Sarah and Lisa’s Most Excellent Peruvian Adventure: Day 1 – Chicago/SF to Lima

Well, hello Peru!  Nice to finally meet you after all this time.  I must say that I am already enjoying your Pisco Sour flavored hospitality (ay carumba – its quite strong!) and the proximity of our hotel to the airport (mere steps away – huzzah!). I’m sitting in the hotel lobby, having finished the final bit of work I had left to do and am now waiting to be joined by Lisa, my travel buddy for the next 2 weeks.  But – to back up for a minute – I’ve just arrived in Lima, after a day’s travel from Chicago to Miami, then Miami to Lima.  It was a pretty early start, up at 4.30am ready for my pick-up with the lovely Tim at 5.30am.   I was a bit McKnackered especially given that my new neighbors who, up until this point have been wonderfully quiet, picked last night to have a raucous party that kept me awake way past midnight when I was trying to have an early night.  Thanks, guys.

Anyway, I managed not to oversleep the alarm, made it to the airport in plenty of time and – this time – managed to actually get into the United lounge as i was traveling internationally.Given its my BIRTHDAY vacation (as well as it just being, well, my vacation), I decided to splurge on the air miles and treat myself to a round-trip business class ticket.  I believe my shampoo tells me that I’m Worth It, so figured it was OK.  (as a grumpy aside/first world problem for a moment – it still amazes me that you can be traveling on a business class ticket within the US and that doesn’t grant you access to the lounge!  I mean, come on United!!   Its not as if you have champagne fountains spouting Dom Perignon with abandon and nubile 25 yr olds serving sushi from their rock hard abs, is it?  Whats the big deal about some shitty coffee and crappy pastries?).

The journey itself was uneventful – the planes helpfully left on time and did not crash, so fulfilled my Mazlow’s hierarchy of needs when it comes to air travel.  I have to confess to a teeny weeny bit of stress at Lima airport’s baggage carousel when my bag was probably one of the last ones out (despite its “priority” sticker) and I was starting to freak out just a little bit that they had lost my bag.  I don’t really need to say just how much of a disaster that would be for our trip – but it would be quite a spectacularly crappy way to start, especially as we are scheduled to fly to Cusco tomorrow so there is very little time for any errant bags to catch up with us!   Just as I was starting to run through all the options in my head (“OK, where can I buy replacement hiking boots?” “how long do we have in Cusco til we start hiking?” “I can hike in this skirt, right…right??” ), my bag finally deigned to show up so all was again right with the world.  Phew.  Panic over.  Then it was simply a quick saunter through the arrivals hall, feigning worldly experience while fending off a thousand cabbies, following the signs for the Wyndham hotel.  An excellent piece of planning, I must say.

Now I’m sitting here in the lobby bar, writing this and wishing I hadn’t eaten so many refined carbs during the day.  One of my rules during my vacation is that the rules (which usually happily govern my food/drink habits during the week) don’t count, so I’ve been happily munching on white bread ham and cheese sandwiches and supping the free Prosecco in the Avianca lounge in Miami.   All the processed sh*t that I never normally touch.  Well, combined with the air travel, its a perfect storm of GI disturbance (Loopy – I may rival your title of Super Fermenter this evening).  One is making me fart, the other is making me congested so I’m very much hoping i manage to ..umm…deflate a little before Lisa turns up as we’re sharing a room this evening (and throughout our vacation).   I just like to think of it as training for the oxygen deprivation we’re going to be suffering when we get to Machu Picchu, so i’m doing everyone a favor really.

So, tomorrow, its onwards to Cusco, the gateway to Machu Picchu!  Not entirely sure what time our flight is tomorrow (Lisa booked the flights) but its only a short 1hr or so hop and then we finally get to find out just how crappy we feel at high altitude!!  Bring on the coca tea!!