What a disappointment to want to hide under the covers not far from your toilet when you're supposed to be adventuring... and how fortunate we were that it happened while at the Carmelo Hotel/Hacienda. Isobel, on the mend and behind on sleep, seemed to be ok with sleeping away the late afternoon and night with us, asking only for sustenance in the middle of the night which she took care of herself by finding a piece of raisin bread that had traveled from Panama.

The worst over and a new day dawning, Bill & the girl headed out for a little breakfast in the open air (cold air!) veranda. The fresh squeezed orange juice they served was so delicious Bill came back to lure me out of bed to try some. He was right and it was so refreshing to our spent systems that later we each had a glass as our only lunch fare as well.

Ica's sunny blue skies were a welcome change from the heavy grey skies of Lima and it was a pleasure to just sit (or lay around ideally) in the warmth of the sun. Isobel was needing some little adventure so we took a stroll to find out where the bird we kept hearing was hiding. We found the offending macaw who would occasionally say "hola" to us as well as a sweet collection of other birds, numerous peacocks, a rabbit, a baby llama, 2 small grey deer, and another small llama-like animal that I'm embarrasssed to say I still haven't identified - maybe an alpaca or vicuna? She was nibbler/biter and kept in a pen, but most everyone else was free to roam. This "eensy weensy" zoo was perfect entertainment for a hotel bound 4 year old.

For adults there was a self guided tour showing the process of making pisco - a 40% alcohol distillation of fermented grapes. Supposedly, the Spanish imported grapes to Peru, but then were afraid Peruvian wine imports would compete too much with Spanish wines so they imposed high import tariffs. There was no case of sour grapes here, they made PISCO!, and from that the national drink, pisco sour. The ceramic vessel to the lef of the peacock is an example of what they stored the pisco in.