"Gave one midterm this morning, another coming up in astronomy tonight. Then the sword of Damocles is removed from over their [his CalPoly students] heads while in port.
"We're going to try an archeological tour as soon as we get off ship tomorrow. The place is called Pachacamac, if you want to look it up. I don't know the details, but Stacy [another CalPoly professor on the cruise] decided we'd be better off getting 7 or 8 taxis to take us all out rather than trying to make formal arrangements with a tour company. Apparently one legit taxi company is allowed to come inside the port. (Anyone with a car can buy a "taxi permit" for something like 50 cents and start picking up passengers!) That said, I don't quite know how Saturday is going to play out or if I'll make it to an internet cafe.
"The ship is going to run a shuttle bus back and forth to an upscale (relatively speaking) neighborhood of Lima called Miraflores. Supposedly shopping, restuarants, nightclubs, etc. The historic El Centro district is about 8 or 10 miles from Miraflores, but an easy taxi ride. Lima, like Quito and Mexico City, is one of the earliest Spanish settlements, dating to 1530 or so. Supposedly a city very divided between a fairly comfortable but small upper class and huge slums of the most abject poverty. We've been told to expect huge swarms of child beggars. The poverty is one reason Lima has a bad reputation for pickpockets and other petty theft, although guide books say the situation is "improving." We'll see.
"Ceviche is more or less the national dish of Peru, and they supposedly do it better than anywhere expect back in ye olde Spain.
"So this is probably it until I find the ubiquitous internet cafe. In fact, I'm not sure they even run the ship's email while we're in port."
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