Peru Fall 2013 Day 10

We woke up again at a stupidly early hour and were out the door to our transfer van by 4am.  The ride to the train station at Ollantaytambo was probably an hour and a half or so and I slept through almost all of it.

The train was basically boarding when we got there and it departed at 6:10am I think. The train ride was slow but nice. I stayed awake for the whole ride. We were in a panoramic car which has windows at the top too so you could see more. They served a drink and a snack. I had a coca tea (though I suppose I shouldn’t have) and a muffin.  The ride took also probably about an hour and forty-five minutes.  We arrived in Aguas Calientes at a little bit before 8am.  We met our guide Patrick at the entrance to the train station.

Patrick loaded us onto a bus and we took the half hour ride to Machu Picchu directly after getting off the train.  The weather was nice at this point but with a bit of clouds around. Patrick was a good guide. He had a funny and dramatic way of saying everything. And everything was “the famous Machu Picchu” and “the famous Inkas” and “the famous whatever”.   It was really quite amusing. He explained about the general layout. We saw the Sun Temple, the Sun Dial, the Condor, the arena and pretty much everything. Where this was my second time through Machu Picchu I wrote all this up before and I don’t really have the time to go over it all again.  Please reference my earlier post from my trip in 2009 for the details.  Towards the end of the tour it started to rain a little bit and it picked up a bit more as we rode the bus back down to Aguas Calientes.

At Aguas Calientes most of us went to Indio Feliz which is a French and Peruvian fusion restaurant owned by a Frenchman.  I had a set menu which started with Creole soup, pepper chicken with a pisco sauce and an apple pie with custard and ice cream (I think the ice cream was actually grapefruit sorbet).

After lunch we got to the train and it was another hour and forty-five minute ride to Ollantaytambo. There we exchanged to our van for another hour and forty-five minute ride. We had to stop for a few minutes because George didn’t feel well.

By the time we got back to Cusco it was pouring rain out. Everyone got situated and then we bade them a farewell as we walked up to Plaza San Blas and had a coffee and soup before heading back to the room and getting some sleep for the night. I am not sure what time it stopped raining but the whole time we were out it as a solid cold rain and even with the umbrella we got soaked. The coffee and the soup were both very good.

The pictures from today are located here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 9

We woke up at 4am to get ready for everyone to drop off their stuff at Daniela's house by 4:30 then we would catch a taxi and follow them to the airport for our 6am flight. We thought we were running tight but it turned out we had weather delays in Cusco so we weren't going to take off on time. We had breakfast in the airport. I had a ham and cheese sandwich and coffee.  Then we had to wait. Or flight was about 5 to 6 hours later.  We had plans to fly to Cusco get a transfer van to Ollantaytambo and ride the train to Aguas Calientes but those fell through with the flight delays because we missed the last train to Aguas Calientes even before we arrived in Cusco.

The flight itself was easy and had basically no bumps. It was a full 737-500.  Our transfer van was waiting for us outside and we were driven to Hotel El Portal where we were going to stay for the two nights since the change of plans.  We loaded in and unpacked and then slept for a couple hours before meeting in the lobby around 5pm for dinner. Not everyone came to dinner. Both George and Daniela's mother were too tired and stayed in their rooms.

We went to a restaurant Daniela was familiar with called  La Retama.  I had a beer and a Sopa de la Criolla followed by alpaca served with a potato and quinoa puree. The food was excellent. We stayed long enough to watch their show too, which was traditional highland Peruvian music and dance and was really nice.  After that it was back to the hotel and to crash for another early morning departure to catch the train to Machu Picchu.

Pictures are here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 8

Today was the day. I woke up probably around 7:30 and had some toast and coffee for breakfast. I think I had about 4 or 5 cups. I did sleep reasonably well but I knew it was going to be a full day. We started getting ready probably around 11 because the photographer was supposed to come in and get some posed and candid shots of the preparation. We were to be picked up by a van at 12:30 and he was pretty close to on time. Daniela's friend Diana came just a few minutes before the pickup and was there to help out with getting us there and ready.  The ride there was easy and without any real traffic.

We had the invitations printed with 2:00pm for the start time knowing that most people would arrive by 2:30 and that was the official start time. I was a bit confused on a couple details but I spent a few minutes greeting people as they came in and then eventually it was time to start. Sue was the eldest representative female from our family so she walked me down the aisle. They don't just have the groom wait up front like we do.  Dad and Daniela's mom came after then the bridesmaids then the flower girl and ring bearer girl (who were Michelle and Sara respectively).  Then finally the beautiful bride. She looked incredible and her dress was beautiful. I could feel nothing but happiness.

The father was a Polish man who spoke Spanish and Polish but not English. The mass went off quite well. I will not explain all the details as there will be tons of pictures and video. We split up some of the time in English and some of the time in Spanish.  We exchanged our vows combining English and Spanish, for example.  I could understand a lot of the sermon though it was given in Spanish.  He spoke slowly and clearly and joked a lot.  I think the mass and Catholic wedding went of perfectly.

After the mass we ran over to the beach and took a few pictures before time ran out and we needed to be present at the restaurant for the civil wedding.  We were able get a lot of good pictures and a lot of people congratulated us as we or they passed by.

The civil wedding was a lot quicker but still had quite a few details for the municipal officer Senora Milagrito as Daniela called her.  There were vows and signatures and fingerprints to be done.  It was nice and she did a great job.   The restaurant was decorated wonderfully. There were more flowers than I could have imagined and they were all great.  We had a DJ for music and had a toast almost immediately. Then Daniela and I, Dad and Daniela's mom, Gary and Donna (Daniela's Sister) all gave speeches.  We were then able to escape again to take more pictures but our plans changed and we ended up on  a small dingy on the water just outside the restaurant with everyone watching.  That was a lot of fun and I think Gabriel, the photographer got a lot of great pictures.

When we got back in we had our meal quickly, it was roast pork with rice pilaf and a sweet potato.  Then they started the music for dance and I don't recall doing anything but dancing until we left the party. Daniela cried at our song. It was a lot of fun but also exhausting. La Hora Loca came in and made people dance even more. La Hora Loca is the The Crazy Hour. Entertainers come in with costumes and make people dance.  That was also a lot of fun.

We escaped the wedding a little bit early and had our pictures taken at the airport. We had some trouble getting parking but we managed it. Inside we did a scene like I was just arriving in my tux and she was waiting in her wedding dress. We met in the arrivals area and I picked her up and swung her around. The people waiting there cheered and applauded for us.  Then we went up to the food court and took a few more pictures among the clapping of people watching. It was strange I will say but I had fun doing it and i think Daniela did too.

