Peru Fall 2014 Day 16 & 17

We had to wake up sort of early because we had to check out of the apartment. They wanted us out by 11am because I think they had someone else coming in right after us.  So we got had a small breakfast, got cleaned up and got packed so we could get out on time. We brought our stuff to Daniela’s office where I performed some routine tech support by replacing her mouse and keyboard with the new ones, installing a lan cable for her computer instead of it using wireless and figured out an issue with her scanner that was preventing it from operating in the way she wanted it to. I did not fully fix it but gave her a work around until she can get the drivers disk for the printer/scanner device to reinstall it.

After we finished the tech support we took a taxi to her house where we dropped the stuff off and said hello to her mother before heading out to La Punta. It was sunny out so we decided to go to La Punta to eat lunch and see the beaches a bit. We ate lunch at Restaurant La Mirador which is not the place we had the wedding but on the other side of the isthmus.  It is of course a seafood restaurant first like most of the places in La Punta. Daniela had heard it was very good so she wanted to try it. We each got a Cuscena to drink and she ordered a crab appetizer in wonton wrappers that included guacamole that I did not much care for.  For lunch I had a white fish with a sauce fines herbs.  It came with a side of white rice.  Daniela had the same fish but it was fried with a “macho” sauce and shrimp.  It also came with rice.  The food was excellent. We did not get coffee or dessert.

After we finished we went down to the beach and met “Pollo” the longest selling ice cream vender in La Punta. He had an official diploma on his cart.  Then we walked the beach for a bit and got our feet wet (and our pant legs) in the ocean before taking a rowboat tour around the sheltered area. This was the same type of boat we used for the wedding except it was red and said Peru on it.  We were the only people riding on it. The rower was explaining things about the area in Spanish. I understood some. Daniela translated some. We got really close to the breakwater which had a ton of birds on it and smelled as bad as the island with the sea lions because of the birds.  Still it was a cool little ride out and back.  After we finished the ride we headed to the port by foot which took maybe 45 minutes then took a combi back to Daniela's house.

Her brother was just returning from his walk with Forest and we all went in and had a light snack that I believe they call lonchi (that's how it sounds anyway).  We had breads, cheese, cookies and coffee and talked for a while. Then we finished my packing and took a two hour nap because we both were fully exhausted. Neither of us slept well the night before.  We woke up around 10pm and had to head to the airport.

At the airport I once again ran into that special phenomenon where every person checking into a flight in front of me takes 25 minutes to get their boarding passes and check their luggage and my turn took 3 minutes.  I still cannot understand how that happens after all of the flights I have been on.  I know I choose my seat assignments ahead of time most trips but still... After check in I met Daniela at the waiting area and we sat and talked for a while then went to Pikeos to have a hot chocolate each before I had to get to my flight. She said goodbye at security and there were really no lines at security or at immigration so both went quick.    I really only had a couple minutes to buy some candy before the plane started to board.  It was actually boarded and ready to depart early.

The plane was a Boeing 767-400ER with in seat entertainment but I was fortunate to get window side 2 seat section aisle seat but with no one in the window seat. That meant that after they ran through the snack to start the flight I put on the sleep mask and put in the earplugs they provided and slept until they announced they were starting to serve the breakfast. The snack was a chicharon sandwich (roast pork).  It was nice but I could have done without the pesto. The breakfast was either eggs or crepes. I chose the crepes but only ate the other stuff on the tray.  I had a very bad coffee too. By the time we were done with the food we had started our descent and it was only a half an hour before we landed.  

After disembarking I got to the Global Entry kiosk (all US and Canada entries use kiosks in this terminal just like in Houston but it is still much faster for Global Entry because there are less people using those kiosks and they typically know what they are doing.  I had to wait a bit for my bag and then checked customs quickly and rechecked the bag quickly too. Though I had TSA Pre I was stuck in a stupid single line standard security recheck that really didn't take long but was annoying, especially because they started a second line right as I got into the xray machine.  Assholes...  Anyway, I had to take a train to A terminal from F terminal and then found my gate but I was super early for my flight. The flight before still hadn't started boarding. I found a place to get a wheat bagel and coffee then found a seat at the gate and started to write this.

The plane boarded rather easily even though I think  it was mostly full and we got underway on time which again was nice. This was a Boeing 757-200 without in seat entertainment but I really didn't care because I basically fell asleep for most of the flight again. I had a quick drink of cranberry juice when they came around and that came with pretzels which was nice.  Deplaning was easy and I was fairly quick to get my luggage and my Dad was waiting for me at the terminal right as I got outside so the rest of the trip was very easy.

I will post the last day of pictures when I get a chance.