Peru Fall 2014 Day 8

We got our wakeup call at 6:30 for breakfast at 7. We were a bit late to breakfast because we had to pack in the morning to be ready to be on our way. The boat was already docked at Nauta so really it was eat breakfast and then pay our bar bill and say goodbye to the crew before getting on the skip and heading out to the docks.  I chose to eat a lighter breakfast because we would be flying that day.

We all piled into the tour bus and were driven from Nauta to Iquitos.  This ride took about 2 hours and both Juan Carlos and Hulber (our guides) told a few stories and details of the local area on the way.  We had to stop for a bano break because one of the passengers had started to get sick but it was not too long before we were on our way.  When we reached Iquitos they brought us to the Dorado Hotel and dropped off a lot of the guests who were going to stay there one or two more nights.  Only 7 of us were returning to Lima directly.  We had enough time to use the bathrooms then run around the square and buy some ice cream.  We ate that in the lobby of the hotel until Hulber said it was time to go. From there it was another half hour or so to the airport.

We were somehow just able to beat the line for check-in at the airport and then we did a quick souvenir shop outside security before passing through security which was simple (it is a very small airport).  Inside security we found the Altomayo café (the brand of coffee I like here) and I got an empanada and a beer.  I ate that and it was not really much longer before we were boarding. We had to walk outside directly and climb the stairway into the airplane. We were very close to the front of the plane.  There are no first class seats in these domestic flights.  The flight was very generic and I slept through a lot of it while I think Daniela read for a fair amount of it (I am not sure if I mentioned she is reading Dance, Dance, Dance by Haruki Murakami, in Spanish of course).

After we landed and got our bag she got a secure taxi and we drove to her her house to pick up luggage and then quickly were off to the apartment.  The taxi driver tried to take us through the coastal route but it is still partially shut down which I believe made us take longer than if he had just stayed inland the whole route.  In any event we got the apartment and were able to get right in. The manager of the apartment was there and waiting for us.  We got unpacked quickly and had to get right down to Daniela’s office to drop something off to her sister. We said hello to the folks from the gallery. It was Halloween by the way… Juan Carlos (from the record store not the guide) was wearing a Dracula cape.  There were a lot of kids walking around Miraflores in costumes with their parents apparently trick or treating at the businesses in the area.  Halloween is starting to become a thing in Peru but it is not fully big yet.  I see most of it happening from American influence like the Dunkin Donuts here were all decorated up. 

After the office we went to the Spanish school and I signed up for a week of classes from Monday to Friday 9-1 each day. They are beginner but not completely unable to know any Spanish classes.  We will see how it goes…  After signing up for that we walked to Pardos and had dinner (I am sure for Daniela it was lunch but it was about 6:30 when we got there). I had a quarter chicken with fries and the cooked vegetable salad.  She had a quarter chicken with the green salad and boiled and roasted potatoes.  The food was good. We shared a chicha morada and eventually a flan for dessert.  After we finished eating we headed back to the apartment by way of Vivanda and bought a couple things we needed but not a real shopping. 

By the time we were at Daniela’s office it had become obvious that a couple of the insect bites I got in the jungle had started to have a reaction. They were near my ankle and it was all swollen and rather painful and itchy.  So I took an antihistamine pill with dinner and by the time we got back to the apartment I was already totally starting to pass out from it. So we started doing some laundry and I ended up unconscious fairly early in the evening. 

The pictures from today are found here. 

Peru Fall 2014 Day 7

We had another early wake up call.  This time to go out and search for morning wildlife which apparently less than half the tour decided to do.  We saw a real lot of birds almost immediately after we left at about 6am. The birds were right past the ranger station we had to check into.  There were herons, cormorants and all sorts of other creatures.  We sailed through a less used branch on the river and we found more different types of birds too numerous for me to name including hawks and buzzards and other more attractive creatures.  They brought us to a location where we were able to see some monkeys in a tree. They apparently were owl monkeys and I got some really good video of them if you don’t mind the shaky camera.  I think the videos came out a little bit better than the pictures.  From the monkeys we turned around and headed back to the boat where we had a breakfast immediately. They were cleaning our room so we didn’t have a chance to do much else. 

At breakfast I had pancakes, 2 kinds of sausages and bacon. I had toast with peanut butter, pineapple juice and coffee too. They had something called maple syrup for the pancakes but I am sure it was not real maple syrup.  The food was good though the pancakes were a touch dry but that is probably from sitting in a buffet warming tray.  After breakfast we had a chance to get to the room and relax for about an hour until it was time for the next excursion.

We left for a morning of piranha fishing after the brief siesta. They brought us out close to where we already did the nature search earlier in the morning but in a different branch instead. We found a shady spot and they gave us small fishing poles which were switches that had line and hook attached to them. We used small bits of beef for bait though apparently the locals typically use fruit.  The trick is to slap the water a little first to get their interest then lower the bait in and try to hook them with a quick snap of the pole. I started a bit slow but I managed to catch 8 fish in total though one was a river sardine instead of a piranha. There was a Canadian guy on the boat who caught 10.  He was a lot closer to the bait and to the guides to have his fish removed from the hook. Anyway we were more successful than the other boat.  The captain tossed some of the fish to have the fisher hawks get them and we watched them snatch a couple from the water.  We fished until the bait was almost all gone and even the Polish woman caught a fish finally then we did a half hour further of sightseeing up the river before heading back.  On the way back we saw a tree that was filled with monkeys but it was far off. I hope video shows some evidence of them because pictures wouldn’t.

After the return to the ship we got cleaned up quickly and had lunch. This time I had rice, beans, a little bit of salad and chicken stuffed with cheese and ham baked.  I didn’t want fish for lunch which the fish they had was done in a passion fruit sauce.  I was ok without that.  They had a fruit jello or pudding dessert that was quite good too.  After lunch I packed into the room to try to catch an hour of sleep before showering. I didn’t do so good unfortunately at sleeping.

After the brief siesta it was time for a lecture about where we went during the trip then a bit more about the Amazon with our guide Juan Carlos.  From there it was get dressed and we moved the skiff about 5 feet to get off onto the shore to the village of Santa Cruz where we brought school supplies bought from passenger donations to the children there. They had to answer questions or do things to get the supplies. It was cute of course with all the kids trying to answer. I loved Juan Carlos’ military drills for the children.  We spent about an hour doing that then we got back into the skiff and headed to the confluence of 3 rivers the third being the actual Amazon.  We had been on the source of the Amazon all this time and this ride took us to what is officially the Amazon if only for a few minutes. The sun started to set as we were out there and Juan Carlos told us to bless ourselves with the water.  We had a small stall while trying to get back to the ship but we made it.  We got a few minutes to get cleaned up then it was on to music time again.

