Wednesday, April 15, second day of our trip to Perú

Our hotel-room window, with
reproductions (big image, small).

In the window-structure
(big image, small).

Our hotel room was very comfortable, and the window seemed to be one of the projections that you see in this picture shown on the previous day’s page. There was a layer of sand, in which there were three reproductions of ancient archeological finds. I don’t know whether these were the same size as the originals.

From my journal: «We got up at the usual time, took a leisurely breakfast, and packed up for the flight to Iquitos later in the day. Went out walking to the Indian Market, getting there before ten, which was clearly the opening-hour. So we stopped for a coffee and returned in time for M to buy three necklace-pendants for the daughters.» I had my camera with me, but did not see a single thing to take a picture of. The stuff in the Market was pretty much what you expect in a tourist-dense area.

Waiting for lunch to be served.
Note the Pisco Sour (bigger image).

We had lunch in the hotel bar, because there was an Event being held in the regular dining room. This was fine with us—I had a hamburger, and Mark had a pork dish.

Continuing from my journal: «At 1:45, Ulises came back, but with a different driver, to take us to the airport for our 5:00 flight. The traffic was hair-raising. Mark and I once looked over at each other in astonishment at both the skill and the audacity of our driver.

«The plane left for Iquitos about an hour late, but the flight was un­e­vent­ful, I guess of about an hour’s duration. It turned out, when we were met by members of the Delfin II crew, that our plane had at least a dozen other cruise passengers on it. From the airport it was at least a half-hour’s drive to the riverside, where we took a couple of skiffs to the cruise vessel itself.

Two other Americans (bigger
image), not a good picture
at all, I’m afraid.

«When we got to sit down in the lounge, we met an American couple, Melissa and Steve, and we sat with them for supper as well. We found that we and they and another couple, Mark and Shirley, were the only Statesiders in the whole group.

«Our supper involved steaks of an unfamiliar-named fish, probably baked, but may have been poached. Perfectly cooked. Served on a bed of mashed potatoes, with a small quantity of steamed veg­e­ta­bles alongside. M and I had wine, I thought it was un­in­ter­es­ting, but it served its purpose.»

Our stateroom was plenty big, with enough closet-space and a good bathroom, with shower. You see it below in a picture I did with iPhone panorama. Even though we hadn’t done much to tire us out, it had been a long day, and we were happy to turn in. Neither of us slept at all well, and Mark got up around three to look at the stars. As it turned out, Peru was not a star-gazer’s paradise, even though the latitude is ideal. The skies were just too cloudy too much of the time.

At any rate, we slept enough to be ready for the next day’s ad­ven­tures, which you can read all about on the next page.