Rose and Ray on R&R in Peru, July 26, 2008

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Today was a do-nothing day. Well, not exactly. We walked, and walked, and walked some more. We heard an independence day parade going by, so we stopped a little while for that. Peruvian Independence day is July 28.

We took a LOT of pictures today and I will post as many as I can.

We walked all over Pimentel looking for a decent place to eat that was not on the beach. We finally abandoned that line of thinking and went back to the beach restaurants. Sometimes when you see the behind the scenes of these places, it makes you wonder how any of us survive. Hint: If you want to enjoy your lunch, don't check out the kitchen area. Anyway, we wound up having fish. Rose had hers sudado and I had mine chicharon style; sweated (steamed?) and fried chunks, respectively. Both were delicious and neither of us died.

Weather today was a carbon copy of yesterday: chilly and overcast most of the day until about 3:00pm when the sun popped out.

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Photos

The (Beautiful) View from Our Apartment
Well, except for the rooftops of the building between us and the ocean, it would be perfect. Surf's up!

Peruvian Flag
This flag was flying in front of the Peruvian Coast Guard station which is only a few steps from our apartment.

La Muelle, The Pier
This is a working boardwalk for offloading fish from the fishing fleet. You can see a boat pulling up to the dock in this picture (barely).

Kids Parading
We were standing right beside the grandstand with a bunch of military men in uniform, a couple of beauty queens and a handful of officials. The kids goose step, if you can believe that. Every time a Peruvian flag came by, the military jumped to their feet and saluted, as they should have. As you might imagine, being an independence day parade there were a lot of flags and a heck of a lot of jumping up and saluting.

Fishing Boat Waiting on the Tide
They launch (and recover) these boats using the changing tides. Pretty interesting to watch.

Caballitos
These things have fascinated me for years. Ever since I saw them in national Geographic magazine when I was a kid, and then when I came to Peru and saw them in person. To me, that made the whole trip worthwhile. The boys take them down to the shore, launch them and ride them like little horse (caballitos). The rectangular area is for fish storage and gear.

Another Caballito Pic
Just because I like them!

A Fishing Boat and a Bunch of Caballitos Drying
The caballitos have to dry between uses. Otherwise they will not float well and they will rot.

Young Man Building Caballitos
During our morning walk, we came upon this fellow constructing caballitos. Considering my fascination with them, this was particularly serendipitous. I gave him a Sol for letting me take his picture and he seemed very happy to get it.

Rose Waiting
Remember what I said about the behind the scenes at the restaurants? This is Rose waiting to wash her hands in the backyard of the eatery. She said it made her feel right at home.

Rose's Favorite Childhood Ice Cream
PeziDuri, a tri-flavor ice cream, is one of Rose's favorites from when she was a kid in Peru. She could not believe that they still made it and that it tastes just the same if not better.