The pictures from day 7 are located here.

Peru Fall 2014 Day 6

We were told we had to wake up at 5:30 and be ready for 6am for our trek in the morning. We left maybe at 6:10 with a light rain hanging around. I am sure it rained all night though.  The skiff took us a few minutes to a park ranger station where we signed in to prove we weren’t poachers then they took us up to a spot that had a few pink dolphins and we grounded the skiffs and they served us breakfast outdoors. They had sandwiches, fruit and cookies. They brought us coffee and orange juice. I ate the chicken sandwich but skipped the egg sandwich.  After breakfast they gave us a quick pee stop across the river from where we ate then it was on to the walking trek of the preservation.

We climbed out of the boats after about an hour long ride, it was hard to tell exactly, where we saw several birds including toucans and even another sloth in a tree.  I like the picture I got for this one because it shows the toes very well.

Inside the preserve we walked around for what was probably an hour and a half or so in a great loop around a small lake that was covered in lily pads from one end to the other.  The idea was to see monkeys during the hike but the best we did for monkeys was some distant looks of them from the boat before we got out.  There really was very few wildlife things to see unfortunately. A tour mate from Lima commented even, we are in the jungle, where are the animals?  The guide did find a red snake that was not poisonous and did not have fangs. It mainly ate bird eggs he said.  We got to touch and even hold it before he released it among us.  It got testy for a few minutes but then we moved away from it and it slithered off.  Otherwise mostly we saw trees and insects.  I would like to say it was more epic than that unfortunately it didn’t turn out so.

We got back on the skiff and headed straight for the boat which took a fair while also.  Probably about an hour or more.  We saw more birds along the way. We were given a few minutes then those of us that wanted to go to swim in the water were going to be taken right outside the boat to do so. Daniela wanted to so I agreed to go and we did actually go into the water and swim around for a few minutes. I switched my memory card to the waterproof camera and we took some pictures from in the water. I am sure they are bad because I really couldn’t see the screen but still it is authentic I guess.  There were pink dolphins swimming right near us all along. The guides said it is safe because the water is black water (meaning murky and brackish rather than whitish).  They didn’t go in which I think should concern me but all the same it seemed safe.  There were no piranhas anyway.  The water was warm and cool all at once. It hit in waves.  I had to use the life jacket of course.  I didn’t stay in for too too long but enough to say I really did it.

After the swim we got showered and headed to lunch where they had a chifa theme (Peruvian Chinese food).  I had the fish because the pork was sweet and sour and I don’t like the sweet. The fish was excellent.  They explained what was going to happen after lunch which was a short siesta followed by a stop at a local village to see a cooking demonstration of local cuisine.  We read for the siesta up on the third deck. After that we headed out for the cooking demonstration after almost being left behind twice. 

The ship was already stopped at the village so all we had to do was take a couple minute skiff ride then climb a tall hill to get there.  The demonstration was from a local villager named Lucy Estela who made a dish called patarashca.  The dish was local catfish cooked with onions, tomatoes and garlic wrapped in a local leaf similar to a banana leaf then put on the grill for about half an hour or so. We all crowded around the demonstration in the hot as hell kitchen until it was just cooking time then we wandered around the village until it was done.  The fish was excellent in flavor and I tried a local spicy pepper that was small and yellow. It was pretty strong but I have had worse.  I did get one full blast in my throat which made me cough a bit.  Still it went away fairly quickly.  After trying the fish it was a quick turn around to return to the boat and a brief siesta until happy hour at 6pm.

Tonight they mainly played Spanish music, most of it of the rock variety.  They played one cumbia song which I danced with Daniela for. No one else danced at all.  The music was probably about 45 minutes or so then it was on to dinner.  They had the patarashca as one of the dishes so I had that along with rice and some vegetables.  The food was really good (though it was better in the village).  For dessert we had my birthday cake because Daniela had already informed the crew it was my birthday. The brought in a cake and played their guitars and sang happy birthday in English and Spanish to me.  I had to blow out the candles and cut the cake and everything. The cake was very good.  Similar to what her mother makes in density with a very nice flavor.  They even had a Cars themed paper hat for me to wear.  After dinner we had a few minutes to get ready then it was back out for another night search for caiman and other critters.

This search started off much better, we only had to go across the river to find a baby (maybe 6 month old) caiman that Juan Carlos caught and brought on the boat.  We got to touch it and take its picture and such.  We released that and stopped by a ranger station where Edgar caught a toad that could be poisonous.  No one was hurt and Juan Carlos made him wash his hands after he released it.  From there we went out further, found a bigger caiman that they couldn’t catch which got away completely then continued further on.  We found a couple of nocturnal herons too. Still we didn’t come up with a real lot of wildlife though obviously better than the night before.  We returned to the boat where we retired for the evening for yet another early wake up call the next day.

The pictures from today are found here.

Peru Fall 2014 Day 5

I really can’t say we woke up early because it was like we didn’t even go to bed on the previous night.  I think we actually did get to bed around midnight or so but we were up by 3am to get ready for our flight to Iquitos.  I think we were out the door around 3:40 or so. The flight was at 5:40am.  Because of the hour Daniela ordered a taxi by phone rather than trying to catch one on the street.  They are safer but of course more expensive.  We got to the airport and checked in and were through security quickly enough then we found our gate (oddly it was the same gate I departed Lima from last trip but this time it was on the domestic side rather than the international side. They had closed some doors and opened others to make this happen.  The flight was on an Airbus 320 through LAN. It was quick mostly because we both fell asleep right away on it.  The flight takes about an hour and a half.

Iquitos airport is very small and we had to exit the plane via a rolling staircase rather than into a terminal gate.  We then waited a few minutes for the suitcase and our transfer to the boat picked us up with a large bus meant for about 50 people. There were probably 8 of us being picked up. We took a trip to the center of Iquitos to pick up some more passengers from a hotel then it was an hour and forty five minutes to Nauta where we would take the boat.  They had a brief orientation then we were taken to the boat on a skiff where they issued us our life jackets. The skiff ride took only a few minutes, maybe five or less.  We got another brief orientation then were assigned our cabins. After quickly settling in they asked us to go to the dining room for another meeting where they explained more about the ship and the rules. We were given a chance to take a quick tour of Nauta with one of the guides.  Most everyone decided to do it from our group but we missed the first skiff and had to wait for it to come back to bring us.  We took a short walk to a square where we met the guide then he took us on tuc tucs (motocycle taxis) to a pond where we fed fish, turtles and even a small caiman bread.  That took a few miutes then we walked back to the taxis and then took a ride around all of Nauta including a few rides over some wooden bridges.  Some were very tight to the size of the vehicles and had pedestrians on them as well.  After the ride it was back on the skiff and back to the boat.

