The Eagle has Landed

Hola
Well the last week before leaving seemed to fly. We thought we were ready, but when Thursday rolled around, I sure was glad to have the afternoon off...muchos gracias Carol!! My boss was a god send that day! At midnight we were still plogging along as though in slow motion...there seemed so much to do and being tired slowed the process. We did get 1.5hrs of sleep b4 leaving for the airport. We had clear sailing with the exception of some extreme turbulence close to Toronto. A wonderful day with the Hazelnut family...laughter, food and dad jokes...what more could we ask for?!
Saturday dawned way too early, even for us excited gringos. Aaron escorted us off to the airport in lightning speed and we were off!
I have always had a passion for flying and one of the highlights for me is meeting the people on the plane. The most interesting conversations take place in enclosed areas where no one can move!!! Andrew got a seat in the Exit aisles, so his legs were happy for the part of the trip to Miami. I met a wonderful man who owns gold mining companies in South America and he shared much knowledge about Bolivia and Peru.
Andrew was happy that his customs experience went much smoother this time, than his last venture to Florida!! We had a lay over in Miami and me the John Wayne of South America...(not officially, but wow...interesting people leaving Miami!!)
Our plane had some ¨technical¨probs and we were delayed by 1 hour...cranky pants appeared on many of the passengers!
Our friendly peru companion (in the seat next to us) spent the whole 5.5hrs warning us of the dangers of Peru...I began to wonder what we had got ourselves into...visit from the butterflies in my tummy!
Landing in Peru Airport is an experience in itself. It is beautiful, but the custom lines were horrendously long!! After an 1.5hr in the line up we were finally granted our visa and clainmed our luggage. As we went thru the gates out to the street, we realized quickly that our space was no longer our own!! It seemed like 50 cabbies were pulling and screaming at us to come with them...we must have looked like dinner with our caught in the head-lights look! Finally a man with a sign saying Katrina Harrison found us and took us to his Taxi.
We survived!!! You cannot imagine how they drive here....¨loco¨!!! Crazy, crazy, floor it all the way, 3 lane roads with 6 lanes of traffic, blaring horns, bumping and nudging each other is no big deal...keep on going and heaven forbid that someone should ever beat you off the lights!!!
There is garbage everywhere...all cement, cinder block bldgs...8 million people, (peeing everywhere) the smells are hard to get used to. Never drive anywhere without locking the doors!
We were so glad to arrive to a beautful hostal. Dark hardwood floors, not a speck of dirt anywhere...we know we are in the ¨tourist¨district. Such a difference from how the real peru is! The people are warm and friendly, although one must keep your wits about you!!
This morning we woke early and had fresh buns with home made jam and Andrew´s fav...black strong local coffee!
Our host got us a taxi (walk in2 middle of street and flag one down) and sent us on our way downtown Lima. It was to be 10 sols (approx $3us) pricey for locals, but par for tourists. Screaming people, horns blaring, taxi man yelling in spanish...I got flustered and we realized later that we over paid the taxi man...so Taxi man hit the jackpot today!!! ´Good lesson for us gringos...altho we are not sorry to see it go to someone working and are glad it went to him and not a thief!!
Tomorrow we head to the markets with our new friend Trevor (he´s been working in Peru for 26 yrs)...Looking forward to it all! Hope this finds you all well.
Hasta la Vista
AnK