Sunday, December 29, 2013

Still at Coquimbo

 
We are still here, watching the gribs, waiting for the southerlies to decrease. In the meantime we are enjoying the sunshine, the wifi at the yacht club and meeting new friends.

Today we met Sebastián Canoras, his parents and their friends. Sebastian's father is a circumnavigator. They are also friends with Ginger and Peter, late of SV Marcy but now of SV Irene. Sebastian has been windsurfing in the Bahia passing by Windarra. We had a great conversation here on the patio. They have invited us over for New Years's eve. How cool is that!

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Coquimbo photos


Wooden church in downtown


Ramp to go up the hill, no cars though

Friday, December 27, 2013

Yachting Club de Herradura

29 58.781'S, 71 21.678'W

This morning we got the dingy inflated and went in to check into the yacht club. They are very welcoming and helpful. We get three days of free moorage and it will cost about $20 a day after that. We found out that they have a launch which will pick shuttle us to/from the boat. Wish we had known before we got the dingy out. Live and learn. The yacht club handles our check-in with the port captain as well.
Yachting Club de Herradura

Windarra at anchor
 
They called us a taxi so we could go into Coquimbo and see the folks at Entel, the company we are using for internet with the cell phone. With our limited Spanish and there was no one there that spoke English we did manage to get our phone up an working again. Unfortunately we only get 7Mb a day until January 1st and then we should have 120Mb. We will see.

We found a nice restaurant across the street for lunch and then we walked around town. In one plaza there was a nativity scene. Next to it was a tent blaring middle eastern music and a sign promoting the mosque in town. A little bit of everything.

We also saw ramps similar to Lombard Street in San Francisco leading farther up the hill. On top of the hill is a giant cross standing 93 meters high. It is supposed to have a museum as well.


Cheers

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Thursday, December 26, 2013

Day 8, Passage to Valparaiso, Bahia de Herradura

29 58.781'S, 71 21.678'W

We left Isla Damas this morning. Before we left we checked the gribs for our passage south to Valparaiso and decided that we should go to Coquimbo instead and wait for the winds to calm down farther south.

We are now anchored at Bahia de Herradura Guayacan with is bordering the peninsula where the city of Coquimbo is located. Even though we tried to reach the Armada and the Club de Yate on the radio we received no response. So we anchored near the club and will launch the dingy tomorrow to do our check in.

More to come...

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Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Day 7, Passage to Valpariso, Isla Damas

29 14.115'S, 71 31.310'W

We arrived at Isla Damas at 4:46 pm and promptly anchored. Rich fixed our drinks and we sat in the cockpit, enjoying the silence with no engine running and scanned the shoreline. No penguins so far but many sea birds.

 
Tonight we will enjoy a steak dinner and watch the DVD, "Love Actually". We are looking forward to a good night's sleep in our bed instead of the cockpit.

No sure if we will be leaving tomorrow or not, it depends on what we see in the gribs, but until then, it is time to relax.

Merry Christmas from Isla Damas, Chile!

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Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Day 6, Passage to Valparaiso

27 23.579'S, 71 04.500'W

We continue our travels south. We had more favorable winds today and were able to use the staysail and yankee. At times we were going up to 7.4 knots speed over the ground which helps offset the times were we were only doing 3.5 knots.

We hope to be at Isla Damas tomorrow around noon and we will stop there. It is supposed to have lots of wildlife include Humboldt penguins. I am not sure what they look like specifically but I guess we will find out.

We hope that everyone will have a restful and relaxing Christmas tomorrow and we miss you all and wish we were with you or that you were with us.

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Monday, December 23, 2013

Day 5, Passage to Valparaiso

25 15.214'S, 70 45.689'W

This morning after transmitting our position to the Chilean Armada, we left Caleta Blanco Encalada and headed south. We saw two whale blows, lots of birds for a while but then not much else. The hills along the shore are beige, gray and then the tops are the hills are reddish. There has been little in between.

We had a little arts and crafts time, whipping the ends of some triple braid that we use for docking or with mooring buoys. The line had chafed from the piling in Iquique and is now two lines. Rich looked in our book of knots for a suitable knot to join the two. He also made some leather straps to put on shackles to help open them.

