On Hold in Peru

This is March 7th we are supposed to be in Peru on a tour but the fog is so thick that you can’t see 10 feet in front of your face let alone the end of the ship. We are at anchor waiting for the fog to lift. We won’t be surprised if the tours are cancelled, but we will see what happens. This port is actually a 45 minute drive from Lima. I have tried several times to download pictures of Valparaiso with no success so I will try again later. The next port after that was Coquimbo, which is also in Chile. We had another tour planned through the Cruise Critic group. Buses picked us up and away we went. This area has a permanent morning fog. It always lifts around noon, so there was no concern. We travelled up into the hills and our first stop was the Tabali winery. This is a huge operation; we could not believe the size of the vats... The wine was good and the tour was cultural as well as informative about the wine making process. They were very busy because the harvest had just begun. Next we headed further into the hills to visit the site of the Petroglyphs. They are located in the Enchanted valley and they range from stone carvings to engravings. It was really fascinating. Of special interest were the carvings that showed what appeared to be Martians with antennas. Our last stop was the Hacienda Santa Christina. The bus wound its way over dirt roads that went up and down and around through poor hot countryside and suddenly there appeared an amazing 5 star resort. It was beautiful. We were first lead to a Patio enclosure with wonderful covered seating areas. There were magnificent rose gardens and a pool and a type of accommodations on the hill above the restaurant. We were seated and waiters arrived with trays of beverages. There were Pisco sours, (these are the local specialty), and a passion fruit drink and diet cokes. You were able to have as many drinks as you wanted. They served a cheese empanada at the same time. These were unbelievably tasty. The crust was very flaky, not at all doughy. After about 25 minutes we were ushered into a wonderful dining room. We were told to sit at the tables with the flowers because they were reserved for us. The room looked as if it has been set up for a very high end wedding. There was wine and silver and china and an amazing salad of shrimp and chicken and avocado and abalone and greens. The second course was a chicken dish, a lot like a cordon blue but it was asparagus instead of ham. For dessert there was a papaya and ice cream dish. This was amazing and they continued to fill wine glasses as we dined. When it was time to go we all loaded into the busses to begin our 45 minute drive back to the pier. What an amazing day this was. No one believed they could even consider eating supper. The scenery was completely different on the way back because the fog had lifted and we could see the beautiful beaches and all of the beauty of the city as it lay before us as we made our way back down the hills.