Southeast of Trujillo is the port city of Salaverry, Peru, a South Pacific Ocean cruise destination within the La Libertad Region. Although Trujillo is the country’s second largest city, Salaverry has its own charms and is, in fact, one of the nation’s largest ports. A gateway to the Andean foothills and a number of pre-Columbian archaeological sites, this South American town highlights the Moche culture and that of the Chimi people. Although many cruise lines offer shore excursions to Trujillo, there are shopping and dining opportunities in Salaverry, should you not wish to venture from port. Here you’ll find plenty of handcrafted art pieces made by local artists, as well as souvenirs and gift items.

The ship docks for the day, early morning. As we were docked so early, around 5:00 am, I decided to ask some of the crew to run a half marathon over the beach.

We started at 6:45 am and were back around 8:00 am. Later that very same day, I decided to run another half marathon, this time in the opposite direction. So I ended up doing to 13.1 mile runs in one day. Crazy but I loved it. The first one at 6:45 am was a 1:48:06 time and the afternoon was 30 seconds slower: 1:48:39