Pit Stop: Peru

 

Today we were in Callao, Peru. The weather is still warm (79 degrees) - a lot warmer than our Texas weather right now! Hope our friends and family are all staying toasty warm inside. It's not surprising that Punxsutawney Phil predicted 6 more weeks of winter!

Before nightfall yesterday, a heavy fog set in. We could see absolutely nothing off of the ship. All night the ship’s fog horn blew at regular intervals warning any other ships that we were near. In addition to the fog, the entire ship had a really “fishy” smell - ugh! We’ve never experienced either of those things while cruising. Thankfully, both had dissipated before noon. But it was really foggy this morning when walked around on the fitness track.

 

a very foggy ocean view

fitness track on a foggy morning

sun is coming out - we see land!

Today was what was officially called a “docked” sea day – a first in Oceania’s 20 year history. Our original itinerary included stops in Peru but they were cancelled due to the political unrest that is going on there right now. We were a bit disappointed not to get to go there but at the same time we’re thankful that our safety is their #1 priority. Photos below are coming into port in Callao, Peru.

 

tugs accompany the Insignia into Port Callao

every container is the size of an 18 wheeler truck!

 incredible numbers of container on barges

 

It was still a necessity to stop for refueling (and bananas, ha!) Have you ever wondered how a gas tank on a cruise ship gets filled? Neither have I. But it turns out that gassing up a cruise ship is quite interesting to watch and again, we had a birds eye view just off our balcony that lasted the entire afternoon. I’ll share a few photos from the day.

 

fuel tanker siding up to ship

tug boats edge it up to cruise ship

placing vacuum hoses around area in event of leakage

hooking up this heavy hose from tanker to ship was no easy feat!

Even though we were originally told that we would not be allowed off the ship, we were informed this afternoon that we could get off and walk around the port. I was really glad because there were locals selling their colorful textiles and crafts, mostly made from alpaca wool. Everything you can think of is made from these colorful textiles (blankets, hats, sweaters, handbags, etc) along with carved gourds, jewelry, clothing and stuffed animals made from alpaca fleece (SOO soft)!! I bought a colorful blanket which will be cozy to nap under and which can also be used on my table. I also picked up some colorful Christmas ornaments for our girls. 

 

friendly lady who made my ornaments

llamas and alpacas - so soft!

lady who made my throw

 

colorful Peruvian textiles

Peruvian textiles are woven on a backstrap or four-post loom

 

What's for brunch?

food "art"

Yesterday we received an invitation for brunch in the Main Dining Room from 10-1 today. Ronnie thought we should go just to see what it was, since this was the first brunch since we’ve been on the ship. We arrived around 12:15 and it was still busy, though the majority were already finishing up or just visiting over dessert. Only later did we discover that the brunch was only for the 180 day passengers. We've learned that there are passengers on this ship who are just doing certain "segments" of the cruise. So passengers are beginning and ending their cruises at various ports along the way.

 

view from our table

boatload of berries

selection of raw fish 

various tropical fruits

salmon pastry

watermelon warrior

 

One of the things I like very much about the food service on this ship (especially during Covid) is that guests do not serve themselves. In the more casual dining areas of most ships (at least in our experience), guests serve themselves from a buffet type setting, meaning that many guests are touching the same serving utensils. Translate that to hundreds of people and theoretically, you might be touching something a couple of hundred other people have already touched. 

Of course there are Purell machines located on both sides of the entrance and exit doors of these rooms, but still…. On Oceania, even in the casual eating areas, there are many servers and the food is behind a slanted glass "half" shield. Guest indicate what they want and a (masked and capped) server, using a utensil, serves it onto a plate. So no one touches anything except yourself and the server. Wrapped flatware is already on the table so there is no handling anything other than your own plate. Waiters serve drinks at your table.

passion fruit (L) dragon fruit (R)

It was the same at the brunch. There were “stations” set up for the various type offerings and attending servers to put anything you wanted onto your plate. There were separate stations for antipasti, bread, fruit, fish/meat and of course desserts. The fruit tables were the most colorful and I was glad I had my phone with me because I started snapping photos of the various displays. I especially liked the colorful fruits. There was plenty of raw fish at the fish station (the raw tuna was served with heads on) but it did not appeal to me (actually it grossed me out). And there were numerous other types of raw fish being offered as well. To each his own.

There were quite a few fruits that I had never even seen before so I asked what they were. I was told but since I had never heard of them, of course I couldn't remember. But I tried most of them. I loved the fresh papaya, dragon fruit (2 kinds) and blueberries. I also tried probably 3 or 4 that were completely new to me. I've had passion fruit in a drink when we were in Indonesia. If you’ve never had it, just let me say that the inside (you don’t eat the outside) looks like a slimey clump of fish eggs - all stuck together. It doesn’t have flesh like most fruits, but is rather a bunch of little black seeds enclosed in a jelly-like substance. As disgusting as that sounds, believe me when I say it tastes delicious! The yellow dragon fruit was very sweet (the red, not so much but I have eaten it when it was sweet). The small round orange colored fruit was as sour as a lemon. The guava was so-so, as it didn't have a lot of flavor (probably wasn't ripe enough).

 

servers are always so helpful and friendly to guests

Another large melon/squash looking fruit which I also can’t remember the name of had a melon-like consistency but very little flavor. The small green oval shaped fruit had the consistently of a pear. There were several carved gourds (they call them pumpkins) in the shape of fish, elephants, sea horse, etc.

 

oranges to look like clownfish

pumpkin/gourd dragon

 

"flowers" of beets and jimica

Of course the dessert table will always be my weakness! Ronnie had the red velvet cake but I went for the baklava and cheesecake. It will be nothing short of a real-life miracle if I don’t gain weight on this trip. ☹ 

sweets and more sweets

 

Oceania's 20th year