnight and I just crashed.

The next day I set off on a walkabout and boy, did I walk. I covered Miraflores Beach, Barranca beach, all through Barranca, back into Miraflores and around the Huaa Pucllana ruins. I didn’t go in as it was closed and apparently reservations are required By the time I got back to the hotel I was dripping with sweat and had done 35,000 steps. A burrito sounded great for dinner.

Swimming with Sea Lions!

Day 2 I had booked trip on a yacht to swim with the sea lions and visit the Palamino islands out of Callao. Since I had to be there for 9.30 I called Walter from Gringo taxis and asked if he’d take me. Thomas was available. They’re expensive, but reliable.

Nobody told me that weekday tours actually start at 11,30 so I was 2 hours early. I was NOT impressed! I wandered the area a bit but didn’t want to go far as again, the area is known to be somewhat unsafe and I was alone.

The tour was nice. A shuttle took us to a small yacht. There were about 10 of us. 2 of us spoke English. The rest Spanish. The guide nicely translated everything for us and I learned a lot. Then came the highlight. Most of us jumped in the cold Pacific to swim with the sea lions. They’re noisy, smelly creatures and very curious. They would come close and just stare as if asking “who and WHAT are you?” Wearing a wet suit and a life jacket made swimming difficult and the current and waves made staying away from the critters a challenge too. It was great fun though and I was sad when they called us back to the boat.

The guide in the water spoke only Spanish so I missed a lot of sea lion facts. I tried asking some of the folks who spoke English as well and they tried.

Afterwards I called an uber and he was there in less than 5 minutes. It cost 1/4 of my morning ride. I had been told that Uber isn’t reliable. Who knows? I just know this one worked for me.

Back at the hotel I showered and cleaned up, put on my dress and went out to find civeche. La Red was highly rated and close so I went there and enjoyed a heaping plate of civeche mixta. YUM! (The next night I suffered with some kind of food born illness for several hours so it might not have been a good idea 😦 )

I met Davindar who was to be my room mate for the next few weeks and the other 12 people on our G Adventures tour plus our guide, Julius.

The next morning we all boarded a bus that took us to the airport for our flight to Cuzco

That post is coming!