Peru, the Inca trail and beyond

October 4th 2006 the morning of our adventure to Peru began like most mornings before a major trip, at least for me anyway...LATE. Up to all hours the night before packing, and a mad rush in the morning standard stuff for me. I always work better at the last minute; it's when you are at your optimum level ;) Even organized Elsa gave us some anxious moments, with traffic from her new fashionable neighborhood of East County just not going smoothly and her having to eventually take the back roads. But as in most cases somehow it all came together and we arrived at the airport in time with help from my ex roommate Charlie. Upon checking in at the gate the issue of the expiration date of my passport came up. You see it was due to expire four days after I was scheduled to return. The ticket agent was concerned there were some restrictions and checked some records/documentation etc to see if there was any reason that would prohibit me from flying. I of course had decided months ago before the trip that it was fine, mainly because of the way you have to book the Inca trail. I was soon regretting it. Fortunately no specific reason was found and I proceeded on with the first leg of my journey. I must admit at this point I was a little apprehensive and this issue certainly put a little bit of a dampener on the excitement. I just now wanted to get to Peru first before I let myself become too caught up on what was had planned after we arrived. You know how beuacrtic these Latin countries can be. Back to the story... After leaving San Diego for Houston to catch our connecting flight to Lima, I am walking through the boarding gate and again the issue of my passport about to expire is noticed and addressed. The Lady gave me that “Hey your...bla bla bla” To which I replied I know all about it and it’s already been sorted and there is nothing YOU need to worry about. The lady sounded satisfied and I was allowed to proceed forward. This was the second time the passport issue was brought up today and I subsequently began thinking more and more about how this could end up really sucking. Nothing more of note here during the plane ride other than thinking of all the different scenarios of what might happen if I did not gain entry. Elsa presented one to me of her going on alone should I get turned back "I would let you go by yourself if the situation was reversed" she was of course right but it was not exactly what I wanted to hear at the time. Apart from looking forward to getting to our destination, we had a six hour lay over before our flight to Cusco to look forward to. Standing in line at immigration I again became worried if I was going to be turned away. Being now so close to our destination I could taste it and a wave of anything could happen swept over me. Elsa began to” clean her self up" and when I asked her why she replied "having a pretty girl talking to them sure won't hurt. True I thought as I began to ponder how I should approach the mordida (bribe) should the situation arise. Perhaps a few 20's in the passport up front just to make things a little smoother?? LOL. No worries I played it cool and the guy did not even look at my passport. Ah destiny or something like that... I was fucking in like Flynn. It really was a weight off my shoulders, to be so close and then get turned back...well you can imagine. Now I have never been to South America before so I did not know what to expect, but I found the Lima airport to be quite clean and well run, unlike other airports I have visited in Mexico or even I am sad to say Ireland. So we found ourselves a spot in the food court, feeling quite at home surrounded by papa john's pizza, dunken donuts and of course the icon of icons McDonald s. As comforting at some level this was I was rather disappointed to see this. So we sat there in Lima’s finest food court drinking a few beers (well I did) and listened to Elsa's multi million dollar law suit story. I would say that killed an hour and a half or so. For those who don't know already Elsa's story telling can match many an Irishman’s with the extreme attention to detail and length, and that I am sure it’s hard for many a person of the MTV generation to follow for more that a couple of minutes. A true raconteur ;). As the night crawled on we both became more delirious with fatigue, but I have to say good company does help and this was not the worst sit around and wait for hours session I have ever had. Airport tax...ahhh now I have traveled a lot and this is the first time I have actually had to pay it separate from the initial purchase of the ticket, and before you would be allowed to fly. For a domestic flight I guess it was not too bad at five bucks or something. But stay tuned to what it requires to get out of the country. Finally on to our last flight at 6 am to Cusco. I was on my second wind here and excitement was flying literally high. Fortunately this was a short one hour flight and I stared out the window most of the time looking at the spectacular un-touched snow capped Andes. Could I snowboard down that slope?? Just random thoughts at the moment. But this part gets into day two so wait for that blog.

Slan go foill