After the airport it was back to Daniela's house where we went to bed for an early wake up to be on an airplane for 6am.

Pictures will be found here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 7

We woke up rather early and got everyone entered into the Palomino Island trip which I had done on my trip when I first met Daniela. Even Daniela and I were going this time.  We had a bit of running around to get everything working and then took a transfer van from the apartment to the port in Callao where the transfer leaves.

The tour was supposed to start at 11:30 but we were probably 10 minutes late. All the same we boarded and were off fairly easily.  The tour was exactly the same. First a trip around the big island owned by the Peruvian navy then on to the island with all the sea lions.  Outside the shelter of the island the water was a bit rough and it was definitely cooler this trip than it was on the first time I did the tour. There was a fairly thick fog and a lot of clouds at first. The fog thinned out. Daniela was freezing so she borrowed a heavy shirt from my brother which she wore over the life vest.  The roughness of the sea did bother Daniela a bit.

The sea lions were in force and this time they started following the boat as soon as we got there. Daniela, Sue and I all decided to go in the water though it was probably only 14C or so.  We had wet suits for this.  The water was insanely cold at first but we got used to it. It was incredible how close the sea lions came to us, even touching us and jumping through us. I am glad I did it this time. Even though I am not a good swimmer but with the wet suit and the life vest I was ok. I think we were in the water for about 20 minutes to half an hour. Probably closer to 20 minutes.  Then we got out and changed and sailed back to the shore around the far end of the island.

When we got back we took a quick detour to the church in La Punta so some folks could use the rest rooms and then drove back to Miraflores. Fortunately we beat the traffic. We dropped Daniela off at the office and went to Don Bellasario which is a Pollo ala Brasa place just across from her office and the apartment. We had some gigantic sampler platters we couldn't finish and I had a beer.

We brought he leftovers to Daniela and she sorted out some stuff then she had to get on her way back home. We got back to the apartment and had a couple beers and watched the last episode of The IT Crowd then Wallace and Grommit: A Matter of Loaf and Death.  Then pretty much it was bedtime.

The pictures from today are found here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 6

We had to get up very early and pick up George and Sue and bring them to the church in Brena where they could sign to be our witnesses for the church wedding. Of course the padre gave us a hard time about some of it but eventually he did all the paperwork we needed and we had a signed and stamped document. We sent George and Sue back to the apartments where we had arranged a city tour for them in the afternoon giving them the morning free.

We stayed and talked the priest that would be performing the wedding. Daniela's aunt Silvia came too and we planned out a lot of how the wedding was going to go and what was going to be read. It took a very long time to do all this.

We then took a cab to La Punta to the church there to drop off the paperwork that would allow us to use that church but the lady wouldn't take it saying it was missing one stamp so we had to run to another church to get the official stamp. Of course the priest that could stamp it wasn't there and wouldn't be there until 10am the next day. Daniela had a courier to take the document back to La Punta but arranged instead for him to do it for us after it was stamped.

We then walked to the Metropolitan. It was very sunny at this point. There was a small delay for some reason but we got back to the apartment eventually. We had to get dressed for a pre-wedding photo shoot.  After we hurriedly got ready we ran to El Bosque Olivar and met the photographer. He took our pictures walking around the park for about an hour and fifteen minutes. We then raced straight to Dad's apartment to meet them. Daniela did some quick paperwork for their tours and then we all piled in a van and sat in traffic for well over an hour, I think closer to two, on our way to La Punta for the rehearsal.  We went through the practice three of four times with Daniela's sister Donna leading the proceedings. After we were done in the church we walked to see the place where the reception would be.

From there we took the van to a restaurant called Roky's and had Pollo ala Braza with all the people from the rehearsal which was Daniela's family, my family and George and Daniela's friends Yanina, Pakita and Mechi and Mechi's daughter Michelle.  We had 3 chickens with salads and papas fritas. I had a couple Cusquenas.  The restaurant had a children's play area and Sara and Michelle ran around and played there for almost the whole time we were there. She was still playing until the end.  We were there until almost midnight when Peter finally arrived from his flying in.  We had him brought to the restaurant so we could all drive back to the apartments together and George and I rode with him while everyone else rode back in the van we took out to La Punta.

When we got back it was quick goodnights and then on to bed almost instantly.  I was exhausted.

The pictures from today are here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 5

I made breakfast as soon as we woke up and then Daniela had to do some work for some passengers for a good portion of the morning.  We went and got the keys to one of the apartments for my family but the other wasn't ready when we tried so we couldn't pick them up yet. Then we had to head back out to La Punta to get some papers from the municipal office. While we were there we walked around the area a bit so she could show it to me in more detail than I had already seen because we were in such a rush most of the day.

After that we had to go to the choir leader to pick out the music for the church as we entered and left and during other parts of the ceremony.  We spent a few minutes there.  From there we headed back to Miraflores and I did some quick shopping for the family then we got the key to the second apartment and caught a cab towards the airport.

The traffic was incredibly bad so we didn't actually reach the airport before the transfer van picked up my family.  It took us an hour and five minutes to get to a meeting point still probably 10 to 15 minutes short of the airport. Fortunately everyone was very cool with it. It didn't help the cab driver didn't take a good route towards the airport.

Daniela met everyone and talked to the people at the front of the van while I sat in the back and talked to the others. They had good flights. George even got put in first class from Panama to Lima.  The explained it was a virus that killed the computer systems for Copa airlines the day I flew.  They said a few flights were canceled the day before but they had no problems whatsoever.

We first dropped of Gary and Sue and Sara to their apartment then brought Dad, David and George to theirs.  We got them settled in quickly and walked over to Gary's place and brought them back to the larger apartment. On the way we stopped in a market right next to the apartment and did a small amount of shopping more than I had already done. At the apartment we ordered pizza and had a couple beers then called it a night.  David walked Gary, Sue and Sara back to their apartment because they didn't understand the way at that point.  Daniela and I got back to the room and it wasn't long before we were in bed.

The pictures from today can be found here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 4

Today we got to start a bit later than the day before but it was still an errand filled day. I made us some french toast and bacon to start for breakfast. Daniela hadn't had it before. She said she liked it.  Then after that it was off to La Punta to the municipal office again to finalize the paperwork for the legal portion of our wedding. That took us a couple of hours including the notary for some documents and having the town's lawyer finalize the papers with his signature.