At the boat we got a couple minutes to freshen up then we headed to lunch which is served buffet style.  I had rice, lentils, salad, mixed vegetables and pot roast beef with a sweet potato in the middle. We had a local fruit juice to go along with that.  I also had coffee and Daniela had tea and the passion fruit flan for dessert.  We had another meeting with the tour guides who explained our afternoon and evening to us then it was finally into the room to relax for about two and a half hours before the next excursion.  We used that time to sleep mainly and about half an hour before we were supposed to go I took a shower. The water was very easy to make hot.  I woke up Daniela and she got dressed and ready just in time.

The excursion started with a visit to a local shaman who is more of a natural medicine healer than a witch doctor. He learned about the medicinal properties of the local plants from his grandfather starting when he was 12 and now has been doing it for over 30 years. He is teaching his daughter and his niece about the medicine as well. He serves a community of 500 or so and does not ever go into the cities. He will send patients to the nurse if he cannot help them.  He took about 6 different plants to show us about them and talked about what they did. The visit took maybe about an hour or so and we met Bianca the cobalt winged parakeet as well.  He blessed everyone before we left and they sold some local crafts as well at the end.  It was interesting, especially because he was not presenting himself as mystical or anything like that. He was dressed normal and also works at a local lodge for tourists.  We had threats of rain but it fortunately went around us. On our way out we saw a rainbow.

The next stop was to try to find a three toed sloth a bit further up the river. We passed the boat and were able to find one in a matter of minutes. The guide said we were very lucky. I wonder how they can be so elusive when they don’t move fast.  Still I guess they move around enough that they are not always in the same place. We even saw a second one before we left. The guide explained they move about 40 feet a day and defecate only 1 time per week which they do on the ground rather than from the trees. They use dropping from the tree as a defense mechanism and I guess are very resilient and won’t get hurt by the fall.  Mothers teach the children how to survive and stay in contact with them for a year after they set the child off on its own.  The gestation period is 5 months.  Since we got lucky and found one quickly we didn’t have to stay the full time they had set for it and got back to the boat a little bit early.  We boarded and got cleaned up for a happy hour to be presented at 6:30 with music before dinner.

We apparently took a couple minutes too long because the ship’s crew was already playing a song when we got to the lecture room.  They did a bunch of different songs, some traditional, some written by the crew and some classic rock. They played a Beatles medley and Zombie by the Cranberries.  They were very good and the bartender sang O Solo Mio and has a great voice.  After the music we ate dinner which consisted of spaghetti which I did Bolognese and Daniela did ala pesto.  Also vegetables, rice and chicken cordon bleu style.  The food was really good.  The guides brought in some snakes they found outside. One a poisonous one and the other was an emerald boa.  Not that big fortunately.  They brought the poisonous snake out immediately but kept the boa to be dropped deeper into the wildlife preserve we would visit on the next day.

After dinner we only had a short time to prepare for heading out onto the skiff in the dark to look for caimans. We boarded the skiff and were taken around to search for animals in the dark but really we didn’t have any luck. I think we were out for about an hour and a half and mostly we released the boa from dinner but otherwise we got to watch a lightning show off in the distance.  It was neat but lacking in animals unfortunately.  The guides seemed disappointed but said we would go out again the next night too.  They are not easily discouraged. We got back to the boat and then pretty much got cleaned up and called it a night. I was exhausted from the so little sleep of the night before.

The pictures from today are located here.

Peru Fall 2014 Day 4

We used up every last minute of the night we paid for in the Egypt room including a morning in the Jacuzzi and the included breakfast.  

After breakfast we checked out and headed to Daniela’s office where she tried to get all the stuff necessary for a Canadian tourist visa but she missed the office to submit to by about 5 minutes and we had to give up on that until we got back from the Amazon.  We decided to have lunch at Che Santiago (it was more of a dinner really by the time we got there).  I had an Argentinian rib eye grill with sausages and salad and French fries.  Daniela had grilled chicken.  The food was excellent.  We shared a bottle of Letters from the End of the World Malbec Shiraz wine.  The wine was also good.

By the time we got back to the office we had to wait only  a few minutes for Edwin to arrive and we went with Donna and he to a bar at the 21^st floor of a neighboring building to have a couple drinks. We each had 2 chilcanos and they also ordered some spicy tuna maki sushi as a birthday cake.  It was pretty good.  After we finished we shared a taxi to near their house then got driven to Daniela’s house where we started packing and probably weren’t done until a little past midnight.

The pictures from day 4 are found here.

Peru Fall 2014 Day 3

We spent the morning in the hotel in our India suite.  We had breakfast in the room because it was included in the rate then we basically stayed in until it was time to move to the next room as we weren't staying in the same room both nights. When they had the other room cleaned and ready we switched over to Eqipto (Egypt of course).  We really only dropped off our stuff by this point then we chose to walk around Barranco for a while.

In Barranco mainly we walked just out in the direction of the main avenue without really a destination in mind. We stopped at the Barranco Beer Company which is a micro brewery. We started there with a sampler of six beers.  There was a pilsner, white wheat beer, mix of the pilsner and amber ale, amber ale, dark wheat beer and their Octoberfest.  Daniela settled on El Duque which was the dark wheat beer and I had the Don Mau which was the Octoberfest.  They were all reasonably good with the pilsner being the most generic.  We didn't eat except for some chancha they provided.

After the brewery we continued walking down to the main square until we got to the electric trolley which actually runs on the weekends and we took our 2 soles each ride to its end stop maybe 5 minutes away. It didn't go that fast so probably it was only 10 minutes of walking or so. We got off at the other end and then walked around into a gated area because a nice resident let us in and watched the ocean for a few minutes from above as Barranco is also on the same shelf Miraflores is.

After our ocean viewing we turned back in and headed for the hotel with a stop in a new small shop off near the bridge to the old destroyed church.  We took our time and it got back after dark. We only stayed in the hotel long enough to freshen up then got back out and took a taxi to the restaurant Danica which is the place we had our first date that last Friday I stayed in Lima to teach class (not counting our tour experiences as official dates).  The restaurant is somewhere between San Isidro and Miraflores right off a big roundabout.  It didn't take long to get there.  I had a spaghetti dish with an oil based sauce that had tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, prosciutto and parsley. Daniela had the "Oriental Salad."  The food was really good. We each had a glass of Malbec red wine with the meal. After the food we shared a brownie "shifus" which was a chocolate chip cookie brownie with coffee ice cream over it.  They had Baileys and chocolate sauce as well. The brownie was warm and it was very good. I had a coffee and Daniela has an herba luisa tea.