We are heading towards Isla Damas. Our fallback is Puerto Caldera if the weather does not cooperate.

Cheers.

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Sunday, December 22, 2013

Day 4, Passage to Valparaiso, Caleta Blanco Encalada

24 22.108 S, 70 32.953 W

We got up at o'dark thirty or midnight and by 1 am we were up anchor and heading out. It was night an smooth compared to what we were experiencing earlier.

We have a new little hitchhiker, a small gecko, that was crawling around on the binnacle. Not sure where he is now. We have not seen him since this morning.

Today while Rich was tightening the main sheet, the part of the purchase that connects to the traveler detached and if Rich had not grabbed it quickly, the boom would have started to swing back and forth wildly. I saw the pin that had come off on deck and grabbed it and held the boom while Rich went to get some more split rings. This split ring that was there had somehow worked its way loose so that the pin slid out and the purchase came free. We reseated the pin and put in an new split ring. We will keep an eye on it. It is one of those things that you do not expect and luckily it happened during the day light so it was much easier to fix.

Another event for today is we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn. The last time we crossed this was when we were doing our South Pacific crossing.

Now we are anchored at Caleta Blanco Encalada. There is not much here except a small fishing camp. The hillsides are stark and reddish in some parts. The Atacama desert is certainly a dry place
.

Cheers

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Saturday, December 21, 2013

Day 3, Passage to Valparaiso, Mejilliones

23 05.535 S, 70 27.083 W

Last night at 11 pm we pulled into Mejilliones del Sur and dropped anchor. The winds and seas were building and we were not making much headway. The gribs promised more of the same so we decided to stop and take a breather. This included a nights sleep, a shower, transferring fuel from some of the jerry cans into the aft tank, napping and reading.

The Port Captain at Mejilliones
 
The winds have piped up again in the harbor which has protection from the south so we will continue to monitor and check the gribs. We may just stay another night, who knows.

There is no need to be in a hurry.

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Friday, December 20, 2013

Day 2, Passage to Valparaiso

22 48.737 S, 70 33.942 W

We continue southward. Right now it is a slog, winds on the nose and seas building. We might duck into the harbor north of Isla Santa Maria and wait for it to die down a bit.

Other than that it has been a nice sunny day...

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Thursday, December 19, 2013

Day 1 Passage to Valparaiso

20 50.293 S, 70 17.715 W

This morning we went to the Armada and got our national zarpe for cruising in Chile. It did not take long but there was some discussion since we plan to be in country for a while and we were not just coming and going but no problem, everything is okay. Part of this is we will continue to send emails to the Armada, twice daily to let them know where we are and where we are going.

At 11:00 am we were anchor up and lines cast off from the dock at Yate Club Botes de Iquique, which is a great spot a short walk from the Armada, Aduana (customs) and the historic section of downtown. Patricio, the operator of the yacht club, helped with the lines. We passed several large sea lions swimming in the harbor, tossing fish and passed the container ships.

The landscape is barren and light brown, sand and rock. We could here the loud sound of jets landing at the airport south of south and reverberating against the hillside.

Our plan is to stop at either Isla Santa Maria or at Caleta Blanco Encalada.

cheers

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Day 1 Passage to Valparaiso

20 50.293 S, 70 17.715 W

This morning we went to the Armada and got our national zarpe for cruising in Chile. It did not take long but there was some discussion since we plan to be in country for a while and we were not just coming and going but no problem, everything is okay. Part of this is we will continue to send emails to the Armada, twice daily to let them know where we are and where we are going.

At 11:00 am we were anchor up and lines cast off from the dock at Yate Club Botes de Iquique, which is a great spot a short walk from the Armada, Aduana (customs) and the historic section of downtown. Patricio, the operator of the yacht club, helped with the lines. We passed several large sea lions swimming in the harbor, tossing fish and passed the container ships.

The landscape is barren and light brown, sand and rock. We could here the loud sound of jets landing at the airport south of south and reverberating against the hillside.