We stopped off at Daniela's house and said hello to her mother and picked up some stuff she needed. She also had to do a little bit of work on the computer so we let her do that for a few minutes. I said hello to Forest also while we were there.  After Daniela finished her work up we took another ride back to the apartment where we started to get ready for some pre-wedding photos but it was a bit too late for the photographer so he asked us to try again on Thursday. We then changed clothes and took a walk around town and tried to go to a couple different restaurants before settling on Rigoletto which is an Italian restaurant not too far from our hotel. We were given a free bruschetta and ordered the appetizer of garlic shrimp which was actually more like a langoustine or small lobster. They were good. I had the Penne ala Siciliana and Daniela had the fettuccine frute di mare.  Both were good but the sausages slices in my meal were not Italian sausage which was a bit strange.

After dinner there we walked several blocks away to Dolce Capriccio which is a pastry place which Daniela really loves their stuff. I had a brownie mocha which was a thin layer of brownie with chocolate and coffee mousses on top and Daniela had tocino de cielo which is a coconut based custardy thing.  Hers was a bit sweet for me but good and the mocha thing was really good too. We each had a coffee to go along with that.

We then walked back to the apartment where Daniela had to do a tiny bit of work before we went to bed.

The pictures from today are here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 3

We woke up early and rushed out the door and headed to San Borja to the medical clinic for our blood tests.  We got those started quickly then had a short breakfast of bread and cheese and coffee then went back and got our results. We visited Daniela's friend Yanina very quickly as works right next door to the clinic.

Next we took the Metropolitan to a Combi bus and out to La Punta where we visited the doctor's office to make the results official.  The combi bus was a very local thing. Stopped a lot and people got on and off all the time.

The doctor's office was quick then it was over to the notary and then to the municipal office. Unfortunately the woman handling the case had her purse robbed and was out of the office so we could only drop off paperwork and come back the next day.

After the municipal office we went back to Miraflores and I got fitted for my tuxedo. We had a empanada on the way. I had beef but forgot to take a picture of it. After the fitting we went to Brena and visited the priest and did more of the church paperwork and begged the father in charge of the records to not give us a hard time because 2 of my witnesses would be coming in for Thursday. He chose not to give us a hard time thankfully.

After the priests we went to the Plaza Real and had dinner at a Pardos Chicken. We didn't have traditional Pollo ala Braza but instead a grilled chicken with spicy sauce that wasn't too spicy. A tour of Chinese people came in while we were eating. The didn't really eat a lot of the food. I was wondering if they didn't like it or it was too much.

After dinner we took a taxi to the barber shop and I got my haircut and Daniela got a spa treatment a couple doors down.  Then we took a taxi to Miraflores and shopped for stuff for breakfast. We got back to the room and almost immediately went to bed after an exhausting day.

The pictures from today will be posted here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 2

Late start and a lazy day after the nightmare travel to get to Lima.  Truthfully we arrived really early in the morning. So we basically stayed in the room an slept a lot later than I am normally used to then got up in time to get the later part of the mass the priest that is going to marry us performed. He is in a church in Brena which is very close to downtown Lima. He is Polish but mainly speaks Spanish. I think he was raised in Peru.  We spoke to him for a couple minutes about plans for the week.

We then walked to a mall not too far away, maybe 5 blocks and had lunch at a restaurant called Provence. We both had set menu items. Daniela had a beef with 4 cheeses and I had a fried fish dish with yellow chili sauces.  We had a ceviche dish to start that we shared.  We also had a bottle of Shiraz to go along with the meal. The waiter actually brought us Australian chardonnay at first but we were able to get that fixed. The food was really good and we shared both of our dinners.  We had a custard-like thing for dessert.  We sat and talked a long time while we slowly finished off the bottle of wine.  After that Daniela had made arrangements to meet her mother to go visit an uncle to give him the invitation to the wedding. We had a coffee at the Juan Valdez then she called us to say she had arrived at our meeting point and we met her.

Unfortunately the uncle was not available so we just walked to the Plaza de Armas for Lima and sat and talked for a while before walking her mother back to a place to get a ride home. We then walked back to the mall and got a metropolitan bus back to Miraflores. Stopped at the apartment rental place and got a spare towel then bought some water in the market before getting back to the apartment.

We spent a few minutes sorting things out then went to bed.

The pictures from today are located here.

Peru Fall 2013 Day 1

Peru Fall 2013 Day 1

Today started out with an early wakeup for a 9:36 flight to Panama on Copa Airlines where I would switch to a flight to Lima.  I got to the airport at 6:30 and check in and security were quick and easy if there was a little bit of a slowdown at security.  I got into the gate area and found The Earl of Sandwich to get a cranberry muffin and a coffee and made a quick visit to the newsstand to get some snack food for the trip.

The plane was to depart from gate E4.  Only a few minutes after reaching the gates they changed the departure time from 9:36 to 9:54. They started boarding us and it was obvious it was not a full flight. I was on an aisle seat but I had a nervous type guy who was doing the jittery leg thing and I asked if I could move to another empty aisle seat and the attendant said yes. It was the second part of an exit row, so no extra leg room but at least no one next to me.

Of course we were on the plane for about 15-20 minutes when they announced they had to have us all deplane because there was a systems failure in Panama and the entire Copa fleet was grounded. They had no ETA but we had to exit the plane with our belongings and wait at the gate.  They assured us since the whole fleet was grounded that any connecting flights would also be delayed so at least we shouldn’t need to rebook to a new flight.

I chose to start writing this during the wait as there was little else to do. After we were about 45 minutes late they reiterated that they had no idea how long the delay was going to be and they would keep us posted.

An hour and a half later we still had no updates other than there were no updates.  So I chose to go to Burger King and get lunch. I had just finished eating a BK double-stacker which was probably a bad idea they started calling the business class passengers to give them vouchers of some sort. Even though the reposted the flight info on the gate board they said they still had no information about when things were going to start moving and they had no information on what was going to happen to connecting flights.  The activity of course caused everyone, myself included, to think they were going to start boarding the flight.  By this point it was almost 2 and a half hours past original departure time.  Very frustrating to say the least.  Especially when there is perfect weather outside.

Of course after I bought the lunch they gave meal vouchers for the airport to the passengers.  I figured I would have to do something with it but not today.  I spoke to Daniela on the phone through Viber for a few minutes because it had been so frustrating.

