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Published: April 1st 2007
In our last installment, I believe Wendy was traversing Hawaii with her family. What happened to her? Where has the worldwanderer been? Here we resume with the continuing saga....
Since the last installment, I have traveled a bit domestically: Las Vegas, the weekend of Friday, Oct 13th (Thanks Reshelle!); Milwaukee, my place of birth, for a guided tour given to my good friend Joanna (plus a field trip to the Mars Cheese Castle); and NYC (and New Jersey) for a brief trip to visit my favorite city in the world and see some of my favorite people in the world (Nicki & Anton -and- Kristi, awesome as always to see you!!! I can hardly wait to see you, well, in thirteen days or so!! Steffi & Thorsten too, I'm beyond excited to see you!! I hope NYC is treating you well!!) And now I'm in....
PERU!!
Who would have thought when I made some of my first block entries, way back almost two years ago, in Cambodia...while referencing the Angor Wats and comparing them to Machu Picchu, that I would find myself here!!! Getting to your destination can be quite the experience, and definitely part of the adventure, but I think I could have done without some of the drama experienced thus far! As always, where to begin?
Chicago, and O´hare, are where the drama began to unfold. After a full day of work on Friday we headed to the airport, only to encounter road block number one. Our flight from Chicago/O´Hare to Miami was delayed. Huge concern, as when I was booking the ticket I already expressed hesitance about the fact that there was only an hour between our arrival into Miami and our departure to Lima, Peru. My stress began to mount...and it had already been a trying day at work...the American Airlines agent could not give us any concrete answers...so we just had to wait...and hope.....
Then, there was a bit of divine intervention. OUR plane was going to be used to fly from Miami to Lima. All problems were resolved!! We arrived safely in Miami, only to learn that our continuing flight to Lima would be delayed yet again. This was problematic as we would likely miss our connecting flight to Cusco/Cuczo. Our flight eventually arrived at 5:45 am (same time zone as Central time back home) and our flight to Cuzco was slated to leave at 6:00 am. Fortunately we had not checked any baggage, yet we were instructed to consult an American Airlines agent at customs.
After proceeding through customs the agent told us, LAN (the Peruvian airlines) is waiting for you. Mistakenly I took this to mean the plane was being held--unfortunately I was sadly mislead. I figured, based on my calculations, the vast majority of passengers on our flight would be traveling to Cuzco--as it is the hub for transit to the infamous Machu Picchu--thus it only made sense to hold the plane. Tragically the plane took off without us! 😞
Next we waited with numerous other frenzied passengers. What would happen next? After waiting in line for quite some time we reached a LAN agent. We would be wait listed for the 10:10 am. Fifth and sixth on the list. What were our chances of getting on the flight, I questioned. About 50% was the response. I was beyond nervous at this point. We needed to make it to Cuzo on Saturday, as we had reservations for Machu Picchu on the 1st...and to get to the lost city of the Incas we needed to take a 6:15 am train. The agent explained that the majority of the flights between Lima, the capital of Peru, and Cuzco were full. He smiled encouragingly and said he believed we would make the flight. We had to believe too!
To pass the time, we checked out the airport ammenities (Brenda and Nancy you will be interested to know they also have H.Stern in Peru! So it is not specific to Brazil. 😊 As explicitly instructed we returned to check on our flight status at 9:30. It was chaotic!! Later we learned, the chaos was heightend by the problems of passengers who had cancelled flights to Miami, while the other half, like us, desperately needed to get to Cuzco. Everyone was nervous and frantic. We knew we only had one day at Machu Picchu, in our jam packed schedule...but one thing I knew for certain was that I was not leaving Peru without viewing Machu Picchu!!
As we waited in line, without any answers the 10:10 time grew near...and then passed. Increased tension mounted with every moment. The flight took off without us.
Eventually we reached the counter. It was decided, after much debate, that we´d be the first and second passengers wait listed for the 1:50 pm flight. This flight was the last flight between Lima and Cuzco for the day. We received the same instructions as before--this time to return at 1:10 pm. Again, we waited.
Returning at 1:10 pm, we learned that there was only ONE seat available...this couldn´t be!?!?!? Then another man tried to weasle in front of us...our agent diligently told him that we were before him, repeatedly. We waited, our stress reaching new levels. Then, at the last minute, we were given the okay...we couldn´t sit together...but we had seats!!! Yeah!! Machu Picchu here we come!!!
I sat next to a charming lad on the plane. After a bit of coaxing he warmed up quite a bit. He shared that he was not eating dinner that evening, as he would be climbing Machu Picchu the next day. Internally I laughed, at his knowledge...and later I learned that Oliver was eight years old and had to attend to memorizing a Dr. Seuss book his mom had chosen for an exam he´d have upon his return to London, post holidays. Too funny.
Once we reached Cuzco, our local guide acknowledged that he had been perplexed when we did not arrive much earlier that day. We shared our saga...so relieved to have made it! The Cuzco airport provided some amusement as well...as I have never been to an airport before where there are llamas. Who knew?
Well, I must cut my tales short, as we are minutes away from massages. We decided we simply must get one, as our hotel brochure stated, "A massage is what you need to carry Machu Picchu in your body and keep it in your soul." Who could resist marketing like that? So until the next installment, which may be from Lake Titicaca, or before. I hope this message finds you well!
Love from Peru!!!
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Michael
non-member comment
Beware...
Beware the natives! They enjoy eating tasty American tourists!