Our plan is to stop at either Isla Santa Maria or at Caleta Blanco Encalada.

cheers

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Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Photos of Iquique

Approaching the harbor of Iquique

Rita and Don of SV Limbo join us for lunch on the Plaza

 The plaza with the clock tower by Mr Eiffel 

Casablanca? No, a casino in Iquique
 
Esmeralda a plucky little Chilean corvette that challenged the Peruvian warships in the War of the Pacific
 
An Inca Tern

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Arrived at Iquique, Chile

20 12.516 S, 070 08.973 W

We are presently enjoying our CDA drinks as we have arrived at Iquique, Chile. The passage was 125.3 hours of motorsailing over 683 nautical miles. Whew!

Last night since we had crossed the border I started to send a "Position and Intention of Movement" email to the Chilean maritime authorities. Immediately after sending the email, I received an email back from them saying there was a weapons drill zone outside of Iquique and to avoid the area within these coordinates. Wouldn't you know it, our projected course went right through this area. So we had to make some course adjusts, nothing major, but definitely necessary. We followed a container ship from China into the port. Granted they arrived a lot earlier than us but we like to think that they swept up any nets or fishermen in the way.

We arrived at 2:40 pm, Lima time which is really 4:40 pm Chile time. So going south we lost two hours.

Windarra is anchored in the harbor near some tug boats. The officials from the Armada, Agriculture and Immigration left just a bit ago. Our passports are stamped and we have 90-day visas. (We have not been asked for any cash so far). Tomorrow we will go to Customs to do their paperwork and to see about getting a temporary import permit for the boat. We will also try to move into the yacht club.

Iquique is a larger city than I expected. It is also a cruise ship port as well as a container port. It once was a major center for the shipment of nitrates for fertilizer before fertilizer was made from oil and the market for nitrates drop out.

We are glad to have the engine off and be in a new country.

Stay tuned....

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Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Passage to Iquique, Chile, Day 5

18 44.862 S, 71 08.146 W

At 9:44 am this morning we left the territorial waters of Peru and entered the waters of Chile when we crossed 18 00.000 S.

Since then the seas have become more choppy and the wind has increased to as much as 14 knots. Trying to do something below such as washing dishes it a bit of a challenge but doable. We have seen a number of small fishing boats with an outboard motor and a small cabin like structure on the front. Of course we hope that they will not be out tonight as it was difficult to see them in these seas during the day light, it will be even more difficult at night.

Our current ETA to Iquique is 17:42 UTC tomorrow, 12/11. We are looking forward to arriving.

Cheers from Chile

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Monday, December 9, 2013

Passage to Iquique, Chile, Day 4

17 14.032 S, 72 30.421 W

Today was more of the same, as we continue to motorsail south.

This morning around 4:30 am, during my watch, I saw something out of the corner of my eye, near the midship cleat on the starboard side. It was the cormorant, sleeping with his head tucked around on his back, weaving back and forth on his webbed feet. We let him stay for a while but then he started to move toward the aft deck. He had pooped enough, thank you and it was time for him to shove off.

So we shooed him away. In a little bit he returns and tries to land on the port side solar panel. Nope, this is not a cormorant landing zone. He flew off again, circled around and landed on the mainsail on the boom. No! Get off you silly bird. He landed on the deck and tried to waddle forward. Off we said. Finally he got the hint.

We hope we do not pick up any more hitchhikers....

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Sunday, December 8, 2013

Passage to Iquique, Chile, Day 3

16 04.132 S, 74 28.592 W

The passage continues.

Today we picked up a hitchhiker or should I say it dropped onto us. A cormorant flew by and landed on the dingy on the foredeck. When we are on long passages like this one, the dingy is deflated and stowed upside down under the staysail. The cormorant landed and slid around on the dingy due to the rocking on the boat so it opted to hop onto the deck and started to preen and adjust its feathers. This was around 1 pm. It is now 7:45 pm and he is still there. We unfurled the staysail above it but it just stayed there, unperturbed. We wonder how long it will stay and get a ride.

Does it know we are going to Chile?

 
Just before it got dark we saw a large fishing trawler, then we saw the black flag with a buoy floating in the water. We changed course to give it a wide berth. Hopefully that will be the only one we encounter tonight. How is it we see nothing all day long but that as soon as it started to get dark, they appear.

Hopefully the evening watch will be uneventful....