At 1:20 they called all passengers to get their boarding passes back so they could reboard the plane properly. The person who gave me the pass said it would be boarding in about an hour and another attendant told me they were waiting for the crew. They said that flights would be going to Lima until about 9pm but all flights are delayed out of Panama.  I should be able to get there tonight but I would be arriving past midnight most likely.  I kept as vigilant an eye out for the crew as I could.  They told us we would probably start boarding at 2:30 to 2:40 but the flight crew didn’t even get back to the airplane until about 10 minutes to 3.  The of course didn’t start boarding right away. I wonder where the heck they sent the flight crew for the wait?  It is nuts that they could be hours away when they are supposed to be flying.  They still didn’t know if we would be able to make connections by the time we were boarding.

It was a reasonably quick boarding process and we weren’t on the tarmac for too long before they departed. Still, more than 6 hours late is fairly too much. In any event the flight entertainment was not individual seat style and they showed the new Star Trek film which I refuse to watch on principle so I skipped on that. They served either arroz con pollo or ravioli con carne and I chose the ravioli with some very rough Chilean red wine I sort of wish I skipped on.  The early parts of the flight were smooth with only a few bumps.  I chose to drag out the computer and watch a movie.  Well actually I chose to watch the final episode of the IT Crowd and I hope I didn’t disturb the people around me too much because I really laughed a lot.  From there I decided maybe I could sleep a bit but I wasn’t really able to so I turned on the various  music stations and cycled through the full set of songs on each.

Eventually we landed and sat on the tarmac for a bit before getting to a gate. We were basically told to go to customer service at gate 21 at our arrival gate which was like gate 2.  When I got to customer service there was a long line and no one working the desk. I started on my phone and on a hunch that I was reading the flight status correctly I was able to figure out that my scheduled departure from Panama to Lima still hadn’t left. I hurried over there and was met with a sign that was for Recife instead but the women at the gate said it would indeed be my flight to Lima. We needed to wait for the crew to arrive and be ready again but we would board as soon as they were.  I thought I had seen some crew come in when I arrived at the gate but I cannot be sure. They were loading in the catering when I got there anyway and that finished a few minutes later.

I took a few minutes to sit down and type this while I used my computer to charge my phone a bit. I didn’t have a charger with me, only the cable. The charger was in my suitcase. Unfortunately the battery on the laptop was also a bit low as I had used it a lot during the wait through the day and on the plane. Still if I could suck out a few % of battery for the phone it would be more helpful for giving Daniela updates and eventually for if and when I arrived in Lima.  I should point out that the weather in Panama was as to be expected. Wicked hot and wicked humid. The massive crowds in the airport beyond normal were not helping things at all. I was hoping the crew would arrive quickly so I could be in a climate controlled cabin soon.  It took probably another 40 minutes before they let us board.

After we boarded the air conditioning was awesome compared to the airport but we sat at the gate for over another hour and a half.  Eventually somewhere around 12:00am local time we were able to get off the ground and the flight was about 3 hours. I slept through almost all of it except the very beginning and landing.  I raced to the immigration line which was empty when I got there and got through as the 4th person so was first in line for 3 agents.  After that it was wait for the baggage at the claim. That took a few minutes. I went through customs and I thought it was going to be easy but the guy picked me out to go through a checking. I was very lucky in that when he asked me why I was visiting I said it was to get married and my fiancé was waiting outside.  He let me go without actually checking.

Daniela was waiting outside. We took a taxi to get the key to the apartment then straight to the apartment where we just went straight to bed. It was basically 4:30am by that point. A very long and frustrating day. But it was all just fine when I finally got here and saw and was with her.

The pictures of the apartment are located here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 10 & 11

We arrived to the hotel at around 2:30pm or later so we pretty went straight to bed and woke up sort of late and got going just at the very edge of check-out time. We did manage to get a few minutes in the Jacuzzi before we had to leave but we would have liked a bit longer than we got. Apparently someone had already booked the next day on us and we couldn’t do a late checkout though.

From the hotel we took a cab to Daniela’s house and met with her mother and sister. Her brother is traveling to India for vacation right now so he was not home. Oh and of course I got to see Forest again.  They took me to a local buffet restaurant that is apparently in the Guinness Book for having created the largest ceviche ever. At least the chef is anyway.  The food was good even if I am not really a fan of buffet.

After the lunch we went back to the house and watched Puss in Boots in Spanish on TV.  Or Gato en Botas if you wish.  They had not seen it before, but I had so it didn’t really matter that it wasn’t in English to me.  Then Daniela and I went to the mall and had a dessert at the Gelato factory and did some shopping for a couple small things including a pen to write on lock as we put it on a heart in front of the mall.

After the mall it was a taxi to Daniela’s house to pick up my bags and off to the airport.  Of course my flight was delayed and I had an extra hour to wait so fortunately Daniela waited with me until my plane was listed as landed and I knew I would have to get into security and the immigration line before I could board. While we were waiting we had a small pizza from Papa John’s. Oh and I asked her to marry me while we were waiting too.

She said yes.  We don’t fully know how everything is going to work out but it will be time to start all the plans as soon as we can.  Still we are both very happy for the future ahead of us.

I boarded the plane and barely found a place for my backpack. Planes with in seat entertainment have big boxes in the aisle seat foot areas. I would not have been able to fit the bag down there. Unfortunately the seat I had was the only one on the plane that had a two prong headphone jack and they didn’t have an adapter. Fortunately I mostly wanted to and was able to sleep anyway.  The flight did have some serious bumps on it, especially before we reached North America, but we landed uneventfully all the same.

Getting into Newark I was a bit concerned that I would not have enough time to get to my next flight. But surprise, that flight was delayed too. I should have figured it. 3 out of 4 flights being delayed. That’s what I get for a mileage purchased flight I guess.  At least it gave that small amount of buffer that the first flight’s delay had eaten up on me. 

The flight to Boston was quiet and I slept through most all of it. The rest is simple really. I disembarked, got my bag and was picked up by my father and back home by 1pm.

The pictures from day 10 can be found here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 9

We woke up late because we didn’t really have a ton to do except to get the room packed up which we did in pretty short order after getting cleanedup. Went to breakfast in the buffet and took our time there as we were expecting we would just go from breakfast to disembarking. However the ship was late to port and the disembarking process started late and was very slow.  We were picked up at around 3 rather than 1pm we expected to be off the ship.  This meant that the day we expected to have in Cartagena was mostly eaten up and we really only had about 2 hours before we needed to be to the airport for our flight out to Lima.

