Peru

We berthed at Callao Peru to visit Lima the capital. Lima is about 8miles inland and is surrounded bythe Peruvian coastal desert, and is a short distance west of the Andes Mountains. I, as always went on the city tour and enjoyed it very much. We went to the pre-Inca ceremonial site which is a World Heritage site .It has been excavated over a long period and is much older than Machu Picchu .It was midday and diabolically hot because we were surrounded by high brick walls. Well worth seeing tho'. We were shown the Presidential Palace and wondered at the large police presence .There were also 2 armoured cars and Police in riot gear with' plastic ' shields in front of them. One of us noticed the cameras etc. and there was the President making a speach. Nobody bothered about us taking videos so I asked a Policeman if I could photograph him. Yes I could so that was O.K. then he asked my name I did not know what he was saying but he said 'me lamo Miguel'probably one of the only things I remembered. As soon as I heard Miguel it was easy to guess so I introduced myself. He wanted to know where I come from , clue 'Amerique', so I told him no , Angletera then I hot footed out smiling and waving, my Spanish is limited. very limited. I must go back to lessons if I am thinking of going anywhere in S. America again .I can not bear not knowing the language .It is typical of me to drop Spanish, become reasonably fluent in French then go gadding around all the Spanish speaking countries. We left the square a little behind the guide and passed in front of 5 men in riot gear with plastic shields. I thought it would make an interesting picture so I did my , 'can I video you routine' again . They can only say 'No' or something similar but the boss man said 'with pleasure, fill your boots '-- or something similar, so we did .We are now the envy of anyone wanting a photo of said Police ,Army or whatever they were who had walked past eyes averted. Good here is it not . I like Peru very much . On return to the Ruby we found a market with all sorts of goodies at cheap prices I bought 3T.shirts and a poncho made of Llama wool .Back in the sun for a while now. It is very hot today hardly any wind. Ttfn and thanks again boys for my M. D. messages.XXXXXXXX