From the restaurant we walked for a few minutes in the direction of the hotel then caught a taxi back t the room where we turned in for the night.

The pictures from today are located here.

Peru Fall 2014 Day 2

We had the late night with my late arrival which meant a late start in the morning. We were at Daniela's house so her mother was home when we got moving and we quickly ate breakfast with her then got cleaned up and separated our packing to take for the first couple days of the trip. When we were ready we took a cab to Barranco where were were going to stay at the Hotel Park Suites for Saturday and Sunday nights. The drive took a little while but we made it eventually. We really on checked in and right away went out to lunch.  The room we got was the India suite for the first night. Daniela told me we were going to change for the second night.

We took another cab to lunch. We had to walk a couple minutes to main avenue to get a taxi but it was fairly quick.  We went to La Salta de Fraile which is a restaurant with a name that translates to The Jumping Friar.  The idea is that a monk jumps from the cliffs into the ocean.  We got there in time to see such a demonstration though we found out as we entered the restaurant after watching (and recording it) that the guy we saw was not the official one from the restaurant but was a guy who was doing it on his own.  Daniela screamed when he jumped but he was fine and climbed right back up the cliffs and came around and collected tips.

Inside the restaurant I got a Chilcano and Daniela got a algorribina which is a pisco drink that has a fruit and some chocolate in it so that it tastes a little like a chocolate shake or frozen mudslide. She ordered and we shared a causa de mariscos which is a potato and seafood (shellfish) dish.  It was very good.  For dinner I had a braised fish in its own broth and Daniela had a rice and seafood.  The food was all very good and I even got some octopus from Daniela's dish because she wouldn't eat it.  After we were done eating we stayed around for a little while and watched the sunset and got dessert and coffees. The dessert was an ice cream dish with cognac, chocolate sauce and whipped cream. The ice cream was strawberry. It was very good.

After dinner we had the restaurant car drive us to downtown Barranco then we walked slowly back to the hotel where we spent the night.  On the way we stopped at a small bookstore and bought Daniela a couple of books.

The pictures from day one are found here.

Peru Fall 2014 Day 1

Today started really late to me for a flight to Peru. My plane didn’t depart until 1:30pm so I didn’t even leave the house until 10:00am. My father drove me to the airport and we had very little traffic. This very early time to leave the house of course led to no issues with checking in and dropping off the bag for check in either. Since I put my known traveler number into the mileage plan for Delta I was given TSA Pre automatically and security check in was also very easy (only 2 people in front of me, both business travelers).  I had not flown Delta in a long time and this was a sort of experiment in flying them instead of United or American to Lima. My last United experience in both directions was obviously bad so we would see how this turned out in comparison.  Really I bought these tickets because they were significantly cheaper than anything else for this time at only about $645 or so.  Maybe other airlines got cheaper later than I purchased but one rule of air travel is never go back and look if anything got cheaper. You can’t really do anything about it anyway.

At the airport I sat at the Harpoon Brewery bar and had a couple IPAs as well as a hot dog. The beer was good and the hot dog was ok and very big. It came with chips not French fries.  That killed the largest amount of time while waiting for the flight to Atlanta to board. I spoke to the bartender who was an older woman from Bedford which is where the Hologic office is.  Since they were just opening there weren’t many people there at first and she was pleasant enough to talk to.  When I was done eating I cleared out and headed to the gate (all the way across the hallway from the bar (right there that is)) and waited for the boarding which was only a minute or two late.  Boarding put me in the last group but I still managed to find a slot in the overhead for my backpack.  The flight was mostly uneventful mostly because I think I slept through more than 90% of it, being awake only for takeoff and landing and the drink/snack service time.  They actually gave peanuts, or pretzels or cookies. I was a bit surprised for a domestic flight in the US.  I chose the peanuts.  We landed easily and I was able to get to the E concourse from the A concourse fairly easily too.  I had an hour and a half from landing time to departure time officially and was able to easily get to the gate before boarding started by about 15 minutes which gave me enough time to get this written.  By the way the first plane was a MD90 which had no entertainment system in it at all.  They had wifi but I never took my laptop out obviously and am sure I didn’t want to pay for it anyway.

The second plane was a 767-300ER.  I was seated on the left outside aisle seat. My neighbor was a woman from Winnipeg who was going to Peru for the first time but had traveled quite a bit. We talked for probably the first two hours of the around 6 hour flight until the food was served then we both settled in to watch movies on the in seat entertainment.  The food was typical airplane fare and I chose to just eat the extras and not the actual hot food. I had a glass of red wine to go with it.  So basically I ate the tomatoes out of the salad, the cheese, crackers, roll and brownie.  I watched How to Train Your Dragon 2 which was cute.  After that was over I watched a movie called The Chef, the Actor and the Scoundrel which was a Chinese movie about, I am sure fantasized, about some Chinese agents stealing a cholera vaccination from the Japanese during their east China occupation.  It was partial comedy and partially serious.  I was confused by it at first but that is common with Chinese movies for me.  I think at first I was going to stop watching it but the real plot came in just in time to save it so I watched it to the end.  By the time the movie was over there was less than 40 minutes to landing and I just watched the flight map.  I talked with my neighbor a little bit more and gave her Daniela’s business card in case she had any issues and needed help.  The plane landed 15 minutes early.

Immigration was a bit full after deplaning.  There were 3 other flights landing at the same time it appeared. I got through reasonably well enough though.  Then I think I was the 3^rd from the last bag on the conveyor at baggage claim so I had to wait a long time.  The lines for customs were also long because of all the planes arriving at the same time but I snuck through to the far side and got through that reasonably well also.  They were xraying every bag that came off the planes but not searching in general.

Daniela was waiting outside for me. I had texted her when the plane landed and she got there before I was through all the lines.  She looked beautiful as ever. After greeting each other we got outside and found a taxi to her house where since it was already past midnight we basically just settled in for the evening. Though I had previous had bad experiences with Delta this part of the trip went very well and I was happy with the fact I arrived on time instead of 3 or more hours late.  I know that weather played a part in the last trip but still I think it was avoidable. I am sure that most planes weren’t diverted to different airports like mine was.

