Humbolt Penguins!
Birds chilling at port.
Can you see me now?
I was playing with the sea lions!
Huge Jellyfish...a bit scary.
Luckily this wasn't our boat.
Wow words cannot express how excited I was to get out on the ocean and go hangout with some penguins and sea lions. Coming from Alaska you would think I have had my fair share of penguins but I have to warn you that they are not actually that common in Alaska...but it really depends on who you are asking and how far from the truth you are willing to stretch you imagination. That being said I "have" a penguin back home in Alaska named Clyde and this past weekend when I went to Islas Palominos I was dead set to find him a lady friend. Unfortunately I haven't spent much time with female penguins so it was much harder than expected to find Clyde a companion. That being said I might just have to bring him down to Peru where he can do some babe watching himself. Anyhow, last Sunday I was able to go out on a sea adventure that included learning about some historic pirating stories, taking pictures of some amazing animals, and swimming alongside sea lions.
Just in case anyone is reading this that may be heading to Lima I am going to share a little bit of extra info. First of all the port for this amazing adventure is in Callao, located just north of Lima. Callao is a story in and of itself because it is actually not a part of Lima, it has it's own governing body and is not associated with the Lima governing system, even though it is attached to Lima. That being said Callao is the largest port in Peru and it has been known as one of the world's largest cocaine exporting ports. Since cocaine is an illegal drug you can imagen that some of the people in Callao mean business, so if you are traveling in the area keep your bags close and be sure to keep a low profile. While we were in Callao the police would actually stop to tell our group of gringos to be careful and watch our backs. Although it isn't the safest area of Peru it does provide a nice outlet to the wildlife of the sea.
In order to share a little bit of what the scenic view was I have added a few pictures of the various birds, penguins, and sea lions. Also there is a picture of an overturned boat. The significance of this boat is that there was a company that was going bankrupt and they were trying to sell the boat but due to economic issues nobody bought it. Over time the boat took on water and eventually it capsized and rolled. Today people are still coming back to the boat in order to harvest some precious medals from the innards of the ship in order to make a few extra bucks.
When we got to go swimming with the sea lions we were all a little bit scared due to the large numbers of jellyfish surrounding the area we were in. While a bit daunting to jump into jellyfish infested waters, I was up for a fun time so I jumped right into the mix. Since I was preoccupied with the fear of jellyfish I didn't even think to prepare myself for frigid ocean waters. Between having a loose wetsuit and the cold temperatures of the sea I must say I felt like I was back in Alaska swimming in the glacial fed waters. Despite the cold, however, it was invigorating to swim with the sea lions and join them in some fun. Although the sea lions didn't get quite close enough to wrestle with I did have fun breeching the water like they were and participating in a stand off against their impenetrable wall of sea lions.
Overall the excursion was a pretty amazing because it combined site seeing of wildlife, hanging with friends, swimming with creatures of the sea, and enjoying a relaxing Sunday.
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