Party in the sky

A scene from the party.

We were back on the plane.   After so many hours in the same space, sharing the same bathrooms, walking the same hallways, making the same long lines, going to the same hotel, all of the passengers kind of became familiar with each other.   As we greeted our neighbors, others were talking about the news and trying to be positive about reaching our final destination.   Many passengers were chatting.  Everyone sat quickly, and seemed ready to get this over with.  We had, hopefully, 5 more hours of flight.

The plane took off.  There was no entertainment this time, due to the flight being an irregular one.  I decided to listen to music.   Jose Luis was busy on his computer.  The chatter became louder, as well as their laughter.  I looked.   A group of passengers were visiting.  It seemed they were having fun.  I saw one of them reaching for their luggage.  To my surprise, it was a guitar!  Sure enough, they started singing!

This shameless “serenata” got many of us out of our seats.  Children and grownups clapped, sang along, requested songs, and laughed.  Some of them even walked around singing La Bamba!  Some of the flight attendants joined for a while.  As one of them said, it was a “party in the sky”.  It was only when we were about to land that we went back to our seats!   Everyone clapped when the captain announced, “welcome to Buenos Aires”.

Lima, Peru - Jose Luis' view.

Tuesday, June 14th

We landed last night in Lima, Peru.  Three days pretty much gone to waste on an already short vacation.  I felt like Tom Arnold on Soul Plane (You won't know unless you've seen it).  I'll post pictures later.  Anyway, we managed to get off of the plane fairly quickly and headed to the terminal.  American Airlines had no idea that we would be arriving and only had one person working the counter to set us up with a taxi and hotel room for the night.  Luckily we were very close to the front of the line as there was only one employee working the counter.

We got our vouchers, got in the cab and headed to the hotel.  We got a few tips from and old woman who rode in the shuttle with us, and contradicting advice from a younger woman who confirmed what every traveler should already know:  there is crime everywhere, just needs to be aware of one's surroundings.  The older woman said that we must not read the newspapers.  "People get killed over sneakers."

We arrive at Hotel Ibis, highly recommended.  It's a new hotel, they were actually in their "soft opening" so the staff was extremely helpful.  I hope it stays that way as the hotel was really nice.  The room was small, but it had what we needed.  Did I mention in an earlier post to remember Peru is on 220v?  The hotel staff let us borrow the only converter they had so we could charge our devices.

I had a pretty good ham and cheese sandwich that night, saw a little TV and went to sleep.  Woke up around eight so we could head down for breakfast.  Buffette as usual, not bad at all.  They also offered us free lunch, but we decided to try out one of the restaurants/tourist traps by the coast.  We both had ceviche, which was really good and the fresheshestest.

We walked through the city, not too far from the hotel as we needed to make it back to the hotel where they would take us back to the airport.  2PM.  Sure enough, another line.  We got our boarding passes and headed to the "soul plane".  It took off pretty fast, short taxi and we were in the air (still are, I guess as I'm writing this on the plane).

I am not too religious, but I pray that we can finally land in Buenos Aires, book a hotel, get some rest and start our vacation.  I also need to continue planning next month's trip to Alaska.  That will be interesting as well.

Volcanoes and things.

Monday, June 13
So our flight was delayed.  We woke up at around 4:00AM to get to the airport by 5 as the flight was now scheduled for 7:00AM.  While Natalia was taking a shower, "smartness" kicked in and I decided to check the flight status online.  Delayed again, to 7:45PM on Monday!  Another day lost!  Of course I called the airline just to be sure, and they said that the information on the website was incorrect.  The flight was still scheduled for 7:00AM.

We arrived at the airport and luckily there was no line at the counter or through security.  But sure enough once we got to our gate all the people from our flight were there.  And a few minutes later the airline announced that the flight would not be leaving at 7:00 but 7:45.  Not too bad, only that most of the restaurants at the airport weren't open yet.  Coffee it is.

Once they started boarding the plane, I noticed something that not even "my people" do:  hoards of Argentinians crowding the gate.  Really!?  Like you're not going to get on.  Staff had to ask them to move out of the way to let 1st class board.  They litteraly took 3 steps to the side, all at once.  At least they are coordinated.  So off we go to board when they call our group, pushing through the crowd.
Once seated on the plane, the lady behind us felt like she needed to spray herself with perfume, I can only assume that she might have not showered that morning.  And to counteract that pungent aroma, the one in front of us felt that flatulence was required.

Breakfast was a lousy piece of bread, yoghurt and OJ, looks like we might not be having lunch, so we'll have to wait for another "feast" a few hours before we land.
On the upside, we are finally in the air and I was able to get some work done.  Nothing like maximizing airtime.  Time for a nap.

Off we go.

And sure enough.  Lunch was provided.  Tasty chicken with mashed potatoes.  But now the flight has been redirected and at 5:30PM CST, we are sitting on the runway in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.  30 to 45 minutes to refuel and decide where they will be taking us next.  I'm hoping they don't, and we get set up for the night here in Bolivia.  I could definitely use this time to gather my thoughts and plan the next move.  We still have no place to stay in Buenos Aires, we put off making a reservation for this same reason.  We have no idea when we will get there.  It seems that by the time that we do arrive, I'll just have to ask the pilot to turn the plane around and take me back home, I need to show up at work.

N: I ask myself if in siutations like these in which we are all pretty much stuck in this tight space, tired, with a pain in the coochini, and a little bit hungry, if it si appropriate to discipline other people's children.  Sigh...

JL:  I say yes.  Especially when the parents are just as bad.  Why is everybody complaining? The lady behind us apparently knows exactly what the pilot should do, and where he should take us.  Why dare they land here in this aweful place?  They could at least have taken us to Ecuador which is much nicer.  LADY!!  IT'S 9:00PM HERE!!  THERE IS NOTHING TO SEE!!

I've come to learn that I can only tolerate Argentinians in small doses.  I am indeed, as my wife calls me, a "Pelioneer".

I declare shenanigans!

We're back home.  We were about to enter the Park n' Fly near the airport when I decided to check the flight status.  CANCELED!  Now we have to wait until 7AM tomorrow morning to leave.  One day gone to waste.  As we were driving away from the airport, the airline called to "inform us" of the flight status.  I guess I should have at least gotten a hotel room out of them.  Too late now.