We're off!
For something Ive been looking forward to for so long, it was surprisingly difficult to say goodbye this morning. Mark headed off to work at dark-o'clock, Wrigley resisted my attempts to hug the life out of him and my sweet Donnie had tears in her eyes as she delivered me to Park n Ride. Then of course, I had tears too.
From Pour La France restaurant at Denver International, I began this travel journal. Coffee, dark and bitter in hand. My omelette being crafted in the kitchen nearby. Out the window, another cloudless perfect Colorado day had begun.
We boarded for Cusco at 4:30 AM. Then the plane sat on the tarmac for 30 minutes while "technical issues" were resolved. I may not be the most patient and understanding person in the world but when it comes to airplane technical issues, I see very little upside in bitching about getting moving quicker if that means cutting corners regarding airplane maintenance or safety. Take your time chaps, I have plenty of entertainment right here ...
This leg saw Kelli, Teresa and I all split up in the airplane. To my left was the window seat and an already sleeping European gal.To my right a Peruvian gentleman was nodding off as he swiped and scrolled on his cell phone. Every 10 seconds or so, as he relaxed into it, his arm slipped off our shared arm rest and over to my side. He caught himself, never opened his eyes, frantically swiped and scrolled some more, then I watched as his head fell forward, his phone dropped into his lap and he repeated the performance.
About the 100th time this happened I realized that I could get all pissy about it, or share the joy. I took out my phone and video'd him! You're welcome!
I finished unsuccessfully completing my sudoku puzzle and fell asleep. The next time I awoke, we were on downwind for landing at Cusco Airport. The view was stunning out the window and my European friend allowed me to reach across her to take a couple of pictures.
For something Ive been looking forward to for so long, it was surprisingly difficult to say goodbye this morning. Mark headed off to work at dark-o'clock, Wrigley resisted my attempts to hug the life out of him and my sweet Donnie had tears in her eyes as she delivered me to Park n Ride. Then of course, I had tears too.
From Pour La France restaurant at Denver International, I began this travel journal. Coffee, dark and bitter in hand. My omelette being crafted in the kitchen nearby. Out the window, another cloudless perfect Colorado day had begun.
Im not going to sugar coat it. It was a long, hard travel day. With 3 flights and 4 different airports to negotiate, the journey would take about 20 hours and sleeping was not going to be easy.
There are other considerations too. All world travelers understand what happens to normal bodies under abnormal conditions... Once you take away sleep, mess with diurnal rhythms, monkey with foreign food and throw in a pinch of stress, one of two things is likely to happen: bowels become overactive or bowels become inactive. That's just how it is.
I carry Imodium for the "overactive" possibility, but have been lucky enough to never have to use it. I carry granola/oat bars to ward off the symptoms at the other end of the spectrum, which are no less troublesome.
The first leg was Denver to Houston. A short hop of just under two hours. Slightly turbulent as we descended through clouds and landed around 2:30pm. We had but 20 mins on the ground to pee, stretch and charge phones all of 3% (Im not a fan of the slow poke outlets in the Houston airport) before boarding began for Lima.
Lima. Our first stop in Peru, so therefore the place we had to clear customs and go through immigration too. Despite being numbers 401,402 and 403 in the queue through passport control, I felt we handled it with grace and patience. Customs involved a trip to baggage claim... and the guy manning the carousel demanded our baggage claim tickets at this point. That made no sense to me, as the bags were checked through to Cusco and we'd have nothing to claim them with at that end (or claim insurance with if they didn't make it to Cusco). I argued my point, lost and gave in.
As we rounded the corner and dove back into "check in" area with our bags once more, I asked the friendly staff about the bag claim stubs. Turns out carousel guy WAS an idiot who was not entitled to baggage claim stubs and now, our check in lady had to print us new baggage tags!
I took pics of this one with my phone to be sure things were not going awry again.
Lima has an interesting airport. Half of it was out of bounds for cleaning... taped off with something akin to crime scene yellow tape and being meticulously mopped by at least 50 different people. The other half, after security, was apparently only available to people going domestic, after 1:30 AM. We were stuck on bar stools in the food court for about 2 hours, surrounded by 1001 Peruvians sleeping on every inch of floor and bench, also awaiting flights. (Which came first? Clean floors so that people could sleep on them, or sleeping on them so then they had to employ a comical number of floor cleaners?)
The highlight of this stop for me was this priceless quote by Kelli at 1:20 AM:
"I drank my smooth move tea, but I haven't had a smooth move yet."
Be careful what you wish for... Putting used toilet paper in a basket with everyone elses efforts is best done after more sleep, IMHO.
We boarded for Cusco at 4:30 AM. Then the plane sat on the tarmac for 30 minutes while "technical issues" were resolved. I may not be the most patient and understanding person in the world but when it comes to airplane technical issues, I see very little upside in bitching about getting moving quicker if that means cutting corners regarding airplane maintenance or safety. Take your time chaps, I have plenty of entertainment right here ...
This leg saw Kelli, Teresa and I all split up in the airplane. To my left was the window seat and an already sleeping European gal.To my right a Peruvian gentleman was nodding off as he swiped and scrolled on his cell phone. Every 10 seconds or so, as he relaxed into it, his arm slipped off our shared arm rest and over to my side. He caught himself, never opened his eyes, frantically swiped and scrolled some more, then I watched as his head fell forward, his phone dropped into his lap and he repeated the performance.
About the 100th time this happened I realized that I could get all pissy about it, or share the joy. I took out my phone and video'd him! You're welcome!
I finished unsuccessfully completing my sudoku puzzle and fell asleep. The next time I awoke, we were on downwind for landing at Cusco Airport. The view was stunning out the window and my European friend allowed me to reach across her to take a couple of pictures.
A mightly long way from home but filled with promise and providing more than enough excitement to keep me awake at least until 10 AM.
Welcome to Cusco!!!
I'll catch you up on how the rest of the day went, tomorrow. It has been a cracker!
I'll catch you up on how the rest of the day went, tomorrow. It has been a cracker!
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