We are in Callao (pronounced Kai-yo), the port for Lima, Peru, for two days. Today (January 17) I took a tour that went to two of the best museums for Inca and pre-Inca artifacts. One had a stairway that I couldn’t negotiate, but the other had ramps that I could get up. That was the Museo Larco. What a fabulous collection of gold, silver, copper and especially pottery pieces! The photo here is just one sample.

Back at the ship in late afternoon I watched container ships unloading at this huge port, and at one point there was a flock of at least a thousand sea gulls that took off all at once and circled for around 5 minutes. It looked like a scene from a Hitchcock movie and certainly explained why the entire dock area is polka-dotted in white.

Today, January 18, I was supposed to go on a "shopping" tour, but when I discovered that it was to spend 3 hours at a native market, I decided that was too much shopping, so I stayed on board instead. There are several cruise ships in port with us. To our immediate port is the Seabourne Pride. Just beyond that is good ol’ Minerva II, and beyond that I can just see the stack on the Discover from which Virginia and Gil took off at 5:30 this morning for a trip to Macchu Pichu. We’ll catch up to them again in 2 days in Arica, Chile where we are planning to get together for a "fancy meeting you here" photo.