Saturday, August 23rd, 2014.
Los Angeles, California and Lima, Peru
It’s 6am and I am waking up in Los Angeles, California. It’s time to get ready for my 9:30am flight to Lima, Peru. This trip has been planned for almost 9 months and I am already feeling nervous and excited.
At 7:15am I arrive at the LAX airport. The entire upper level is closed and all traffic is being re-routed to the pickup area. The flight leaves in 2 hours and I am starting to get worried. Eventually, I get to the Tom Bradley International terminal wave goodbye to my driver.
Despite the delay, I have plenty of time before my flight so I wander over to Marmalade Café to eat a little breakfast. After careful examination of the menu, I decide to order the American Breakfast, consisting of scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes, and toast. I have a long day of traveling ahead and not sure when I’ll be able to eat again; I eat every bite and finish it off with 2 full cups of coffee.
Next, I stop off at the currency exchange booth to switch out my American dollars for Peruvian Soles. I ask for small bills, but the attendant is barely able to accommodate my request. There’s just one more stop now, for 2 liters of water, meant to last until tomorrow morning.
When I finally board the flight, I am amazed at the accommodations. I’m treating myself to business class for the first time and I can already tell that I’ll never go back. The seat lays completely flat and the attendant brings an endless stream of little bottles of water - I even pocket a few for later.
Eventually, I land in Atlanta and my next flight is delayed by almost 3 hours. I scramble to get a message to Laura, my longtime friend, and travel buddy, but I’m are sure that she is already in the air.
It’s 2am Central Time before I officially land in Lima. There are armed guards everywhere along with a parade of police dogs, which do not look very friendly. I quickly find my bag and make it through customs. I find Laura in the arrivals hall and am so happy that she waited for me!
The pick-up area is overrun with aggressive cab drivers. We look for the driver with our names on a card. We booked a car service from the hotel and are honestly a little scared of getting into an unverified cab at 3am in Peru. We can not find the driver anywhere and eventually we give up. We hop into the first unmarked vehicle we see and are ceremoniously overcharged for the trip. Now we’ve been initiated into Peru!
The drive to the hotel is through a rough part of town. We sit silently for the 30-minute trip. The driver drops us off in an ally way and points to the door to the hotel. We both sigh in relief.
It’s a little past 4am and I am finally laying in my hotel bed. I am completely exhausted and the sound of car horns is incessant. Eventually, I drift to sleep.
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