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Jeff reads the exhausted kids a book. 12:00 a.m. : When the plane began it's descent into the Lima airport, we were all excited. Until the captain came on at 12:15 and announced that the weather in Lima was bad and that we would have to circle.
1:00 a.m. : The captain announces that the fog enveloping Lima has not abated and that if it doesn't clear in the next 1/2 hour that we'll be landing at an alternate airport. (Where we wouldn't be able to get off the plane because of lack of immigrations and customs.)
1:30 a.m. : The captain announces that he is going to "try" to land. Made me feel very safe -am sure I was clutching Pierce quite tightly!
2:00 a.m. : Finally off the plane. Both kids are awake (and stay so until 5:00 am when Pierce conks out lying across the gate bench.) We collect our luggage, which seems to have multiplied in both weight and number of pieces since we checked it in Atlanta, and head to immigration. We must have looked really pathetic, because they put us in the "special assistance" line.
They felt sorry for us in customs also, since even though my light
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The crowd is chanting and acting as if they may riot any second. turned green the guard just looked at me with pity and waved me through. Good thing I'm not a terrorist!
We took the kids to the food court and ordered some sandwiches at Dunkin' Donuts. Going to take some getting used to that they serve bottled water warm (not even out of a refrigerator.)
4:00 a.m. We checked all our bags in and went to sit by the gate. Pierce fell asleep (see pics) lying on the gate bench at about 5:15.
5:15 a.m. A flight boards and takes off. Our flight is listed as being on time.
5:30 a.m. We meet a great young couple - Ronny and Maria. Ronny is Israeli, but has spent time in the States so speaks great English. Maria works for Lan (the airline), and tells us that despite the fact that we should be boarding at this point and that the monitor says that we're on schedule, there is no plane for us to board.
Interestingly, despite the fact that about 8 other flights should be boarding and taking off, nothing is happening.
6:00 a.m. They finally announce that all flights in the airport are fogged in
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Does Jeff look tired? and that as soon as the fog clears we'll be taking off. The monitor now shows "demorado" or delayed next to our flight, with a flight time of 8:30 a.m.
9:00 a.m. Airport personnel finally announce that the fog hasn't lifted and that they will make another announcement at 11.
10:30 a.m. Jack conks out with Jeff holding him.
11:30 a.m. They announce that our flight should be taking off at 1:20 p.m. Demorado == infierno!
1:45 p.m. Since NO announcement has been made and our flight has not boarded, and the monitor still reads DEMORADO I go up to the desk to find out what is going on. I'm clearly not rude enough to be an annoyed Peruvian as no one bothers to pay me any attention. Peruvians have NO concept of lines or waiting turns - definitely every man for himself. A kind man finds out for me that we still have no plane, that they cannot promise a plane, but they think we might take off at 3:00 p.m.
3:00 p.m. They cancel all remaining flights to Cusco (the most popular place to travel) and put all stranded travellers up at the
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Pierce takes almost a 3 hour nap lying on the hardest seats known to mankind. Sheraton. Still no mention of what is going on with our flight ... just the monitor blinking .... DEMORADO.
4:00 p.m. I force Jeff into staying in the face of the gate attendant until she tells him that they think we'll be taking off at 5 and that the plane we'll be taking is 30 minutes away from the airport.
5:00 p.m. We run upstairs to international departures where they have FINALLY assigned our plane to take off. Interestingly, the monitor still reads DEMORADO.
5:15 p.m. They begin boarding the plane. The monitor now reads "ON TIME". Since I haven't slept in 36 hours I find this absolutely hysterical and can barely contain myself. We must have looked really scary, because they boarded us and the kids first.
5:30 p.m. WE ARE IN THE AIR! Best flight I've every taken. The sky was amazing, the kids were good, the flight attendants fed us dinner ... life is good.
6:30 p.m. Arrival in Arequipa.
7:00 p.m. Elizabeth & Alberto (our hosts) and Jose & Zaina (Jose works with Elizabeth) pick us up at the airport. I've never looked worse, or been so happy to see
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The travel monitor (though Jeff caught the monitor while on the English version rather than the Spanish DEMORADO). someone!
The ride home from the airport is about 15 mintues. We immediately put the kids to bed, unpack just enough to brush our teeth and change clothes and hit the hay at about 9. I think that the last time I stayed up 40 straight hours I was 22 ... felt a lot different at 32!
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abby
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longer to recover
You have a real flair for this! Definitely need to add writing a novel to your to do list when you get home. You know what your dad says. As you get older, you can do the same things you did when you were "young"; just takes longer to recover :-)