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Saturday, December 7, 2013

Passage to Iquique, Chile, Day 2

14 35.043 S, 76 14.002 W

Today was more of the same, motor sailing, but we were able to use the staysail and yankee as well, which helped reduce our fuel consumption. The winds go as high as 9 knots at one point and the sea was relatively calm with just slow swells and no wind waves at all. We saw lots of dolphins, boobies, seals, sea lions and pelicans all fishing.

Beyond us was busy with container ship traffic. One ship was even going to Iquique. We did not ask for a tow.

Not much to report, which I guess is a good thing.

Cheers

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Friday, December 6, 2013

On the road again.... day 1 to Iquique

12 40.693 S, 77 04.650 W

This morning we dropped our moorings and left Yacht Club Peruano and La Punta. The folks at the yacht club were great. The facilities at La Punta make it a wonderful place for the cruiser to stop and we are glad that we did.

We called the yacht club in the morning and gave them the number on our international zarpe. I then called TRAMAR and gave them our information as well. They wished us bon voyage.

Now, like the words of the Willie Nelson song, we are 'on the road again', heading south. So far it has been a motorsail with winds more or less on the nose and some current. The swells are 1-2 meters, at 10 seconds, with less than a foot of wind waves. Early on we saw some fishing boats but none since dusk. We saw lots of boobies diving into the water in large groups like kamekazis, plus some sea lions and a few dolphins would swim by, maybe thanking us for the fish, we are not sure.

Cheers,
Elaine and Rich

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Thursday, December 5, 2013

Checking in and out of Peru





Note: this entry is out of order and will be moved to December, 2013 to be in sequence. Sorry for any confusion.

Before leaving for Peru we read entries at www.noonsite.comwww.ssca.org as well as blogs from cruisers that had gone to Peru. 

I contacted Gonzalo Ravago, the SSCA cruising station representative as well. He sent me a copy of the Callao Region Sanitary Fees, with two documents highlighted; Ortogamiento de Libre Platica, with a fee of S/862.40 at check in and Patente Sanitaria, with a fee of S/861.50 at check out. As the Peruvian Nuevo Sol is about $0.36, this is $308.07 and $307.75, respectively. Gonzalo would also put me in touch with an agent to handle the process which we estimated to be $400 to check in and out. Certainly this is much more expensive than any of the 14 or so countries we have visited in the last 13 years but at least we knew up front. Gonzalo warned us not to stop or check in at Paita, Salaverry or Chimbote as they are fishing and container ship centers and not oriented towards cruising yachts. He also sent us information on notifying TRAMAR when we enter Peruvian waters. In addition, we sent emails to TRAMAR twice daily, at 8:00 am and 8:00 pm, notifying them of our currently location, heading and speed during our passage to and from Peru. 

This is an example of the email:
----------------------------start of email---------------------------

1. La tripulacion
Sienda la tripulacion de este yate como sigue:
NOMBRE                NACIONALIDAD   PASAPORTE# CARGO        EDAD:
A BORDA:
John P. Jones.             USA                    987654321       Capitan        Xx
Jane Q. Jones.            USA                    123456789       Marinera       YY

2. Rol de pasajeros
Zero/0

4. Declaracion General
John P. Jones, Capitan del yate de placer "Valiant", de la matricula numero 1234567 de Hometown, Washington, USA,
del port de 24 toneladas brutas y de 22 netas. Radio Call Sign: XYZ1234.

5. Mensaje - Planear ruta
FECHA     HORA  LATITUD   LONGITUD  RUMBO   VELOCIDAD
11/09/13 07:55  03 21.1'S  080 50.9' W     203            4.2 knots
11/09/13 07:26  03 19.5'S  080 50.4 W      196            4.6 knots <- when entered Peruvian waters

COMENTARIO                                FECHA y HORA (ETA)
Enroute: La Punta, Callao, Peru       11/16/2013 16:00

6. Nota.

----------------------------end of email---------------------------

When we were approaching Callao, we hailed TRAMAR on channel 16 when we were 20 miles out but no answer. We tried at again at 10 miles out and received a response and were able to converse in English and get directions for our entry. There is a lot of container ship traffic to and from Callao, and having AIS was very helpful. After passing the RACON X sea buoy we contacted TRAMAR and then called Yacht Club Peruano on channel 68 and indicated that as it was dark and7:30 pm on a Saturday night that we would anchor nearby and pick up a mooring buoy in the morning. At 8:30 pm, a launch from the yacht club came by and told us we need to move to a mooring, so up anchor and we managed to grab the painter for the mooring and secure the boat. 

