Arrived

Friday, May 25, Part 2

Quite possibly the smartest thing I ever did was to call and change that flight from Boston to Fort Lauderdale.  My instinct paid off because the flight I was meant to be on didn’t leave Boston until after I was boarding the flight to Lima.  Oh brother, that would have been fatal.  But no worries, I made the Lima flight with plenty of time to spare and even got to choke down the one vegetarian offering in the entire Fort Lauderdale airport.  Food Network Kitchen has a passable black bean and rice burger with fries, in case you ever need to know.

The flight to Lima was harmless.  I dozed off and on while binge watching 13 Reasons Why (highly recommend, the soundtrack alone is worth it).  We arrive pretty much on time and it was a smooth flight overall.  I was thrilled to find my long-unused knowledge of Spanish is kicking in pretty quickly and accurately as I was able to chat with an older couple in line with me last night.  JetBlue was looking for 7 volunteers to stay another night in Florida since the weight of all the checked luggage was beyond what is permissible.  Their offers started at $200 and last we heard the takers fell for $800.  We were talking about how crazy that is.  They actually held boarding until they had the volunteers.  It probably would have been smarter for them to control the checked luggage, but hey, who am I?

It was easy enough to deplane and get to Immigration.  There’s a customs form they give you which itemizes what you’re allowed to bring into the country, like 2 cameras, 2 cell phones, 4 memory cards (OOOPS...) Anything more than that and you have to pay duty, even if it’s for personal use.  I’m pretty sure I have about 7 memory cards, but sue me.

In the Immigration line there was a guy right behind me, sort of flashily dressed with dark hair and large black glasses.  He was clearly of South American descent but no one was giving him a second glance.  He got out ahead of me and I saw him hit the sidewalk to be surrounded immediately by a security contingent and swarmed by a bunch of girls screaming “OH MY GOD” and “PHOTO PLEASE PHOTO” in Spanish.  So he was someone.  A Google search proved useless.  I inadvertently had a brush with fame.

The Wyndham hotel I stayed at for the overnight is quite literally across the street from the terminal, not even a 2 minute walk.  It was quiet for the most part, as flights seemed to stop overnight.  I was at my hotel and in bed within an hour of landing (Immigration ate up most of that).  When flights started up in the wee hours though, every time a plane took off or landed, it would set a car alarm off right outside the hotel.  Annoying.  I think I got maybe 6 hours of sleep which should be ok to get by.

A really nice employee at the hotel showed me where I had to go for Departures (again, right across the street but right instead of left) and said I would have to check my luggage if it is over 8KG.  My regular carryon is 13.5KG so there it went.  I will now spend the flight to Cuzco praying it makes it with me.  I have my camera, iPad and iPhone with me, along with glasses and medication.  I’ve spent the hour I have here checking out the shopping (Alpaca wool, jewelry) and drinking a Starbucks iced coffee (bought my thermal travel mug for the collection!)

I’ve been taking the anti-altitude sickness medication for 2 days now, as directed.  I hit Cuzco today and spend a day there at 12,000+ feet.  I’ve been mildly concerned about all the warnings about how to acclimate, but I guess we see today how I do.

Flight to Cuzco in an hour.  Back on the other side.