Our guides picked us up and took us to see the high point over the city which is at a convent but we didn’t enter as there would have been a charge and we were only going to be there for less than 15 minutes. Still we were able to see a good overlook of the city outside the convent. By the way Cartagena used to be loaded with convents back in the day.

 We were then taken to a park with a statue of a pair of shoes where we had to wait for a tour to clear out so  we could get the pictures we wanted. The park is just below the fortress of the walled city as well so there was a nice couple of pictures of that there as well.  Daniela bought a lemon flavored shaved ice there as well.   Then we were taken to a square with a Botero statue we were spent a few minutes and took a couple pictures there and also in the church nearby. On the way there we passed by the house of Gabriel Garcia Marquez  who is one of my all time favorite authors.  A nice unexpected surprise. 

After the square it was to the airport where we checked in and ate at a café hastily before we boarded the plane. We had a chicken and pork barbeque type thing with fries. Unfortunately they called us but we were told not to board for some reason then they called us by name over the intercom and we boarded anyway.  It was a bit confusing.   The flight itself was easy. But in Bogota which is a massive airport that is so terribly laid out that it only leads to confusion even if it was our 4^th time there. We had to take buses and checkin and checkin again until finally we boarded. That flight was easy too but I slept through most of it.

Daniela’s friend Marle picked us up with her husband. We dropped most of Daniela’s stuff off to her house then spent the night in a hostel not too far from airport.

The pictures from day 9 are found here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 8

Today we got up early and had breakfast as we entered the port city of Colon, Panama.  After breakfast we were to go to the city without using one of the ship excursions.  When we got to Colon it was very hot and humid and a rainstorm was brewing. It started to rain not long after we exited the ship.  For the next 4 hours it was shoe………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..shopping.  That is all I can describe.

After we were done we found a taxi to carry the gigantic bags back to the ship however we started talking to the driver who was a guy named Vivian Tugwell.  He offered to take us to the canal tourist area so we chose to do that before we returned to the ship.  We agreed and then we had a short bit of traffic before we were on our way to the canal.

At the canal tourist area we were able to climb up onto a platform and watch the locks as they opened and closed and the water levels changed so the boats could be raised or lowered 85 feet to or from a man made fresh water lake that would carry them to locks just before the other ocean. We were on the Atlantic side obviously and we were watching ships being lowered down. The  locks take about 10 minutes to equalize the water level. The large boats are moved from 7am to 4pm or something like that and the smaller boats are allowed to travel through after. The tourism guide person at the site explained the largest ships to go through are Carnival cruise ships.

After we watched the ships moved through it was 4pm and time for the canal tourist area to close so we packed back into the cab and were driven through a moderate amount of traffic back to the ship where we boarded immediately and then dropped off our stuff in the cabin and headed out to have a quick lunch a bit late in the buffet. From there we went back to the room and got cleaned up and dressed and headed out to show a little bit late. It was called Bon Voyage and was a series of sketches including the captain’s wife Greer (who is British) doing a dance routine. We talked to her later on and found out that was how she got started on cruise ships.

After the show we went to dinner. Daniela had the braised oxtail and I had the rabbit which both were excellent.  For started I had a lentil soup and Daniela had an artichoke salad.  The dessert was a selection of cheese for me and a lemon meringue for Daniela.  We chatted with the Colombians for a while then finished eating and headed over to the disco only to find it was dead.  We headed back to the piano bar (Fragata) and the pianist was playing along with a singer. We watched them until they were done then basically headed back to the room and packed our suitcases to be delivered to land and then we chose to call it a night. It was a very long and tiring day.

The pictures from day 8 are found here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 7

Today was a day at sea and we really didn’t get moving until around the afternoon. We spent a lazy morning in the room and then went to the only lunch area that was still open by the time we got out of the room which was the pizzeria up on deck 11.  We ran into Isa from the dolphin excursion and she sat with us and chatted for a while. Bjorn was playing poker and that left Isa wandering around a little bit. He did come by for a few minute while they were on break and had something quick to eat but had to head back to the game quickly.

After Isa left we went outside and sat in by the pool for a while then we headed to the bar with the piano and had a couple drinks until it was almost time for the evening’s show. We went back to the room and got changed and then headed to the Broadway Showroom. The theme was Rock Never Dies and it was all rock music performed by the ship’s entertainment team along with some dancing and a little bit of other performance.  It was a reasonably good show though I think they could have used one more male singer with a lower range than the guy they had for some of the songs.  They did songs from Dire Straits, Queen, Bon Jovi, Guns and Roses, Led Zeppelin and a bunch of others.

As we exited the show we found they had a mini performance right outside the Broadway Showroom with a singer and guitarist. This was in Spanish but was still rock songs.  They built up a large crowd in the lobby area and the singer was quite funny by inserting belching rock sounding versions of some of the dance songs I had heard a bunch of times on the cruise.

After that wrapped up we headed to dinner. We both had cornflake crusted chicken strips for an appetizer and I had the vegetarian dish which was gnocchi and Daniela had pork medallions.  For desser we both had the Torta Santiago. The food was good and I was looking for something light so it worked out.

After dinner we went to the bar with the piano and listened to the pianist play until he was done.  I had a grappa which was actually quite good and Daniela had another glass of wine. Then we headed out for a walk around the ship then we headed back to the room where Daniela almost immediately fell asleep so we called it a night.

The pictures from day 7 are located here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 6

Today we had our excursion starting at 10:15 so we went down to breakfast a little bit after 9am. I think we were late for the excursion meeting point by maybe 5 minutes and there were no announcements over the ships PA to say to be there at all. However when we got to the Broadway Showroom which is the meeting point for the excursions it was completely empty. We ran to reception and they called to the excursions people and fortunately they hadn’t yet left by the time we got outside so we were able to get our tickets and almost immediately board a taxi van to the Dolphin Academy where our excursion in Curacao was to be.  The ride to the facility was maybe half an hour long and we got a small idea of what the island looked like. It was cleaner than Venezuela was at least. We had really nice weather with a lot of sun and a little bit of cloud cover. While we were riding I put sunblock on my face. 

