The Departure

"One of the gladdest moments of human life, methinks, is the departure upon a distant journey into unknown lands. Shaking off with one mighty effort the fetters of habit, the leaden weight of routine, the cloak of many cares and the slavery of home, man feels once more happy."   – Sir Richard Burton

After a full day of traveling, we are finally on Peruvian soil!

I woke up bright and early this morning at 5:30am.  Despite having trouble falling asleep and only getting only a few hours of sleep, I was energized as my Dad drove me to O’Hare, beginning my journey South. I said my final goodbyes and then met up with 8 of the other girls at the airport.  We booked our flights with Spirit Airlines which is noted for cheap fares, but also for unpredictable service.  I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised when we boarded our first flight from Chicago, IL to Fort Lauderdale, FL 50 minutes late and then was confronted by a man who was assigned to the same seat as me.  Luckily, these weren’t major problems, and we had a couple hour layover in Florida anyway.

Waiting to board the plane in Chicago.

After meeting up with the final member of our group, who had flown in from D.C., we made ourselves comfortable in the terminal to wait for our 5:30pm to Lima.  However, a short time later there was an announcement that the plane was overweight – “probably from our ten bottles of bed bug spray,” one of the girls joked.  The airline then announced that they needed 15 people to volunteer to switch to a flight for the following day in exchange for a free roundtrip ticket, otherwise they were just going to have to kick people off, based on how early they booked their flight.  As time passed and no one volunteered, they upped the ante by offering 2 round trip tickets to anywhere that Spirit flies, a hotel for the night, and an extra $100.  We were all ready to run up and volunteer, with discussions about trips to Vegas and the Bahamas for our senior year breaks from school, but unfortunately we have a plane to catch Saturday morning at 5:30am from Lima to Peru. 

Apparently we had booked our tickets early enough because we were all finally called to board, only 20 minutes late this time.  When I got on the plane, the whole inside of  the plane looked like it was spewing dry ice because it was so hot outside in comparison with the air conditioning.  A fellow passenger joked that they wouldn’t be surprised if AC/DC popped out from behind a couple of the seats and started rocking out. (Fun Fact: A family friend of mine was actually the band’s favorite flight attendant and would always specifically ask for her.)   The flight from Florida to Peru was about 5.5 hrs, but the time passed quickly as I napped, read, practiced some Español, chatted with the large group of missionaries around me, and attempted to make one of the flight attendants smile. (She would have been very pretty, but I honestly don’t think she cracked even a half a smile the entire flight.)

As we got off the plane in Lima, the only thing that prevented me from doing a happy dance through the airport was the luggage I had to carry.  Instead, I made up for all the smiling that the flight attendant wasn’t inclined to do.  We had finally arrived!!  After the drawn out process of getting through immigration and customs, we walked out into a sea of people waving signs and yelling people’s names.  Luckily, we were able to find a man who had a sign with the name of our professor; however, Shannon was no where to be found.  The man assured us (en Español) that he was supposed to pick up only 10 people to take to the hostel. So we split up in half and hopped in the two old vans.  Oddly enough, there was traffic at 11:30pm, and even more strange was when our van was stopped by a traffic officer so that our driver could be breathalyzed. (No worries, he passed; although, they didn’t let the car in front of us go so easy.)  

The hostile we’re staying at is actually really nice and the liaison extremely helpful.  I just heard a van pull up outside with our instructor, but I had better try to get a little shut-eye – considering it’s 1:00am, and we’re getting picked up at 4:00am to head back to the airport.

The view outside our window.

Our room at the hostile in Lima.

Still can’t believe I’m here,

<3 Lisa

P.S. To answer your question, Bill – The toilets in Florida (northern hemisphere) flushed in a counter clock-wise direction and the toilets in Lima (southern hemisphere) flushed in clock-wise direction.  I guess may what they say is true? :) 


P.P.S. Feel free to contact me via skype! username: lbetlej