Tinbergs on Tour: February 10, 2023 – Salaverry, Peru – Mostly Cloudy

Room service again today – I took a chance and ordered waffles and cottage cheese and scrambled eggs. The waffles were heart shaped (but soggy) and the eggs came in a standing cylinder shape (but cold). Artistic but lacking. Ellen’s French Toast and fried eggs continue to come good and hot. Must have been an off day for the room service folks as they have been great all cruise long.

Azamara Onward is the only ship here today - I am not sure how many ships the port can handle. It is our first time in this port.

Salaverry is a commercial port surrounded by an alien desert-like landscape. The color pallet for Salaverry and environs is brown/gray. The dramatic mountains near the port have no vegetation suggesting that there is not a lot of rainfall in this area. On this day, the hills and port were shrouded in some kind of haze (perhaps dust).

The population of Salaverry is approximately 14,000 people. From the ship, we could see both an armada of small boats (at anchor?)

and a lot of people at the dark brown beach. The cars would pull right up to the beach and the folks were under their umbrellas.

There are also 24 storage tanks at the port filled with tons of corn (I was told that the grain is for the local chickens). There is a prominent lighthouse on a rocky hill behind the grain storage silos.

The Meeting time for our tour “Colonial Trujillo” is 8:30 AM. There are a lot of people getting off today. We left right on time, scanned out and walked a few hundred meters to our bus. We are both in Bus 4; we have two guides – ours in Daisy, who honestly looks like she is 12 and is four inches shorter than Ellen – Daisy is almost 4’9”. The busses are relatively new but some of the seats are in a permanently reclined state (and I could not straighten them). The A/C is good, and the AV is also good. The other guide, whose name I don’t recall is the better English Speaker – Daisy gives it all she has but she is difficult to understand. The guides are decked out in khaki-colored uniforms, which gives them a quasi-military look.

The bus ride (it is about 15 km [9 miles] from Salaverry to Trujillo) took us through Salaverry and it’s all brown homes and businesses and into the city of Trujillo (known as the “City of Eternal Spring” for its consistently good weather, which I guess means it never rains here; the population of greater Trujillo is approximately 865,000). The bus dropped us off at the Plaza de Armas, (where else?),

where we split into two groups for the walking tour, which encompassed buildings and sites around the Plaza.

We were greeted by a small demonstration at one corner of the Plaza

and the presence of a very large number of police.

These police were in black uniforms, so they were probably city cops.

The large statue at the center of the Plaza is The Freedom Monument called “Heroes of Independence” because it depicts the stages of independence (slavery, emancipation, and freedom). Above those three figures is a sculpture representing art, science, trade, and health.

Colorful buildings surround the Plaza including the Basilica of Trujillo, a building that used to be the National Bank, and a museum, painted a bright blue.

The bathroom stop at the museum was the first on the walking tour. The bathrooms were OK but I didn’t really trust the water, so sanitizer came in handy. Our next stop is the Basilica, where we viewed a display showing religious figures; what made this interesting, according to Daisy, was a moon structure which was supposed to depict the ancient indigenous religions, those in the area before the Catholic Spaniards came along.

The group went to the museum next door, and we stayed in the open air. We continued our walk passing colonial style buildings.

We left the Plaza de Armas and walked through the streets of Trujillo, which were lined with colonial style buildings.

We also passed a movie theater that probably dated back a hundred years – now for sale.

There were restaurants and food options along the way with the Central Market Place the next stop. The marker while interesting – it offered just about everything – fish (no extra charge for the flies), meats, and tons of fruits and vegetables.

We walked through every corner of the market and were inundated with an incredible spectrum of smells. It was also quite hot in the enclosed market, and we were quite happy to find an entrance and access to fresh air. One of the guests must have been hungry because he bought a bunch of mini bananas and passed them around to some of the guests. We waited a very long time in the market entrance – I guess to allow the bus to make its way back to pick us up (not a lot of space for busses to park here). We finally departed the market and headed for the pickup point at the Plaza de Armas.

On the way, we passed a lot of shoe stores – the city is known for its leather shoes.

During the time we were gone, the Plaza became absolutely saturated with police and what looked like brand-new police cars.

Daisy told us that the city was showing off its brand-new contingent of cop cars – maybe a show of authority. Who knows? There were cop cars parked along all the streets of the Plaza.

After a short ride back to the ship, we changed shoes and headed for the Windows Café, where the featured burger of the day was a fish burger. Well, it was except for the fact that it was encrusted with shrimp and pre-made. So, no fish-burger. Instead, I had Sarah make me pasta with veggies and tomato sauce, which was probably a whole lot better anyway.

We had dinner in the Windows Café – it was “Taste of Britain” night, and we had fish and chips. The best fish and chips on a ship to date. I had three pieces – they were so good. We ate on the Sunset Veranda – just perfect.

Martin Kaye is doing his second show tonight, which is a tribute to Elton John.

He was louder than usual and his foot dancing while playing is, just to me, somewhat disconcerting. However, when he did “Candle in the Wind” (dedicated to Marilyn Monroe, Princess Diana, and Queen Elizabeth II), the show’s tenor changed.