No pictures for the mostly transit day.

Peru Fall 2014

I will be departing for Peru tomorrow (Friday the 24th) for a two week trip. I have not used Delta in a while and am trying them out because the cost of the flight when I bought it was less than $650.  I depart at 1:30pm and will depart Lima at 1:30am on my way back. Neither is ideal but that is what I get for the low cost.

Daniela has arranged a trip to Iquitos where we will take a river cruise on the Amazon from the 28th to the 31st. I am sure it will be exciting. I do wonder about the spiders I will see...

Mostly I  am just excited to be back with her for a couple more weeks as we go through this long wait for the immigration process.   I cannot believe how fast a full year has almost gone by since we got married.

Peru Summer 2014 Pictures

A long story but only 250 pictures so I didn't break them down by day like I should have.

Here are all the pictures.

Peru Summer 2014 Day 10

We woke up and had a continental breakfast in the hotel. Actually we paid for the tamale to go along with the bread and butter and jam. The coffee was instant but the pack basically gave us 3 cups of coffee. We were given fresh strawberry juice to go along with that.  After we ate we walked around the hotel's grounds and then sat in front of the "pool" for a few minutes. I say that with quotes because honestly it could fit maybe 3 people and there is no option for swimming at all, let alone diving.  After a little while we went back to the room and packed up. The hotel manager said we could leave our stuff in the room after we checked out and then come back and get it.

So we took a taxi back down the main road to a place called the Hotel Molle where is the Parque Molle.  This place has paso horse competitions or at least was having one this Sunday. Since they have a big riding area I am sure they do it fairly often.  First things first, Daniela bought me a Peruvian cowboy hat and I wore that for the rest of the day.  We then went and found a place to sit to see the show and had a couple of drinks. She had pisco sours and I had what are called chilcanos which are like pisco sours without the egg white and made a bit more strongly. I think we each had three while we sat and talked and waited for the show to start. Also I had my picture taken with some of the local ladies dressed as riders.  It was obvious most of the people there knew each other except for that portion of us that were tourists.  The show started later than they were intending (surprising!) because the riders wanted to have lunch or something like that. We also got lunch which was a pair of pork sandwiches.  Mine was directly from the fire roasted whole pig that we saw on the way in Daniela said. She wasn't sure if I would like that so she bought one with processed pork too. She liked hers though I think she should have gotten both like mine.

The paso horse is a specific Peruvian breed that is trained to dance as it runs so that the front legs lift really high and it sort of looks like the horses are gliding around rather than running. They had quite a few rounds of competitions based on the ages of the horses plus also before that an exhibition by some very young riders.  I think we watched the horses for at least a couple of hours until we knew we were going to have to go back because I was to fly home that night.  I took a lot of pictures of the horses. Indeed I took few pictures on this trip until we came up to Cieneguilla.

We got back to the hotel and Daniela called the guy who drove us out there and we had to wait a while due to his car having a failure of some sort so so he sent us another driver to get us back to Lima. When we got to Jockey Plaza we took a bus that got us closer to her house then switched to a taxi to get us the rest of the way.  We got to her house late (say 7pm) and her mother was a touch upset we missed dinner. Still we spent a short while there talking to her family before Donna's fiance Edwin drove us to the airport.

Daniela waited with me until it was time for me to go into the gate. We had a small slice of pizza from the airport Papa John's as it got late but mostly we just talked the time away.  I left her behind sadly and then headed into the security which was a bit crowded. At least immigration wasn't too bad.  I got to the gate to of course find out that the plane had mechanical issues and it would be delayed. I chose to shop for a couple knickknacks with this extra time but in the long run the delay turned out to be around 2 hours. I had a flight from Houston that my new arrival time would definitely not reach.  When we did board we didn't take too long to get going still it was seriously late.  I was put in a middle seat which rather bothered me but fortunately my neighbors were both small and it wasn't much of an issue in the long run. I watched Rio 2 sort of but fell asleep during parts of it. It was cute I guess.  Then mostly I slept during the flight and woke up only when they handed me a muffin and a cranberry juice.

When that plane landed I was able to clear immigration and customs quickly thanks to the Global Entry and get my luggage rechecked and on to the gate for my new flight. They had already reassigned my flight (which would be nearly 4 hours later than I was supposed to leave originally). I was hoping to get to work to set up for my class that started on Tuesday but my Boston arrival time would make that too late. Still we were boarding quickly and on our way up in reasonable time. The plane was mostly full except the seat next to me. I had again been put in a middle seat but was able to move to the aisle seat. About halfway through the flight a guy came from the front of the plane and took my original seat because he had a neighbor who was sick the whole flight to that point he said.  He was reasonable though and it was not an issue. The flight was uneventful but for a bit of bumps and an interesting landing as it was windy in Boston. I got my checked luggage while realizing I forgot to notify Flightline of my change and had to basically pay for two rides. They did get me a van though and I went straight home instead of to work. I basically got there in time for dinner and it wasn't long before I was completely passed out from exhaustion.

Peru Summer 2014 Day 9

We woke up kind of later than I would have preferred, had a reasonable breakfast of what we had left in the apartment, got cleaned up and then cleaned up the apartment and packed.  We got a taxi and headed to Daniela’s house where we dropped off our main luggage choosing only to bring one small bag and my backpack which made more sense.  We talked to her mother for a few and we had a cup of hot chocolate her mother prepared as well.  Then we got another taxi to the central area for longer travel and immediately found a collective taxi to Cieneguilla.  That ride was supposed to take about 40 minutes but it really took about an hour with traffic. Then the driver didn’t know where our hotel, Villas de Cieneguilla so it probably took another 20 minutes to find our way there including Daniela having to call the hotel to get their location better for the driver. He drove us far past it because it wasn’t on the main avenue.  When we got there we basically just dropped off our stuff and headed to find lunch because it was already past 3pm.

Daniela had her mind set on going to a place called Mesas de Piedras, or Stone Tables.  Surprisingly they serve the food on tables made of stone outside. The weather in Cieneguilla was warmer than the coast because we had gotten into the mountains near the city and had risen out of some of the coastal fog and humidity and while it was hazy we had actual sun.  Cieneguilla is to the south of the city. It looks really dessert like and has lots of cacti, rocks and sand.  There are palm trees too of course.  We thought maybe we could walk but apparently the locals don’t know where the restaurant is because a motorcycle taxi and the actual taxi we took thought it was somewhere completely different. Still with some help from other locals we made it there after having to turn around once at least and stopping another time because he didn’t believe us or the policeman that told him it was in another direction.  In any event we made it there probably close to 4pm though by this point I was not watching time at all.