When we arrived they brought us into the Dolphin Academy where we sat in a theater until we signed some safety waiver forms and were separated into our individual types of excursions (encounter or swimming with dolphins).  We had chosen to swim with the dolphins so we got pink armbands to add to our collection.  They sent the various types of groups to individual briefing rooms where we were shown a brief video about dolphins. When that had just barely finished our video when one of the dolphin trainers came to get six people to do the first swim with the dolphins session and we managed to go with a bunch of people who didn’t speak Spanish as their main language.  She took us first to get our flippers and I took a life vest because I am not a strong swimmer.  Then she took us all the way around the entire facility it seemed before we got to a blue platform and a separated pool of the ocean with 2 dolphins in it.

In our group was a couple from the Netherlands who were a French woman and Dutch guy who boarded in Aruba after being there for a friend’s wedding. They didn’t speak any Spanish though apparently Bjorn could understand some.  Also we had a mother and daughter who were Brazilian from Brasilia. They didn’t speak Spanish either, only Portuguese.  We got a quick briefing about how to act in the water then it was in the water immediately and the dolphins came up to us.  We were to swim with our hands to our chest and to only touch the sides of the dolphins and not the face or the tail.  They came up to us and swam around and we got to touch them many times. They are very soft and have smooth skin.  They are gentle creatures also it was obvious, but they could get startled. After a couple minutes the trainer started having the dolphins do tricks with each of us. They can shake hands, kiss you and do spins with you. We would take turns having the dolphins do a trick with each of us then small swimming breaks. The final trick was a ride with the dolphins. Both would swim out to you with your hand signals as the trainer directed for each of the tricks and then you could grab onto each of their dorsal fins and ride them back to the platform.  For some reason the younger dolphin who was still training was afraid of my life vest and they steered in a different direction than they were supposed to for the pictures when I got my ride. They weren’t able to get good pictures so the trainer had me try it again. It took a few attempts and we had to do some extra swimming. The second ride had the same issue where they veered off to my left instead of going to the platform.  The trainer had me stay in the pool and everyone else get out and then I got one final ride that did go right to the platform. She said she wanted the dolphin to do it right so he understood that it was what he should do. She didn’t want him to not do it correctly for proper training.  So I was the fortunate guy who got 3 dolphin rides for the price of one.

After the swimming portion we were brought to some quick showers then into the briefing room where we saw another video about protecting endangered species and wildlife especially dolphins. Then we went into the photo shop and looked at our pictures and decided to buy the whole lot of pictures delivered on a USB drive.  We talked to the others and agreed to share the pictures and they could contribute what they would when we got back to the ship. The pictures are very good quality. I liked them better than the Seatrek pictures.

After the photo shop we also bought some souvenir stuff and then went and had a snack at the snack bar restaurant. I had a hot dog and Daniela had a tuna sandwich. By the time we were getting the food they were just getting ready to start the final dolphin show. We got our food and headed over to the show area right next to the snack bar.  They did a show of probably about 20-25 minutes of dolphins doing trick like flips and spins.  I was able to get a bunch of the tricks on video.  After the show we headed to the taxi and rode back to the ship. We really only had another hour on Curacao and ended up just boarding the ship then going back to the room and drop stuff off.

We went to the buffet and had a dessert for lunch since we already ate at the snack bar.  Then we sat outside near the pool for a while and I read. I had taken way too much sun because in all the rush of the rest of the day I had forgotten to put sunblock on anywhere but my face and my shoulders became really burned. So while Daniela wanted to stay in the sun I went to the room and showered and got dressed. We had arranged to meet the other people from the swim in the piano bar at 6 to swap the photos. I chose to get Daniela at the pool and bring her with me for this.  Fortunately Bjorn and Isa had a laptop and Raissa had bought a USB drive with only a couple pictures on it so we let Bjorn copy the pictures to his laptop then we copied them to Raissa’s drive.  We all stayed and talked for quite a while before we realized it was past 8 and Daniela still had to shower before we went to see the show in the Broadway Showroom.

So we went back to the room and Daniela got cleaned up then we rushed up to the show which was a comic show of mostly mime comedy so it didn’t matter if you understood Spanish or not. They did acrobatics and juggling. It was the first time I saw a guy do tricks on a pole like exotic dancers use. Fortunately it was not a sexual thing but just acrobatics. They pulled people from the audience for some of the sketches. 

After the show we went to dinner at our restaurant and I had a shish kebab with a bean ragout and Israeli couscous.  Daniela started with the Chicken Voldostana but since it had mushrooms she decided to get what I had. Both of us had the cream of cauliflower and blue cheese soup to start.  I had vanilla ice cream and she had a chocolate mousse cake for dessert.  We both had red wine.  The food was excellent and I am sure I would have liked her chicken dish since mushrooms don’t bother me but I am glad I got what I ordered. The meat was medium rare and very tasty.

After dinner we walked around deck 7 to front of the ship and just stayed out there in the dark watching the stars for a long while. The front of the ship was not lit up much and it made for spectacular viewing of the stars in the ocean darkness.

After that we went back to the piano bar and Daniela had a tea and I had a hot chocolate then we headed back to the room and called it a night.

I will say the dolphins swim was the best excursion we’ve done the cruise by far and I would recommend it to anyone. It was spectacular.

My pictures from day 6 are located here.

The Dolpin Academy pictures are here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 5

We woke up a little bit too late to get cleaned up and get a proper breakfast so we had to run over to the Broadway room to get checked in for our excursion to La Guira and Caracas.  The boat really hadn’t docked yet before they asked us to be there but I guess it is because there is a lot of traffic and the time is a little tight. After we checked in Daniela did have time to run up to the breakfast buffet and grab a couple things for us to eat on the bus.

Our trip was a tour of the city and then a ride up to the top of a mountain on a cable car or teleferico in Spanish.  The guide was a local Venezuelan named Esperanza who spoke good English and apparently does most of her tours to German customers so also speaks German.   This tour however was entirely in Spanish except for the few things she said for me when she had a chance. The start was a longish ride to Caracas on the bus. The ride was mostly long due to traffic. They don’t have to pay more than a dollar to fill up a car in Venezuela due to the subsidized wealth sharing of Chavez’s system so there are a lot of cars and motorcycles on the road. There is a lot of poverty to be seen right at the start of the excursion. As we got further in the buildings and areas did get nicer but still there was a significant amount of trash on the streets and the sidewalks and a general run down kind of look all around.  The buildings right near the port look like stacks of concrete blocks on top of each other but at least painted different colors.

