Hello,

We made our first destination Callao , Peru at 5:45 am yesterday after travelling 1169 nautical miles. All the buzz on the ship is about Machu Picchu , a magnificent ancient Inca city built and carved into the top of a mountain peak over 11,000 feet above sea level. It is a wonder and an astonishing engineering feat .

We will not be visiting due to the distance & $ it takes to get there from here… just a plane, bus to the train, bus from the train up the mountain for a look see and $1500 per person .

We went for the slightly less strenuous adventure which entailed taking a taxi from outside the port to the city of Lima. The landscape surrounding the port for miles is dirty and poor industrial gloom. To add to that pretty picture there is a preverbal blanket of grey fog that sleeps on this area of the country for 8 months !

The city had it’s old section w/ impressive Spanish architecture (castle/ mansion like structures that house churches and government operations) w/ shanties slapped right next to them. The city also had a section called Miraflores which was right on the coastal cliffs. Very modern and nice …but still the grey fog and something leaching into the ocean giving potential for some wacky ailment they discussed at the pre=port w/ the Medical team (ie Traci and Doc Vince) I wasn’t buying it. The ocean is to big for animal urine to cause much of a problem.

Traci has to deal w/ such a variety of narcosis on this voyage not to mention the real stuff. So far nothing too bad.

Today my old friend Gin ,a UN attorney on the  Human rights commission and long time Latin American resident put us in touch w/ a friend who is taking us to a school . I don’t know much more than that but knowing Gin I’m sure it will prove to be interesting.

Enjoy Memorial day weekend

Love  us

"I arise in the morning torn between desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."  E.B White

Latitude 12’ 3 minutes S

Longitude 77’ 8 minutes W

Portside along pier #11 Callao , Peru