We ordered Pachamanca which is a preparation of beef, pork and chicken in a clay pot along with potatoes, lima beans, choclo and a tamale called hamitas here.  We each had a beer, she a Pilsen Callao and me a Cuscena Red.  The food literally is served in the clay pot and it is nice because it helps keep it warm.  We took out some food at a time. The dish is suggested for 2 people but there was really too much for the both of us and we ended up taking out leftovers.  The restaurant had a band that was playing traditional music and there was even a group of 6 people (3 men, 3 women) that performed a dance that lasted for quite a while.  They were dancing huayno according to Daniela. This is from the mountains of the Andes. They had on colorful costumes (well colorful accessories on mainly black costumes).  One of the girls kept shouting which I guess is also traditional.  Sort of made me think of Taiko the way it felt random.

After we finished we managed to get some picture of colorful local birds. Then we bought Daniela a shawl because she didn’t bring her jacket and as the sun went down it got cooler significantly.  We then started walking back to the hotel and stopped a dessert place called Letorie which was run by a couple that had lived in Connecticut for 10 years earlier in their lives. He was a nice guy and gave me a chocolate chip cookie to go along with my coffee. I also had a coconut and caramel gelato and Daniela had a piece of red velvet cake.  She was curious about it. Both the owner and I explained the story to her though mine was a bit more detailed. While we were there another American/Peruvian couple came in (I was surprised, I didn’t think I would see another white person honestly).  He was from Wisconsin. We really only said hello as they took their food to go.  Daniela really liked the cake. The coffee, ice cream and cookie were all good too.  The owner put on some Santana for me too which was nice.

After we finished we started walking back to the hotel again but the distance was really far so we took a local bus most of the way then walked along from the main intersection to the hotel.  We got inside and watched a bit of television before falling to sleep after a while.

Peru Summer 2014 Day 8

We woke up and Daniela had a lot of work to do so we both basically hung around the apartment and had little breakfast and she worked until it was close to our lunch time, a bit early for Peruvians.  I reheated the chicken, rice and green beans that we had left over and we ate that quickly for a brunch type concept.  After eating and she had finished what she needed to do we got cleaned up and took a walk outside towards the district of San Isidro where we were going to eat the real lunch/dinner. It would take a while to walk there so we chose that rather than a taxi.

Originally she wanted to go to La Bistecca but before we reached there we found the ruins of Huacapucllana and she suggested eating at their restaurant instead. I agreed so we changed directions and found the restaurant which was fairly full because it was Peruvian lunch time.  She unfortunately ended up with work emergencies she had to handle so spent a fair amount of time both walking and at the restaurant on the phone. Apparently an Air France flight some of her passengers were supposed to be on was canceled due to a strike in France and she had to help them sort things out.

For the meal we started with a causa sampler which I think had smoked salmon on it rather than tuna.  It was a bit salty but nice.  Then I had the roasted baby goat leg and Daniela had the sirloin steak. Mine came with a lima bean puree and she had asparagus and onion rings.  The food was good though I think if I had understood it was a boneless section of leg for the goat I may have tried something else on the menu.  It was tasty though. As was her steak.  We shared a bottle of Argentinian Malbec from Mendoza.  This was suggested by the waiter and it was reasonably good. It was called Enemego which means enemy in English.  We chose not to have dessert at that restaurant partially because I didn’t see anything that interested me and partially because Daniela wanted to walk around to work off some of the steak first. 

So we started walking and she had some more calls and we set up a place to stay in Cieneguilla for Saturday night as we were supposed to leave the apartment on Saturday.  She had to pay a deposit so we got that done. Then her phone died and we found a Radio Shack that was willing to charge her battery a little and she ended up buying a portable battery charger from them too. She should be able to carry it with her for when her battery is running low. Apparently the way she uses the phone she doesn’t get a full day many times.

After walking in a large circle and not finding the dessert place she was expecting we decided to head to Miraflores and took a taxi back close to the apartment where we bought dessert and coffee at a new place right near her office. I had a piece of apple pie and Daniela had a strawberry pudding (mousse).  I had a hot chocolate and she had a coffee too.  Then we headed back to the apartment and watched a little bit of TV until we fell asleep.

Peru Summer 2014 Day 7

We woke up and Daniela again wanted to go running so we got ready after she finished some small amount of work and ran out to the shoreline in a slightly different direction and ran down to the park where she does free yoga sometimes then turned around and headed back.  I am sure we ran less distance but Daniela said it affected her more, probably because of the fact she did all the running and dancing a couple days before.  When we got back we got cleaned up and she had to do some more work so while she was doing that I reheated the leftover from the other day and we ate lunch.

After lunch we headed to LarcoMar to see Guardians of the Galaxy but of course the day before was the last day for it. So we checked online and found the theater in San Miguel was playing it at 4:15 instead of the 2:50 we had seen for LarcoMar.  So we took buses there only to find out that the time was wrong and the only showing of the day at San Miguel was 2:45 and it was dubbed not subtitled like the ad said.  So we decided to buy tickets to see Hercules but that subtitled showing was at 8:25 so we had basically 4 hours to kill. Daniela did some attempted shopping for jeans but eventually didn't buy anything.  She says if you do not buy it is not shopping but I wouldn't know what else to call it?  In any event we then decided to get a light dinner at La Baguette which does all sorts of foods. We got a sampler trio of empanadas and a side of papas fritas (French fries).  Daniela was not happy with the size of the order of the fries. She ordered a Limonada Cubana which I had to drink. It had mint and was done with club soda.  Fortunately I had ordered a normal limonada and she drank that. I could tell the mint flavor was too strong when I tasted the Cubana. I would not order that myself.  The food was good though. We ate taking our time because we still had a fair amount of time. Still, she had cell phone battery issues though and needed to make a call so we found a Claro booth that was willing to charge her phone for a few minutes.  She was able to get the number off her phone and use a pay phone to call.

From there we went to the theater and bought a bucket of popcorn and two drinks. I had a 7up and she had a chicha morada.  The combo deal gave us the second largest size of popcorn which could feed 20 people I think. They take orders in one line then fill the orders in a second line there. I think this would be a good process if the people filling the orders spent more time filling them than just wandering around aimlessly. We had more than 10 minutes before the movie started when we ordered but the wait brought us to the point the coming attractions were playing the second we sat down.  Kind of sad really.

