Callao

5/29/16

Today was another Mirabus field trip as we toured the port city of Callao. This very close to Lima has always been very important because it was the first port in connecting South America with the rest of the world, as well as, having major historical importance to Peru during the war of the Pacific. All in all we made four stops. First we saw the Naval Museum which by far was probably my favorite. It was composed of the history of Peru's Navy Generals, old uniforms,  and a couple examples of boats and cannons. Next we went in a model submarine. Not just near, in! We got to see every compartment of the submarine and look at how the sailers lived. The whole experience was so interesting and how they manage to live on there for days let alone weeks amazes me. It is really making me rethink my choice of joining the navy.

Next was lunch where we ate at the Marina club and were served a three course meal of cheese sticks, swordfish with vegetables, and finished off with a little bit of ice cream. It was all very good in my opinion and the room was very fitting. The room was open to the marina and had a small deck right next to the table. The sun was shinning all morning and while we were eating lunch so the temperature was very comfortable. I definitely think the swordfish was the best, it was perfectly cooked and went well with the beans and carrots on the side.

Our last stop was the famous Callao Navy fortress. It is a tremendous pentagon structure with historic value and is now used as a museum to show visitors all the inner structures. The space inside was filled with small buildings, and galleries with different forms of artillery. On one wall there was a museum built into it showing the busts of the Heros of Peru's independence. There was also a large collection of old navy swords and authentic native american clothing. We ended out time there looking out from the kings castle, a tall portion of the wall built extra hey to look over the bluffs and to the surrounding area of Callao. Getting to the top was a real maze because there were probably a million different tunnels and corridors through the castle to get to the top.