The agent, Jorge Luis Romero Gardella, called on VHF, informing us that he would be arriving at Windarra at 9:30 pm to sign the paperwork. When he did not arrive by 11:00 pm we went to bed. At 1:00 am there was a loud knocking on the hull. Jorge had arrived with 3 officials. We quickly dressed and invited them on board. We had copies of all of our paperwork including boat document, passports, yellow fever vaccine certificates and documents from Ecuador including Zarpe and Sanitario de Bordo, as well as a printout from Airmail listing all of the emails I had sent to TRAMAR, and a copy of the last email which they asked for during the signing. All of the conversation is taking place in Spanish with Jorge speaking only a few words of English. They were impressed with our boat stamp and on every piece of paperwork, Rich would stamp and sign it. Everything seemed to be going well until the doctor representing Sanitation would not accept the Sanitario de Bordo from Ecuador. He wanted some other document. We tried to understand what he wanted but with not much success. Jorge indicated that it was another document on the list of Callao Region Sanitary Fees that Gonzalo had sent. The fee for this, the Certificado de Control de Sanidad de Bordo is S/1599.10 or $576.50. Instead of further discussion we just said okay but there was no transfer of funds at this point. Jorge would take our passports and return them to us, later on Sunday and the officials and Jorge departed. It was now about 3:00 am after a 10 day passage and we were ready for some sleep.

Over the nineteen days that we were at La Punta, our check in and check out was worked. Jorge did get our passports stamped, with our tourist visas and Ortogamiento de Libre Platica to us. As he does not speak a lot of English, I would translate emails into Spanish to try to communicate with him. This had some success but he would sometimes show up at the boat completely unannounced.  Another cruiser, Don and Rita of SV Limbo who had arrived a few months earlier were also having difficulties of a similar nature. Gonzalo interceded for all of us and helped with the issues with Sanitation and Jorge. As a result, we did not pay for nor receive a Certificado de Control de Sanidad de Bordo. We did give Jorge S/1723.90 for the two documents and he signed a receipt for us. Jorge did try to rattle us by claiming that the cost for checking out could be between $2500 and $3000 and that it was at the whim of the port captain. We did not rise to the bait but just passed the information on to Gonzalo.

Don and Rita left a week before us and this helped test the check out process. 

For checking out we gave Jorge notice on Monday that we wanted to leave earlyThursday morning. I typed up a sailing plan for our passage from Callao to Iquique, Chile and sent this to Gonzalo who forward it to Jorge as this is required by the authorities. Thursday around 10:00 am, Jorge called and wanted to meet us at the yacht club to sign the paperwork. We brought our stamp and passports and the signing and stamping began. 

Afterwards, Jorge left and we enjoyed a great lunch at the yacht club with Gonzalo as we waited for him to return. After lunch, Jorge returned and Gonzalo reviewed our documents. Our passports had been signed, and we had our international Zarpe to leave Peru. We never did get a Patente Sanitaria, but Gonzalo indicated that we could leave without it. Gonzalo negotiated with Jorge and we paid him S/840 or $300. We did not leave until Friday morning.

Behind the scenes Gonzalo worked with Jorge and talked with the officials. We signed a letter drafted by Jorge on our behalf indicating that we did not find the Certificado de Control de Sanidad de Bordo necessary and we would not pay for it. SV Limbo did the same thing. Gonzalo has also been in contact with a local television station that wants to do a story on this. It is unfortunate that a few look to line their pockets. With this exception we found the Yacht Club Peruano and La Punta an excellent place for cruisers to stop and we enjoyed our stay there. We understand why Peru is written about so poorly in the cruising guides and websites and it is a shame because La Punta is a great cruiser stop.

If you are planning to sailing to Peru, I would strongly advise you to contact Gonzalo beforehand and coordinate with him to help smooth the process and to make sure you understand what is required. I can't imagine what this would have been like if we had not contacted Gonzalo a priori. 

We hope that Gonzalo and the Yacht Cub will be successful in establishing a well defined, consistent procedure and cost for checking in and out of cruising yachts. It would make stopping at La Punta, Peru and Yacht Club Peruano even more worthwhile.

