The start of the day went smooth with our packing and ride to the airport. Thanks Sally for getting up so early and driving us to the airport at 5:30 in the morning! Eva and I totally appreciate it. Check in was also smooth; the not so smooth part was going through security - esp for Eva. For once they didn't pick on me and I went through with no problems. Eva, on the other hand, was picked on for her packing of liquids. Made sense since she packed more than she could fit but it also didn't help that the lady who was scanning the items didn't have her morning coffee or something. But what can you do.
Once in, our flight seemed to be on time despite the weather being about -35 or -40 degrees. However, there was technical issues with the ramp pulling back (it went forward toward the plane instead and even touched it) that we had to wait about an hour and a half for special maintenance guys from Air Canada. We had a connecting flight at LAX originally with 2 hours to spare and was hoping that the plane will pick up some time along the way. At least it wasn't cancelled :)
After landing at LAX, we both thought that perhaps it would be like some airports where we didn't have to go throough the whole shabang to get in and it was just connecting to another gate. But with only one hour to spare before our LAN PERU left, we had to not only find the terminal and gate, but the get our boarding passes. It took some asking around and fast walking to finally reach the ticketing booth for LAN in terminal 4 (which was about a 15 min walk from where we arrived). And the LAN staff was soooooo helpful! It was nerve racking to see this one lady help with our electronic ticket that we had printed out. By then it the plane was already boarding.
By the time she was done, it was about 15-20 min later she asked us to follow her to dash towards the security check once again. She pretty much got us in line infront of other people and we had make some very quick transitions in terms of taking off our jackets and putting them on and taking out the liquids and putting them back in (you get the idea). I was sweating like there's no tomorrow by then. Definately the workout of the day after a 2 and a half hour flight to LA. Again, Eva was stopped. This time she forgot about the big water bottle she bought in Edmonton after we went through checkin. The funny thing was the guy guarding the metal detector - he was singing the verse of the Santa Claus is Coming to Town, "he's making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out if your naughty or nice" while the dude checked her bag lol
Anyways, once we were done, we dashed pretty much to the gate. This time another staff of LAN PERU took over. He told us the gate was the first gate and will be close. But when you have a full bladder, a backpack weighing about 15-20 lbs on your back and another backpack weighing 10 lbs at the front... it gets a little hard. Thank God for adrenaline! Sad thing is I may have slightly injured my left knee again for the dash from one side of the terminal to another but hey, we made it to the gate! We had to wait a bit for the staff to print the boarding pass but they did eventually. They were just an awesome awesome bunch! If it weren't for them, I don't think we would have made it and would have had to stay the night in LA since the flight would be the last of the day (assuming it was since it was an 8 hour flight). Thank you LAN PERU!!!! I swear I felt like we were in like Amazing Race or something.
LAN PERU is a wonderful airline. If you have the chance to take it, take it. The staff, as you know, are helpful and the plane is very comfortable. The meals are pretty good (perhaps I was famished but I think even if I wasn't, it was pretty good for airline food). The staff on the plane are just as wonderful and accomodating. No complaints here! Maybe complaints about LAX - wish there was a train or a better way to deal with connecting flights like you find in other international airports like Hong Kong or Kuala Lumpur etc. Just to make it more convenient for travellers.
We arrived at Lima about 12:15 am. The lineup at the immigration and customs was so long that it took about another 45 min to an hour to get through it. I was hoping that the driver that we booked via Bed and Breakfast Tradiciones was still there since we came through it all at 1:30 am. Lucky for us, he was there holding a sign with my name on it. I feel so special! Anyways, Tokiko ( I think was his name) was such a nice man. Speaks little English but in a way we kind of understood the jist with some sign language and some words that sounds similar to French. Plus, Eva took a Spanish course before this so this helps. I wanted to take a video of our ride to the airport to the bed and breakfast but he would have slapped my hand for it as he was saying that we should make sure our bags were out of site as we may get ourselves into trouble. So we put all our packpacks in the trunk and our change purses/bags in the backseat compartment.
Throughout the 20-25 min drive to Miraflores, I really did wish I had the camera as it was just nice to see all the little things that we passed by from the cute quaint houses to the statues to the glowing cross by the sea to the road etc. My words wouldn't have done it justice really.The bed and breakfast place is so cute. Basic essentials but pretty comfortable. No wireless internet to piggyback on but there is a computer for guests downstairs. I'm pretty much typing this in notepad and going to copy and paste it later on :) Showering was fast as there is no really hot showers, you're lucky to get it warm! But I'm glad to clean up after such a long trip here.
Anyways, I should end here as it is already coming up to 4 am. Peru is 2 hours ahead of Edmonton (Mountain Time). I don't feel sleepy as I got about 2 hours of sleep on the plane but I'm sure that once I put my head down, I will be down and out til breakfast time (that we get sent to our room :) )
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