Los Lobos

Los Lobos del Callao, that is. Los lobos chuscos are sea lions. On my last full Sunday in Peru, we got up early and went to Callao, just next to Lima, to take this worthy craft:

We? That would be me, Gustavo and his sweetie Karina. This picture was taken near the beginning of the trip, before anybody looked truly green.

We set out on the three and a half hour trip (no, please, don't cue up the theme song for Gilligan's Island!) to the stark, brown Palomino Islands.

It was fairly calm until we got to the other side of the islands, to the rock called El Fronton. At first glance, this looks like mostly rock, right? Look more closely.

And here's the long view:

Maybe this one needed some personal space:

It was incredible to see so many sea lions at once! What you can't tell from these pictures, or from nature shows on television, is the smell. This many sea lions in a small space REEK! Whoa! I don't know if I've ever smelled anything quite so fishily awful. Still, seeing these creatures in the wild was well worth the smell and the motion sickness. Thank goodness Karina had the presence of mind to bring along some dramamine. Even with that, we were all a bit queasy.

There was a tour boat nearby that offered another option: swimming with the sea lions. Seemed like a bad idea. Sea lions are not dolphins. They're huge and have big teeth. Apart from the cold, I don't think I could stand to be any closer to the stench.

After the sea lions, we saw these piqueros peruanos--Peruvian boobies:

They were spread out all along the rocks:

We went around the islands to the habitat of the Humboldt penguins. I'd never seen penguins in the wild before. It was hard to take pictures because the boat was bobbing along, but I did get a few:

The temperature dropped as we made our way back to port. Almost everybody went below, but I was glad for the fresh air, even though it was cold. Karina was the only one of us who avoided getting sunburned, as you can see from the picture that night at a fancy restaurant.

Tourist in Lima

I'm woefully behind on my chronicle of the Peru tour. I did several touristy things before I left Lima. On an afternoon when the performances were over early, Gustavo and I went first to a restaurant for his favorite lomo saltado, beef stir-fry. French fries are one of the ingredients. It was delicious. Then we went to the Museo Larco. This was an incredible museum of Pre-Columbian art, well worth the high admission fee. Unfortunately, this was on a day when I forgot the memory card in my camera. Here is somebody else's video of it:

On a different afternoon, after four performances, Gustavo and I went to downtown Lima to see the Museum of the Convent of San Francisco de Asis.

Though there is much more to the convent and museum than the catacombs, this is what it is best known for. Who doesn't want to see skulls and bones?! Here's what the website says:

Discovered in 1943, they countain thousand of skulls and bones, serving as a burial-place until 1808, when the city cemetery was opened outside Lima. It is estimated that 25,000 bodies were laid to rest there; the crypts, build of bricks and mortar are very solid and have stood up well the earthquakes, it is also believe that existed secret passageways connected to the Cathedral and the Tribunal of the Holy Inquisition.

This is not far from the Presidential Palace:

Do you recognize this picture? I put up a picture of a small-scale replica on Av. Arequipa earlier, though I didn't realize it until one of the students told me it belonged to her family (thanks, Maria Jose!).

Another tourist attraction in Lima is the Parque de la Reserva. The water fountain park is lit up at night. Here I am with my friend (and tour manager) Gustavo:
This next fountain is a maze. People run to the middle when the water is turned off. The jets come on intermittently, so the trick is to get out without getting wet. I'd love to try that in warmer weather. It wasn't that cold the evening we went, but I had no dry clothes with me. They even have a changing room for visitors who plan ahead.

I barely got any drops of water on me in the tunnel of water.

We watched the sound and laser light show. Very impressive!

On the same evening, we went to Las Brisas del Titicaca, a wonderful folkdance show with music and dances from around Peru.

Next, I'll show pictures of Los Lobos de Callao. Guess what that is? Here's a hint, it's not wolves.