Elaine and Rich
SV Windarra

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

More photos of Peru

We took a taxi into Miraflores and went to the Larcomar shopping center which is built into the cliff. It has a gorgeous view. It is small but very similar to Bellevue Square, ie upscale. We bought an alpaca throw and a scarf.



They even have skeeball.



This is a view of the moorings from the beach. Even though the beach has no sand and is covered with rocks it is very popular.

Monday, December 2, 2013

La Punta and Lima


Rich and I get a ride on a launch from the boat into the yacht club. This is nice since we do not have to inflate the dingy. There are 350 boats in the mooring field.


The Yacht Club Peruano is over 150 years old. It has been visited by notable sailors such as Tristan Jones and now us.


La Punta is a bedroom community with many beautiful and historic home such as these on the esplanade.

We grabbed a bus to Plaza San Miguel and then a taxi into Plaza de Armes of historic downtown Lima. Our taxi driver was a bit mischievous. He would drive up close to the side of another car, reach his hand out an bump it. The driver of the other vehicle would immediately start looking around trying to figure out who hit his car and if he had been rear-ended. Our driver would look innocently back. He did this several times. Once the other car stopped and the driver was sure he had been rear-ended as we quickly drove away.

We watched the changing of the guard at the Presidential Palace with much pomp and circumstance. Also on the same plaza is the Cathedral of Lima and the Palace of the Archbishop. We toured through both site which date to 1535 and much older than anything in the United States. 

Here are a few pictures of La Punta and Lima.

Rich and I get a ride on a launch from the boat into the yacht club. This is nice since we do not have to inflate the dingy.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Lunch at Gonzalo's, Dec 1

It is not everyday that you get to have lunch at the Sri Lankan consul in Peru but this afternoon was special. 
 
For us, Gonzalo Ravago is the Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) representative for Lima/Callao, Peru. The SSCA is an organization which focuses on maintaining a clean wake and a tradition of emphasizing world wide camaraderie. Before we left to go cruising in 2001 we became members and with excitement we read the monthly bulletins where cruisers would describe their adventures. "In the late seventies, the SSCA began developing a worldwide network of 'cruising stations', a facility or person(s) dedicated to helping cruisers and greeting newcomers sailing into their port with a friendly hand offering hospitality. A warm welcome upon arrival in a new port and a place to turn to for assistance in any situation is a wonderful thing to offer our members." 

This describes Gonzalo's role for us. We contacted him before we left Ecuador. He helped transport a replacement electronic part from the US where he was on business travel to Peru so we could install it when we arrived. He assisted us with our agent on checking in to and out of Peru, as well as coordinating with the Yacht Club Peruano and answering my emails before we arrived.

He is a man who wears many hats, such as also being  the honorary Peruvian consul to Sri Lanka, so the front room at his house is his office and the Sri Lankan consul, complete with pictures of the president of Sri Lanka and their flag. Gonzalo also owns a cosmetic and a costume jewelry company. He is a sailor (J-24 and a 36 ft sailboat) and proud father of a delightful family.

He invited us over for lunch with his family and a few friends. His wife, Magdala, is a wonderful hostess who welcomed us and offered a delicious lunch of "chifa" or Peruvian style Chinese food. Their daughter, also named Magdala, is attending university and studying industrial engineering. Gonzalo jr, their son, is 11 and excited about airplanes as well as being a whiz at the flight simulator on his iPad. Ignacio de la Piedra who is an economist with a computer engineering background from Notre Dame in the US joined us with his 6 year old twin daughters, and a son a little older than Gonzalo jr. Our group was rounded out with Eduardo Montenegro and his wife, Jenny Montori. Eduardo is the consul from Malta to Peru and a member of the Order of St. John. 
 
Ignacio's son, Ignacio, Elaine, Rich, Eduardo, Magdala, Gonzalo
Front row: Ignacio's twin daughters, Gonzalo Jr.
 
The afternoon was full of conversation on all sorts of topics from engineering to airplanes to Templars and the Order of St John to exploits of being a consul. We had a great time and will remember it as one of the highlights of our visit to Peru.

Thank you to Gonzalo and your family for your hospitality, your friendship and making Peru be alive.