Penguins and Sea Lions in Lima?

We arrived at the port of Callao, which is the gateway for Peru’s largest city, Lima. In fact,
Lima is South America’s 4th largest city, after São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires.  Our arrival was late morning, at 11:00 AM.  After a hearty lunch, I had a shore excursion planned for 1:00 PM.  We took a 24-passenger boat ride out to a couple of islands past the breakwaters of the port and were regaled with tons of bird life, penguins and sea lions.  It was a beautiful day to be out on the water, warm but not hot, and sunny.  It was a nice surprise to see the cute Humboldt penguins, and then I got to get in the (cold) water and swim with the sea lions.  A first!!  When we're in the water, we are told to lie on our backs with our feet facing the sea lions.  They will see this as non confrontational and will swim up to you to check you out.  They also dive in front of you, swim underneath you and will come up eventually and kiss the bottoms of your feet. They tickle!!!  and nibble a little too.  Such fun!!

I will have two more posts on Lima - a night tour to see a water fountain show in town, and our second day for a tour to the Pachamaca ruins and a horse show.  Stay tuned!

Can you see the faces (pointing right) on this rock formation?

This sea lion was a hoot.  He was also one of the larger ones that came up to me.

These birds, we were told, are Peruvian boobies.

I love this picture capturing 2 flying birds in front of the pelican.

Patty and I on the boat.

My smile belies the fact that the water was cold.....

This is the naval symbol on the mountain of the island where the Peruvian Navy has training facilities.  At first we thought it was drawn or etched, but in fact there are plants that make up the "drawing."