Our first stop was at what is basically the main square of Caracas which is basically a giant tribute to Simon Bolivar and several other war heroes who helped win independence from Spain for Venezuela as well as several other South American countries. So there were fountains and statues and giant monuments.  This leads up to the military parade grounds, a big part of Chavez’s theme.  They kept his body there in state for a long time after he died.  Chavez renamed the nation the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and tried to liken himself to Bolivar which I am fairly certain was a significant stretch or such a self serving ego maniac.  There are tributes to Chavez all over the city and it is best not to voice any opinions about the way Venezuela is run if you aren’t from there.

After the main square we headed back the way we came some, again through traffic to the cable car station. There we were able to get on the first car along with Esperanza who was nice enough to say a few things in English for me on the 20 minute ride that goes up over 2000 meters. There were some significant drops during the ride and a couple areas where the car is over very open air and you could hear the wind and feel it sort of pushing the car.  The last stretch is a very large chasm followed by a very steep incline into the terminal.

At the top we had 1 and  half hours to get around and see what was going on up there. Esperanza changed some money to Bolivars for us because the area doesn’t take US dollars or anything else. We spent the first 45 minutes getting a Pepito Especial at a small food stand. The line was handled poorly as you first had to wait to pay and the hand them your receipt to get them to make the food. It was very crowded as several cruises and tours were up at the top of the mountain at that time. In any event the meal was a mixture of pork, beef, bacon, ham, cheese and vegetables on a roll with some fries thrown on top. It was quite good though I am not sure it was worth the hassle for all of it. By the time we were done we didn’t really have a ton of time but we walked up to the top of the area which had a moderately steep incline and bought a bag of coconut cookies that were quite good. We also watched a group of Jehovah’s Witness teens play a game that involved being able to slap the hands of the other contestants without getting both of your own slapped. Each person could move one at a time. It was kind of amusing to watch and the kid that won was fairly quick and sneaky.   

After the top we had to pretty much head back to the terminal and ride back down then eventually pile back into the bus where we again waded through traffic back to the boat terminal. At the terminal they had a few souvenir stands and we looked shopped for a little bit before returning to the ship. Inside the ship we got changed quickly and headed to the Jacuzzi at the pool area and stuffed our way in and stayed there for quite a while (I am sure more than an hour). Then when we were done we went back to the room and relaxed and ended up missing dinner by accident. Even the buffets were closed.  So we just went out and played one game of bingo before deciding to go to the bar where the piano player is and listened to them until they were done for the night. Then we went to Cyan disco and danced for a few songs before calling it a night.

The pictures from day 5 are found here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 4

We woke up with enough time to get a hurried breakfast buffet upstairs before we had to get to the meeting point to disembark for our Aruban excursion. We were going to De Palm Island where we would also do a “Seatrek” which was an underwater dive with an air helmet.  The boat docked at 7am and our excursion started at 9:30. We were lined up where we were put on a bus and driven to a ferry to De Palm Island.  The bus ride was maybe 20 minutes and the ferry ride was 5 minutes across to the island. We were given a short explanation of the surroundings. There was a water park and a snorkeling area as well as a restaurant and snack bar.  Also there were several other things you could do for extra money.  Since we were doing the Seatrek we didn’t really get to go too far before we had to go to the shop for our briefing so we basically visited the gift shop quickly then got something to drink quickly first.

In the briefing they explained how the dive would go. That we would climb down a ladder and had to adjust to the pressure as we did. That we would be on a walkway and we had to keep our hand on a rail at all times. We also were told to stay upright or the helmet would fill with water. So no looking down. They did 2 briefings one in English and one in Spanish. We took the English one. We then found we were in the second group which would start in half an hour so we really just went quickly to drop our stuff in a locker before we went back to the diving area to watch the first group go and see what the process was like. I will admit I was a bit nervous about it. I am not a swimmer. I know this didn’t involve swimming but I really haven’t been underwater before. When the first group finished most people looked really happy about it though so it was encouraging. 

Daniela and I were first in the group to go down because we were there the earliest. They start you down the ladder and then put the helmet on your shoulders and you go into the water. The helmet weighs 75 pounds to help keep you underwater. It also pushes through 3 times more oxygen than you would typically get.  They wanted us to stop every two rungs on the ladder until we adjusted to the pressure then continue on. The depth of the dive was 25 feet or so.  They have sunk a few vehicles to create reefs for the sea life to live in. There is a bus, 2 planes and hybrid submarine (a boat with a deep bottom with glass windows in it). They feed the fish while they are down there so they swarm around you.  Some of the fish nibbled at the divers. Especially at Daniela a few times (she is so sweet!).  Obviously they can only point at things underwater but they take you around and show you stuff and they take your picture with underwater cameras. I have an underwater camera but they wouldn’t let me use it. It was an incredible experience. I obviously have done nothing like it before and I would greatly recommend it.  After the walk around you climb back up the ladder and you are done.

After the dive we went over to relax and just a few minutes into that a couple of salsa dance instructors came and performed a quick class on salsa and meringue dancing. We participated in the show and I tried my best to do the steps.  I learned a lot but I am having a hard time processing it all.

After the salsa lessons we ate lunch at the buffet restaurant. I had rice and vegetables with fried fish sticks and Daniela had salad and potatoes and rice and barbeque chicken.  By the time we finished lunch there was time enough to gather our stuff and get dressed again then we had to take the ferry back across to the main island then a bus back to downtown. There we got off in the shopping region and wandered around for a while and stopped off and had a quick Balashi beer at The Paddock right near the water. The waiter there was very friendly and we put a signed dollar up on their wall before we left. We did a little more walking around town then headed to the ship.

After we boarded we relaxed for a while then went to dinner where this time our table was not only us and met 2 couples from Colombia who were very nice. I had a potato and chorizo soup for starter  followed by a linguini with eggplants and Daniela had a shrimp appetizer and grilled salmon for the main. We both had strawberry cheesecake for dessert.

After dinner we headed up to the 11^th deck and visited the carnival party and danced for a while before I turned in for the night being exhausted. Daniela followed a little bit later.

The pictures from day 4 are here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 3

Today was a day at sea so we really didn’t have to do a ton of stuff and chose to stay in the room recovering from the long travel till fairly late before we ever got out.  First we walked around the deck a little bit and scouted out the ship. Then we went to lunch which was a buffet but was reasonable. I tried most everything on the counter and I had a nameless beer which is our only beer choice here.    From there we did a bit more walking around the ship.  After that we went back down to the room and got changed for going to the pool.   We spent a short of amount of time at the pool but it was very windy. After a bit we had to get back to the room and hurriedly get ready for the Captain’s presentation show and then finally the dinner. We missed the first chance to get our picture with the captain but managed to get it on the second. Then we went to dinner.

