A long day, but finally in Peru

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It’s almost midnight and I’ve made it to South America. I’m sitting in a Starbuck’s in the Lima airport killing time (only four hours left of my six-hour layover!) on the internet filling up with caffeine.

The flight from Miami was nice. The food in first class was excellent - far too much for me to eat it all - and the trip through immigration, customs, and the LAN counter was uneventful. Even my luggage came off the carousel fairly quickly. The flight itself was uneventful, though I wish I had brought more to read. I unsuccessfully tried to sleep and managed to watch “Creature from the Black Lagoon” on my ipod.

I’m curious to see how long it takes for lack of sleep to catch up with me. Right now excitement and adrenaline has me going. I know once I land in Iquitos I won’t be able to sleep and will want to leave the hotel soon after settling in. I remember well a trip to Iquitos a few years ago when I sleep a total of 15 hours in 8 days. (Iquitos has that kind of effect on me.)

The Lima airport is really nice. It’s surprising how busy it is at all hours of the night. Everytime I come they add something new. Besides internet access (very important to me, of course), they expanded the immigration lines to speed things up and seem to have added a couple of shops to the pre-security areas. It sure makes spending the night here a lot more comfortable.

It doesn’t feel like I’m in a foreign country - probably because I have passed through this airport more than any other in the past 4-5 years. I know when I step off the plane in Iquitos in a few hours the stifling humidity will remind that I’m not in Kansas anymore.

A couple of things surprised me. The first was the concern for the Swine Flu that seems to be everywhere in the airport. Everyone on the plane had to complete a brief health statement before leaving the plane in which we described any recent health concerns, gave our seat number, and provided information on where we will be staying while in Peru. All the workers at the airport and quite a few passengers are wearing surgical masks for protection. Apparently fear of an outbreak is a very serious concern here.

I was also pleasantly surprising by how quickly I settled into speaking Spanish. For most of the trip from Miami to Lima, the flight attendants spoke Spanish to me as I was surrounded by Peruvians returning home. With a little concentration it was easy to understand and respond in Spanish. We’ll see if it continues in the next few days when I am with people who speak NO English at all.

My paranoia about avoiding theft has me on edge (as always), but (as always) I haven’t noticed anyone even give me a second look or even slightly appear threatening in any way. I’ve heard stories about increased crime in Iquitos, though, so I’ll be extra careful while there - especially while riding in motocarros. (I hope the hotel send a van to pick me up as they have in the past.)

Sadly, my concern for problems may keep me away from Belen which is probably the most interesting place in the area. The difficult economy has undoubtedly made it even tougher for the city’s poor to get by and forces more to turn to crime to survive.

Okay, it’s later and I’ve rambled on enough. More coming tomorrow when I get to Iquitos.

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Photos

Killing time at Starbucks
A 6-hour overnight layover is tough without lots of caffeine and internet access, Fortunately, the ever-present Starbucks provided both in the Lima airport.