We got on a bus, which took us about 3 miles to a marina, where we boarded a couple of open boats for our tour. The tour took us around San Lorenzo Island, which has a colony of Humboldt penguins, to the Palomino Islands, where there are huge colonies of sea lions and sea birds. San Lorenzo Island is also the site of a Naval training station, where all members of the Peruvian Navy undergo their basic training. The seas were fairly rough, so it was an exciting ride, but we got lots of good pictures of penguins and seabirds. The penguins didn't do very much, just stood there like they were posing for prom pictures. Maybe the rough seas kept them from wanting to go for a swim.

 At the sea lion colony, the tour operators had wet suits in the boat for anyone who wanted to get out and swim with the sea lions . The wet suits are necessary because of the Humboldt Current, which keeps the water near the coast between 14 and 18 degrees Centigrade (56-67 degrees Fahrenheit). Two women did get into the water, but one soon returned to the boat because she was too cold. The other woman had a great time, and spent about 15 minutes in the water with the sea lions swimming all around. I think they were kind of used to people doing this, because they didn’t seem extra curious. The guide told us that sea lions are very territorial on land, but not in the sea. It was fun to watch them swimming around and occasionally leaping out of the water like dolphins.

After the tour, David and I went to the market that was set up on the dock, and he bought me a beautiful alpaca wool shawl for my birthday. This market was a cut above the usual set of stalls; for instance, the jeweler H. Stern had a stall where they were selling necklaces for $5000 or so. But there were also more reasonable places, where we were able to buy the shawl, some postcards and a cute little alpaca stuffed animal.