At dinner Daniela had shrimp pasta and I had beef medallions.  Both were good. I had the beef consommé to start off and Daniela had a cappuccino of mushrooms.  Then for dessert she had a pineapple and ice cream dessert and I just had chocolate ice cream.  We each had red wine with the dinner.  From there we walked around the ship a bit then found the Cyan Disco.  We sat there for a little while then moved around to see what was happening anywhere else but it turned out that there really wasn’t much going on.  So we went back to Cyan for a while then finished up the night and headed back to the room for some sleep.

The pictures from day 3 are found here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 2

We got to the airport probably around 3:15 for a 5am flight to Bogota. Clearing the various lines was a little slower going than I would have preferred but we got in to the gate and it wasn’t long before boarding. The flight was mostly full and we basically slept through the majority of the flight except for the breakfast they provided. I was exhausted from the full day of travel with no real sleep.

Landing in Bogota we had to get off the plane then over to our connection which involved a shuttle bus then rescreening security but all the same even with the slightly late departure and arrival of the previous plane we made it before they started boarding.  The flight to Cartagena was short and we still slept through most if it also.  After deplaning we were trying to find a taxi when the company that Daniela considered hiring was there waiting for us so we decided to use them anyway. It was raining out a bit but not serious downpours. We were taken to Cartagena downtown where we walked around and looked for a bit before finding Juan del Mar to have lunch. We really hadn’t eaten much at that point. It was a bit expensive but very good. We both had fish which was a white fish. The waiter said it was a sea bass of some sort. I had mine Mediterranean style and she had hers Moroccan style. We both had a couple of Club Colombia beers as well.  From there we had just enough time to get lost for a little bit then find our way back to the meeting place where our ride would take us to the cruise terminal.

The cruise terminal was a giant line and the people organizing it screwed it up so that the specific spot in the line we were in was basically screwed into an extra 45 minutes at least of waiting. All the same once they got us into the actual line we got through and the processing wasn’t terrible. Still we got to the line at about 3:30 and we didn’t actually get on the boat until about 6:30 or later.  From there my suitcase was already at the room and we got settled in and Daniela’s arrived a few minutes later.

We had to participate in the new passenger safety drill which meant taking our life vests up to deck 9. We are on deck 2 in room 2030.  The climb up the stairs and the base exhaustion all added up that I was dozing off while they were explaining things in both Spanish and English.  We stayed around for a few minutes to watch the mooring lines be pulled in and tidied up then I was just too tired and headed back to the room.  Daniela stayed out and watched for a bit then went to see a tribute to ABBA show that she said was ok before she came back to the room and also went to sleep.

The pictures for day 2 are located here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 1

Today started out with a ride to the airport by my Dad.  We tried to take route 1 but there was a head on collision in the center of Middleton on 114 and we had to turn around and head to 93 by way of 125 instead.  114 was backed up almost as far as Sharpner’s Pond Road.  With the detour we probably lost about 20 minutes and by the time we got to the route 28 exit it was fairly slow traffic until the lower deck of 93.  Still we made it to the airport by 7:30 and we left at 6:30 so that wasn’t too bad.

My flight was supposed to depart for Newark at 10:00 but apparently there was a crew problem for the plane in Chicago and it didn’t leave until at least an hour after it was supposed to and we had an updated time of 11:15 departure. That arrival would still give me around 2 hours for the connection to my Lima flight in Newark so as long as it wasn’t too much later than they said there really wasn’t a reason to panic.  I saw one of my students from the class that ended the day before just after security in the airport but he was flying Delta and I was on United.  I bought a muffin and some coffee at the Dunkin Donuts in the terminal (terminal A for the United Newark flights) then sat at the gate and listened to the flight crew tell stories about their previous passengers because they sat next to me while we were waiting for the flight to arrive.

The flight was about 1 hour and 20 minutes late to depart after all was said and done.  United apparently has started sorting their boarding into boarding group gate lines. Of course since I lost my status by not flying United in a while I was stuck at the last group. I had to put my backpack in an overhead several rows away from me but with the 737-800 aisle seats there isn’t enough room to put it underneath the seat in front of you. The flight itself was less than an hour and uneventful if a bit bumpy on the way down.   They had in seat entertainment but even on such a short flight they wanted you to pay $5.99 which is not likely to happen.   I nodded off for a bit and then when they announced the bumpy air coming into the landing I just waited it out. As I said it wasn’t really too bad.  Fortunately the gates weren’t too far apart though the gate changed from the one printed on the ticket. I was able to get to the gate area in Newark fairly quickly and there was still around half an hour till boarding time according to the ticket. I chose not to have lunch even though it was basically that time and ate one of the snacks I bought in Boston.  From there it was a short wait until the boarding for the approximately 8 hour flight to Lima.

The flight to Lima itself was mostly uneventful but the boarding was probably one of the worst plane boarding experiences I have ever encountered. They started boarding 3 times. The first two they stopped because apparently catering was still being filled on the plane.  There was a couple with kids who got in an argument with the lady taking the tickets for boarding which delayed things a couple of times. Finally we all were able to get on board but we departed at least half an hour late.  I watched the movies Parker, Wreckit Ralph and Chinese Zodiac 12.  Parker was a Jason Statham action flick. It was ok.  Jennifer Lopez was a costar.  Wreckit Ralph was an animated movie by Disney that was based on a fake video game.  It was cute and I enjoyed it.  Chinese Zodiac 12 was a very recent Jackie Chan movie.  It was funny and made in Hong Kong or China so he could actually do all his own stunts.  I ate the meal because I didn’t get a chance for anything real in Newark. It was beef with mashed potatoes.  We landed basically on time. The immigration line was a pain in the butt especially because they opened a new line after I already passed a chance to get into it. All the same it wasn’t that bad. I was just behind the person who got the red light for customs inspection then it was just finding Daniela in the airport. I had to wait a short time as she had her brother drive and that took a little bit more time than normal.  They picked me up and we went to her house where we dropped off the stuff then Daniela and I went out for pizza at a restaurant not too far from her house.  The dough for the pizza was more like regular bread which was odd but it wasn’t bad. We shared a bottle of wine from Peru as well.  Then we went back to her house and relaxed until it was time to get to the airport for our flight.

The pictures from Day 1 can be found here.