Welcome to Quito

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Well, yesterday was a bit of a trial. Our flight from Juliaca to Quito (via Arequipa) was supposed to be at 3:25 pm. We got to the airport really early (so early that the LAN reps weren't even at the counters yet), after stopping at an Indian village and the ruins at Suillistani on our way from Puno. Well, after waiting for a long time to check in, we went through the security gates. And then it started to rain. And then it started to thunder. By around 3:00 we knew we were in trouble. Eventually, we were told that they had closed the airport and that we might (not definitely) make the 8 pm flight. Well, kudos to our tour guide, he managed to get us all on that flight (some people had flights out of Lima to catch and they were Mauricio's biggest concern). I think that we Galapagos people probably had the lowest priority, since we have 2 nights in Quito before our flight to the Islands. We eventually took off around 9 pm, and happily, it was a non-stop flight, so we were in Lima by 11 pm. I'm hoping that everyone got home as planned, but I haven't heard from anyone yet.

The bulk of us went back to the Thunderbird hotel in Lima for the night. Three separate stays in the same hotel feels a bit odd. Since we were scheduled for a farewell dinner, a bunch of us met up in the restaurant for a bit. I got to bed around one, and was up at 8 am for a 9:30 pickup to the airport.

Check-in at the airport was good, but we had to print our own boarding passes which we didn't expect. Customs went quickly and our flight took off on time. Flight was a little bumpy, but not terrible. Our guide for the next couple of days met us at the airport and got us to the hotel. It's grey and gloomy here in Quito, and the streets are narrow and congested. There's a park right across from the hotel and for some reason, this feels more like an American city than Lima did.

Tomorrow we have an included city tour in the morning and then it looks like we're going to take an add-on tour to visit the Equator, which is about 10 miles outside town.

There are going to be 9 of us in the group, 8 from the Peru trip and 1 more person arriving tonight. Well, I haven't been to my room yet, so I'm going to log off and splash some water on my face before I go out to dinner with some of the others.

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Comments

[Haviva Horvitz]

How's the television?
Are you stuck watching Sponge Bob? Is there a great deal of English speaking television shows with subtitles? Anything fun (and local)?

[marie gonzalez]

Hope that you are having a great time. You are missed.

[Mindy]

TV
Actually, I've been watching a bunch of Law and Order on various chanels. In English with Spanish subtitles.

[Ginger Stalcup]

Return to Mulberry
As you know, we arrived at the Thunderbird around midnight and we had a wake-up call at 3AM. The plane left Lima on time and we arrived in Miami on time but the luggage was so slow to arrive that we had to run for the terminal after we cleared customs. After going through Chicago we arrived home close to 11 PM and I had to work the 7AM shift the next day. Good thing there's a higher concentration of oxygen here; I think that's keeping us going. Hope your trip to the Galapagos is stunning!