First port in Peru – Salaverry

The scenery here is very different from earlier in the voyage, and very different from anything TSH and Diva have seen before. The coastal strip, where most of the population live, is very dry and sandy and there is little vegetation apart from where irrigation has been arranged using water flowing down from the mountains. As anyone who has bought asparagus in Britain will know, a lot of it is grown in Peru. Apparently 95% of the crop grown in Peru is exported along with a lot of artichokes. Behind the coastal strip are jagged, volcanic-looking mountains.

The bus used for this excursion was a double decker but very comfortable with seats more like armchairs and lots of leg room. TSH was amazed to see a steam engine before the bus had left the docks. It was on a raised plinth so presumably is of historic value.

Land is very expensive so people plan to build houses with many floors but many of the houses have only one or two floors with another started but never completed.

The first stop was at the Temple of the Huaca Dragon. This pyramidal temple is thought be 1,100 years old and has walls decorated with figures that resemble dragons. It is believed to be the first settlement of the Wari Culture in the Moche Valley.

The star visit was the second stopping point which was the Chan Chan ruins, which cover such an extensive area that it was only possible to visit one of the places. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was the ancient capital of the Chimu Empire and is the largest clay city in pre Hispanic America. The reliefs and decorations were unlike any previously seen by Diva and TSH.   

On the way back to the ship the coach passed a Mormon Cathedral. Although the main religion is Catholic the second most common is Mormon.

The traffic lights show the count down to when they turn green resulting in all the vehicles starting to move before the green shows.

Many birds were seen at Salaverry ranging from the Black Vulture to sea birds such as Pelicans and gulls. TSH found it necessary to correct one woman who referred to the gulls as sea.gulls. That’s what having a zoologist daughter does for you. 

A confession

The only full day tour was to Salamanca in Spain, involving a steep climb out of the Douro valley and onto the central Spanish plateau. This was the day with the greatest potential to be extremely hot but fortunately the temperature never rose about 30 degrees, which was more than hot enough for Diva. The last time TSH and Diva experienced such a high temperature was above the Arctic Circle (see earlier entry here).  Salamanca is a beautiful old city with many of the buildings constructed from golden sandstone.

One of the 16^th century facades, with World Heritage accreditation, has been recently restored. The mason decided to get creative, so he added images such as himself eating an ice cream and an astronaut in a space suit. UNESCO are not happy but the mason said if they didn’t like it they could re-do it themselves. This is a new level of Diva-ish behaviour.

Lunch at a hotel included a flamenco performance which was so authentic that the singers led the Viking tour group (but not TSH and Diva, who would not admit to knowing the words) in a rousing chorus of ‘Viva Espana’, followed by ‘Volare’ (isn’t that Italian?).

Dinner was a barbecue on deck, involving flies on the food. Not as good as the served dinners.

Fauna spotted: Heron, black pigs, black bulls, black donkey, white cows, sheep, horses, storks nests (storks on vacation in Africa), many unidentified birds of prey.

Fauna not spotted: dragons, dinosaurs.

To tell the truth, they walked down the steps in Lamego, not up.

Alta

The sail in and out of Alta is beautiful – classic fjord scenery with mountains, waterfalls and cliffs. On the way in, a Tai Chi session received applause from passing guests. On the way out, Diva saw black shapes emerging from the water, which could have been seals, dolphins or whales. Lunch on deck, including beer and burgers, was very rushed as TSH and Diva had misread the schedule and thought they were going out at 14:30 rather than the actual 12:30. Diva also managed to mislay her camera, missing the chance to photograph during the excursion, although it was found later on.

There were three destinations. The cathedral was modern inside and out – like an updated and smaller version of the RC cathedral in Liverpool. The theme is the Northern lights, whose general shape is represented both inside and out. The rock carvings (on the UNESCO list) were extensive and easy to pick out, if not always to interpret. They appear to represent a hunting community, depicting their homes, boats and prey, including whales, fish and reindeer.  The third visit was to a slate quarry, with a demonstration of splitting cutting and trimming a large slab of stone. The demonstrator said that the day was so hot that he would remember it throughout the long dark winter (about 9 months of the year at this latitude which is still above the Arctic Circle).

Oh, yes, the weather. The temperature was about 29 degrees C and the Norwegian buses did not have air conditioning which could cope. There was a lot of complaining, mostly from the US guests, and one group were given a new bus. TSH and Diva were in the group for which no other bus was available and the journey, although short, was uncomfortable. The rock carvings were on a hill-side with no shade and there was a requirement to walk what seemed like a considerable distance in the heat. The quarry was home to swarms of insects, including wasps, so vigilance was needed at all times. Some guests though the wasps were a threat to life, others that they were bees and the bringers of life. The shower on return to the ship was the most welcome yet, followed by champagne on deck.