Peru - the Volunteer Vacation begins

Friday, June 30, 2006

Today begins my adventure known as a volunteer vacation. Im looking forward to the week. I find that Im not nervous but also not excited in the way that I sometimes am for trips. I think there is just so much unknown to me about this. But Im so glad Im doing it this feels like the best decision Ive made in a long time.

I got up this morning at 5:00 to get ready and head to STL airport. I am on an award ticket STL-MIA-LIM-CUZ. STL-MIA was on AA metal. It was a 757 and although I was in 3F I traded with someone so that a couple could sit together and ended up in 4F. I read some of my book on Cusco and the Incan Trail when I first got on the plane, but pretty quickly felt sleepy and took a little nap. I woke up for breakfast and had some really bad pancakes before falling back to sleep for a bit.

Got to Miami at about 11:00 and my flight to LIM wasnt scheduled until 6:45pm. I went into the Admirals Club prepared to fork over the $50 for a day pass, but the nice lady at the counter let me in on my LAN Business Class ticket. I settled in for the next 6 hours and finally got caught up on all of the personal stuff that I hadnt been able to get to due to the craziness that is work. When I finally wandered out I headed from the D terminal down to A a good 25 minute walk, especially at my leisurely pace. Unfortunately the departure board in terminal A was now showing my flight to Lima delayed until 9:20. Whats a girl to do but shop? After perusing duty free and finding a book at the newsstand I went into the Tequileria for dinner. That is where I am sitting as I type this. Ive been perched at the bar for about 2 hours now. I had some horrible black bean soup followed by really nasty quesadillas. At least the margaritas are good. I should start boarding within about 45 minutes, and hopefully I will sleep well on the plane. I was originally planning to go to the Sheraton tonight, but with the delay I dont actually get to LIM until 2am. By the time I clear customs/immigration it will be at least 2:30, and I need to board my flight to CUZ at 5:30not really enough time to go to a hotel and back. So it looks like Ill be camped out in the Lima airport for a few hours. It is a good thing our schedule for Saturday is very light, because I have a feeling I am going to be pretty tired.