January 11, 2025
LIMA, PERU to CUSCO, PERU
On the morning of 1/3/25, I left the Ship with 10 other residents and flew from the airport in Lima to Cusco, on an excursion that we cobbled together ourselves. We arrived in CUSCO by noon and started taking our altitude medications. Cusco is in the Peruvian Andes at an elevation of 11,152' , which is a big jump from the sea level where we have been residing. A dull headache was the symptom most of us had. We grabbed a quick lunch and went on a 3 hour walking tour of the City. Above is central town square Plaza de Armas.
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The tour ended with complimentary Pisco sours, we had dinner at a local Mexican hot spot and ice cream on the way back to our hotel.
Ternate, Indonesia, which is both the name of the city and island, and is part of the Maluku Islands in eastern Indonesia. It is a port that sees maybe 3 Cruise ships a year. However, they really made an effort to show us the best of what they can offer. It's mainly a Muslim country, and we knew we had to dress discretely, but we knew little else. We didn't have our typical port talk prior, due to a technical issue with the AV equipment. Ben a fellow resident, organized an island tour, with about 8 stops, for 90 of us residents.
Cebu greeted our Ship with a big warm welcome, despite having just been rocked by a major Earthquake, days before our arrival. The Minister of Tourism arrived with a motorcade and she proceeded to chat with the residents and thank us, for all our support.
Today we were Cave explorers! We went to the one of UNESCO newly classified 7 NEW WONDERS OF NATURE - The Puerto Princesa Underground River.