Ryan Romps

Today the ship anchored off the coast of Pitcairn Island. Because the sea is rough and their are no actual ports on the Island, we were unable to go ashore, however, since there are less than 60 people on the Island they weren’t going to miss the chance to sell things to us. About 25 of them climbed into a long boat and rode out to the ship. They then climbed up a ladder with all of their things, set it out on tables, and began selling. All the people on the ship began a frenzy to buy things. It was quite a sight. Our ships crew giving supply's to the Islanders We had gone to some lectures about the Island and learned that they have very good honey. It is said that they have the best honey in the world due to having the only bees in the world with no disease. We thought it would be fun to try some of this honey, but by the time that we got to the honey selling table they were all out. We were disappointed but then my mom had an idea. She thought we could give o...

Today the ship anchored near Easter Island. There was a long wait list for tender rides. Our tickets were for tender number 12. Due to the rough sea they were only able to get to tender ticket fifteen. They usually are able to get everybody to the port. I am extremely glad that I got to go because very few tourists ever get to go to the island. When we got called we made our way to the tender and saw our friends Frank and Philomena. We had plans to get a cab with them and see the Island together. After the tender delivered us safely to shore we got a driver who spoke only Spanish named Niu (New). He was saying something about a ticket but we weren’t sure what so we just started our journey. Frank and Philomena tried to talk to him using a small notecard with a few Spanish phrases but were mostly unsuccessful. When we got to our first stop we figured out what Niu was talking about when he said tickets. We had to go all the way back to the port to get tickets for the National Park. Then ...

Today the ship docked in Arica, Chile. We got off the ship and onto a shuttle which carried us out of the port. When we got to the edge of the port my mom had to put her backpack through an baggage machine. They took away the apples in the bag which was fine, but surprisingly they didn't notice that we had cookies as well. Once we got to the main square we were surprised to find that the souvenir stands weren't as aggressive as they usually are in other ports. The people there were more interested in my height then selling me something. They wanted to know how old I was because I was taller than the 18 year-old boys selling things. We didn't buy anything, but instead went across the street where we found an information building. There, we got a map and some directions on how to get to a bike rental place. We walked to the bike place and rang the doorbell/call button. It rang, but nothing happened. We rang it again and still nothing happened. We knocked on the door, and stil...

Yesterday the ship docked in Lima, Peru, our first overnight port. We got off the ship and onto the shuttle which took us to San Miguel. We were greeted by many taxi drivers eager to take the us on tours. We bumped into Frank and Philimena again and got a nice cab driver named Hennry. He took us to the district of Miraflores. He dropped us off next to a paragliding place. We went to see if I could do it but unfortunately it wasn’t windy enough so we walked down the path on the cliff to the beach below. We decided it would be fun to go swimming but the beach was very rocky. I left my shoes on because they were hiking shoes but my mom had flip flops which she didn’t want to lose so she took them off. Getting out into the water with all the rocks at our feet was easy for me but extremely painful for my mom. It was nice once we were out there though. After we were done swimming we headed back up the path. We checked if it was windy enough to paraglide. It was, so I got suited up. The man ...

Today the ship docked in Salaverry, Peru. At breakfast, we decided to spend the day with some of our new friends, Frank and Philomena. After breakfast we met them at the bottom of the ship. The four of us then negotiated with a few cab drivers who spoke little English. We chose to go with a man named Francesco who drove us to the sun and moon pyramids. Unfortunately the sun pyramid is closed to the public but the moon pyramid is open and serving. We got a nice tour guide who wasn’t feeling well. She had to take a few breaks, but was full of information and answered all the questions that were asked. She told us that the ruins were a temple for the decapitation god. She said that when the Moche people had bad weather they rounded up the most elite warriors and made them battle each other with clubs. She said that the losers were prepared (beautified) for sacrifice and given a very strong alcohol that would cause hallucinations. She said that they were then led into a special room wit...