The movie wasn't bad though I had low expectations going in. I certainly think there are better movies out there but there were some good jokes and action scenes in it. It had the Rock of course and Ian McShane who had a cool part.  I guess it was based on a comic book according to the end credits. I would say it is worth seeing though probably if we had been able to see Guardians of the Galaxy then I would have been happy to watch it on a plane or on cable.  We didn't finish the popcorn by the way.

After the movie we pretty much just got a cab and headed back to the apartment. We started to watch The Man Who Knew Too Much but we ended up falling asleep before it was over.

Peru Summer 2014 Day 6

We had a slightly later start but not really too bad. Daniela had to go to the office to present documents to some passengers so I stayed in the apartment and waited for her. When she was done she texted me and I walked down to meet her at the office. From there we walked to a couple of Spanish schools that do immersion classes not for this trip but for the next trip. There were two and they seemed similar though one was a bit cheaper than the other. The one that was cheaper had good reviews on TripAdvisor too.  We didn't have to pay anything at this point so it was just information gathering.

After the school search we chose to eat dinner at La Trattoria di Mambrino which had moved to LarcoMar.  We had eaten at the restaurant on a previous trip in a different location.  The waiter was very good and sold up a bit. We each tried a different cocktail. Mine had pisco in it and Daniela's was a strawberry flavored vodka drink I think.  The drink I had was not my favorite but I typically don't do cocktails anyway.  We had bread with olives, onions and dried tomatoes as a focaccia style starter along with a different version of eggplant parmigiana that had less sauce and more cheese on it. Both were very good. I had Cacio e Pepe which was rigatoni with a pecorino emulsion sauce with crushed black pepper for my meal. Daniela had Fettuccine Magnifica which was a cream sauce with prosciutto.  I had a glass of chianti that was very good to go along with the meal after I finished the other drink.  The food was all very excellent and the waiter was very smart and talkative and did a good job of suggesting things.  For dessert I had the Cinco Leches cake which was the traditional Tres Leches but with coconut milk and creme caramel as well.  It was quite good. Daniela wouldn't have any because she says she doesn't like it.  She took only the teensiest bite.

When we finished eating we walked back to the room where Daniela again had to go to the office to help a passenger that also was collecting documents for travel. I used that time to download Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory which Daniela had never seen before. Somewhere in conversation the day before the Oompa Loompas came up and she said she had no idea what they were. So when she got back we settled in and I connected the computer to the TV and we watched it.  She was dead tired by the end of the movie and we just sort of passed out by that point.

Peru Summer 2014 Day 5

We woke up early because Daniela wanted to go running so we actually did. Fortunately I had brought stuff to run with. We ran out to the waterfront from the apartment but found getting down to the actual beach would be tough because they are redoing the shoreline road so we just looked from slightly above it then headed back up the hill and around through the park to the apartment again. I think we ran for an hour and change. It was not high paced running at all. There aren't really a lot of hills in Miraflores until you get near the water so it was peacefully flat most of the time.

After the run we got cleaned up and I sent Daniela off to the office while I started to cook. I made barbecue chicken (similar to the recipe I did at their house before) with rice and green beans.  The rice I cooked in a rice cooker which I am not used to. It didn't come out the best but it was ok.  I added some lightly sauteed onion and garlic for flavor. The beans I cooked then sauteed in oil with garlic and oregano.  It took a while to make the sauce which I did as before with ketchup and Coke as the base.  Then I baked the chicken in the oven till done and finished as best I could under the broiler with the sauce.  It all came out ok. Not my best cooking but certainly not my worst.  Daniela invited her sister and friend over for lunch. They brought a bottle of chardonnay.  I would say I was cooking from about 11am till 2:30pm.  We ate and talked for a while. We had coffee and ice cream for dessert as well.

After we were done eating and the dishes had been cleaned up we relaxed for a while then got ready to go out to dancing per Daniela's request. There was a place in Barranco that was having a live salsa band on a Tuesday and she wanted to try it. We got cleaned up and headed to Barranco by taxi and first ate anticuchos at a restaurant in Barranco. Daniela misunderstood the portion sizes in ordering and bought far too much.  Still it was reasonably good food.  We had chicha morada to accompany the food.  After the meal we had a walk to the club where we got in and there was no band but the place was really crowded for a Tuesday.  We danced for a while and eventually the band did start up I think at about 1 or so. We danced for a few of their songs but I was mostly dead and after a while we left for the apartment. We got back and I think I crashed almost instantly.

Peru Summer 2014 Day 4

We got started fairly late in the morning and eventually got cleaned up and headed to the office after hanging around the apartment for some time. Daniela had some work to do in the afternoon and I accompanied her to the office to hang out for a little while.  Before we headed to the office we had Arabic food at a place she is not certain what the name is but it is across from Kennedy park.  The food was reasonable but not my favorite.  They were playing Arabic music very loudly so we sat outside even though I am sure Daniela was not fond of the temperature.

I spoke to Juan Carlos for a few minutes while Daniela was working in the office. He is the guy that owns the old fashioned record store in the same gallery the office is in. Yes, vinyl.  He played the first record of Live After Death for me which was pretty cool.  After she finished at the office we went shopping at the Metro which didn't take very long really.We bought some food for breakfast and lunch on Tuesday as well as some ice cream.

When we got back we made some coffee and had the ice cream and watched The Croods which I had gotten before I left. It was better than I expected honestly.  I was surprised Nicholas Cage did one of the voices. It didn't sound like him.  After the movie we watched a little bit more TV before calling it a night.

Peru Summer 2014 Day 3

It being Sunday we got moving later in the day. I made a pot of coffee because we had some Daniela had brought from home but we really didn't have any food so when we were ready we headed out to get breakfast which we did at the Chef's Cafe which is just around the corner from the apartment. I had a ham and cheese sandwich and she had a fruit salad with yogurt and honey.  The food was good. Each breakfast came with juice. We both got pineapple. And a cup of coffee. I had an Americano and Daniela had a cappuccino. After breakfast we were going to go shopping for food for the apartment but I guess we took too long because Daniela made us take a cab to her house instead. We got there before her sister and Edwin and helped with the preparation for the lunch (which tends to happen after 4pm by the way).  We were trying to find out what happened to my suitcase and had decided to got to the airport because it is only a few minutes away when they arrived so we turned around. Daniela's mom cooked lunch which was a stuffed caywa? (not sure of spelling) which was not quite like a pepper but I can't think of an equivalent. Also she made quinoa with chicken. We had brought some wine with us and we drank that during the lunch. Donna and Edwin brought a dessert of passion fruit pie. The food was all really good and we ate and talked. I had a tough time following the conversation most of the time.

