Greetings all.  We arrived successfully in Peru late evening on Sunday and were met by agents of our tour company.  We set alarm for five a.m. and were met by guide in the lobby at seven.  There too we met several others from our group.  We loaded into a small bus and rattled, bumped, and beeped our way out of Lima and down the coast.  

One's first impression is of the chaos and the tired look of the urban areas.  How glad we can live where we do!  Then one looks past the litter, the half finished structures, and the poor making livings with hand shovels and boats ours to the picturesque landscapes and villages in todo.  There we were driving down the Pan American Highway along the coast, barron desert bluffs to the left and the roaring Pacific to our right.  Wonderful.

The morning was foggy.  They all are this season.  Our first bird was a West Peruvian Pigeon calling outside our hotel window.  We saw lots of them yesterday, but also pegnuins in a sea cave from a small boat rising and falling with the waves.  We lunched at a small cafe in a beach resort town that was quiet except for the fishermen now in winter.  Yes, it is winter and cool here, even in the tropics.

Today we "rest" and now go to shop for water and other necessities.  This afternoon we move to an airport motel.  Before dawn we will rise to catch a flight to Cusco high in the Andes and begin an auto trek over the high mountains and down into the Amazon Basin.  Other more experienced members of our group say we will be dazzled by the diversity of birds there.  Careful they say.  It can be addictive.

We are testing our physiology but are well so far.  Strange environment and different food.  We hope for the best.  More later, but don{t know when will next have access to Internet.  We´re off to the jungle.