Day One (May 14, 2008)
The post below this gave a bit of a head start on how our trip began. However we managed to make our 7AM flight to Houston on a Continental 737. We were delayed a bit in the air as there were storms in the Houston area (how surprising), and I was a bit let down as the descent to the airport was smooth and uneventful.
David and I had a few hours to explore the large Houston airport (lunch at a BBQ place before a break at Pappadeaux's). We boarded Continental's 757 (yes, it is a long flight in a narrowbody jet) around 4:30 for the 6.5 hr flight to Lima. This would be my longest flight ever, and by the end I was certainly ready to land and stretch my legs a bit (despite being only mildly entertained by the in-flight movie, P.S. I Love You).
Arriving at Lima all the passengers shuffled off towards Customs where I (of course) managed to have failed to fill in my entry documents completely. After a second attempt, my passport was stamped and I was granted entrance to Peru. I managed to avoid/decline the throngs of Cellphone re-sellers in the arrival area (dodging merchants became a talent that would be honed greatly before the trip would conclude) and successfully find my bag which arrived on-time and undamaged.
We exited arrivals and amongst the crowd of taxi drivers and transport agencies I was able to spot a sign-board with a reasonable approximation of my name (it would seem that neither 'Craig' nor 'Gorham' are very familiar names in Spanish.
We were joined shortly there after by a 3rd passenger, who was also a part of our two week Peruvian tour, Cliodhna, and began our adventure through the streets of Lima. Little did I realize how exciting overland travel would become while on the tour. I quickly began to realize that traffic signals, signs and lane markings were installed in Peru more for there ability to break up the scenery rather than provide instruction and guidance to drivers. Honking seemed to be the way most drivers communicated to each other (ie. want to turn left out of the middle lane... no problem just honk a bunch, want to blow through a stop sign... just honk; would you like to stop in the midst of traffic and do a u-turn... you guessed it, just honk a bit).
After a 40 minute drive across town (although it seemed to last for several lifetimes... the whole life flashing before your eyes thing happening) we arrived, intact, at our hotel (the 'Mariel') in the Miraflores district. The hotel staff greeted us warmly and we filled out the documentation allowing us to check in. They then directed us to our rooms and indicated that the route involved entering the coat closet on the main floor. This seemed slightly odd until upon entering the small closet we discovered it was actually an elevator (Max Capacity 4). We shut the door (!!!) on this only slightly oversized dumbwaiter, selected our floors (mine was on the 9th - the top floor), and watched the wall slowly slide down in front of us. The elevator announced its arrival to our floor by a) stopping, and b) lurching downwards suddenly about 6 inches (although let me tell you, in a situation like that, it feels like a whole lot more).
We then safely entered our room and enjoyed the night-time view of the shrouded in fog Miraflores district. After a long day of traveling, a visit to the (ahem) facilities was in order, where the next surprise of the trip occurred. There, boldly mounted on the wall above the toilet, was the following sign:
Between parsing the text on the sign, and noticing the garbage receptacle (tightly lidded) next to the toilet, I realized what the intent was.
That mission accomplished, we descended (via the stairs) and met in the lounge on the second floor for our complimentary Pisco Sours, the (in)famous local drink. Since I am the boring type (aka non-drinker), I was only able to watch my traveling companions 'enjoy' the concoction before our bartenders anxious gaze (it is moments like this where I really appreciate my teetotaling nature; the sour provided to me sat on the table unclaimed for the rest of the evening).
We sat for a while at the table recounting the fact of our survival of both the taxi-ride and the elevator, and discussing our expectations of the trip. However after a long, 23-hour, day we retired, early in the morning, back to our respective rooms.
No comments:
Post a Comment