During the lunch the airline called us and said we would get the suitcase around 7 probably so after we were done eating around 5:30 or so we just had to hang around and wait so we continued to just talk.  At 7:20 or so the suitcase did arrive and we immediately put it in Edwin's car and he drove us back to the apartment. That was very nice of him. Fortunately there wasn't too much traffic but he and Donna live much closer to the house then to Miraflores so they really went out of their way.

When we got into the apartment Daniela had not been feeling well for a while so we just made her some tea and she watched Rear Window the Alfred Hitchcock film.  I sort of started falling asleep and she eventually went to sleep after the movie as well.

Peru Summer 2014 Day 2

Since we got in so late we ended up sleeping very late too. I was exhausted from the full day of travel.  I am sure that even with the immediate rush to get to sleep it was past 3am before we actually did.  I am not fully certain what time we woke up either but I suspect it was past 10 or maybe even 11am.  We got cleaned and finished packing Daniela while her mother made us breakfast/lunch.  We had pan con chicharon and chaufa (which is Chinese style rice, ironic considering all the Chinese we had last time we were together...). The chaufa had chicken, pork, hot dogs, fried egg along with all the seasonings. The food was all very good.  By the time we were done eating and packing and everything else it was past 3pm. We took a cab over to the apartment which took extra time because the coastal route was apparently blocked with a big festival so the taxi driver said it would be much longer still than cutting through the city.

We got into the apartment then Daniela had to help a customer with some bookings at her office so I stayed and unpacked us a bit then waited for her to call me to come meet her so we could buy some basics for me since I had no luggage. It is definitely strange not having a change of clothes.  I am sure if it goes on too long before I get the bag my clothes will begin to walk around a bit. So we shopped I bit and I bought some underwear and socks and a shirt for the time being. I didn't want to spend too much money on clothes assuming my stuff is supposed to show up.  I had contacts and a holder for them but no saline solution so we also went to buy that. The market was very crowded so we decided not to shop just then and headed back to the room.

We spend the night in relaxing and ordered a pizza late since we couldn't really cook without food to cook then called it a night.  We had tea with our pizza because Daniela had brought that along from home too.  I took a few pictures today mostly of the apartment but I don't have the cable I need to download because the camera uses a special cable that is in my suitcase.

Peru Summer 2014 Day 1

The day started early so that I wouldn’t have my dad too stuck in traffic getting me to the airport. I arrived more than 3 hours early. Check in was easy although with TSA Pre for my security entrance the airport again let non-TSA Pre people in which bothered me because the vast majority of those people don’t know the rules and hold things up. Belts still on, metal in pockets , etc…  Still it was quick enough to get through. I wandered around for a bit and then found the Dunkin Donuts and got some coffee and a blueberry muffin then sat at the gate which was still clearing out the obviously totally overbooked flight ahead of mine. I played some games on the cell phone to kill some time while I waited for the boarding time.  I will give credit to terminal B in that it is bright and clean looking.  Watching the board I was #23 on the first upgrade list so that wasn’t going to happen.  I guess it was kind of cool to see I was on the upgrade list at all.  The board said it was going to be an airbus 319 for this leg to Houston.

We boarded easily and were off on time. The plane was indeed an airbus 319.  The flight was going along well, I had been sleeping most of it, until the pilot announced we would be diverting to Mobile, Alabama because of weather in Houston. We needed to refuel so we couldn’t make it all the way there and circle I guess?  So we landed quickly and just sat on the tarmac for at least 3 hours.  They were saying the thunderstorms over Houston caused a full ground stop.  At the third hour we were told we had to get off the plane because they have laws as to how long they can keep people in the plane on the tarmac.  So we all disembarked and the airport in Mobile, Alabama maybe has 7 gates and one shop/restaurant/bar.  The entire plane went there and the line was insane. I went to the bar eventually and got a Fat Tire beer and an order of fries. They were cooking burgers fast and I didn’t think I would get one not burnt to death.  Of course as soon as I got the beer and fries they announced we would board again. So I had to eat and drink quickly.  We reboarded after probably another hour and then it took another 20 minutes to get back into the air.  I am sure I am messing up all the timing. It was an hour and 20 minute flight though and we arrived at 5:30 then got stuck sitting waiting for a gate for another 10 minutes. The flight to Lima was originally supposed to depart at 3:45 with boarding at 3pm.  I had already seen on my United app that the flight was delayed and was supposed to depart at 5:30 when we landed then 5:45.  We got out of the plane at 5:50.  I spoke to the counter about change of flights and they started to give me the grim news that the flight had left and I would have to check into a flight of some sort the next day.  I was getting ready to take a flight that left Houston at 8:45am then went to Panama City through Copa then on to Lima for 7:30pm or so.  Bleh. But it was better than being in the Houston airport until 3pm because they wouldn’t pay for hotel as it was a “weather delay,” when the lady next to the one I was working with said the Lima flight hadn’t left.  They said it was at gate E20. I was at E9.  I had to run to the other side of the terminal of course. I got there to be told they moved gates to E2 (directly across from E9) as they were changing planes due to the mechanical issue.  So the flight was now supposed to depart at 7. Of course it was used for something else and had to be cleaned and prepped so they didn’t end up starting to board until about 7.

I think and we actually took off around 7:45.  Still the mechanical error saved my butt big time.  So I was able to board and get on my way. This plane was a 767 and I was in the back again with no one next to me which was nice. For all the alerts about the bumpy weather to Houston we had none. The flight to Lima had a lot though. I started by watching Appleseed Alpha then Maleficent then chose to sleep after that for the rest of the flight. They only had chicken on the food service but I didn’t end up eating it.  We landed at about 2am.  I was originally supposed to arrive at 10:30pm.  I got off the plane and had to fill out the immigration forms in the hallway because they forgot to bring them aboard the new plane and handed them to us at exit. I then got through immigration. Fortunately I have filled out those forms a bunch of times before and beat most of the other people to the line.  I then waited to the end to find out that they didn’t put my luggage on the plane. It was apparently rerouted to the flight the next day.  I had to fill out a claim and they said it will be delivered when it gets in quickly because I am a Premier member.

My beautiful Daniela was waiting in the terminal when I got out and we got our taxi to her house after a joyful reunion.  It being so late we both basically crashed immediately.  Even Forest wasn’t too excited I had arrived.  I received an email from United giving me the option of $100 eticket credit or 5000 miles. I chose to take the miles.  This was for the plane delays that kept me from having to sleep in the airport overnight. Ironic really. If only they had gotten my bag through too.