May 18 - wake-up call - 3:45 am. We showered, then took a taxi to the airport, arriving at 5:00 a.m. Ate a fairly decent breakfast; we were thankful we took the time to eat a decent meal before our flight to Toronto. Boarded Air Canada flight at 6:30 a.m. We should have departed at 7:00 a.m., but with the weatherman creating some interesting patterms, such as snow in May!, they had to spend an hour de-icing the plane, an absolute necessity. When we finally departed, Bruce and I slept most of the way to Toronto.
Upon our arrival there, we walked for about 30 minutes through Terminal 1 to Gate 179, almost the very last gate in the Terminal. We had enough time to purchase a sandwich and latte (Starbucks!), but no time to spend in the Duty-free shops! Was Bruce happy -
Boarded Ac Flight 080 - 1:35 p.m., a 767, very old plane slated for the graveyard, narrow seats, and one TV screen...Standards were not up to the flights we have taken across country or to Europe! Flight was rough - we had to remain seated most of the 8 hour flight due to turbulence. On a good note, we arrived in Lima in good time!
Used the hotel taxi, whereby the skilled driver met us at the airport and drove us to Hotel Pasado del Parque. Driving by cemented blocks of colourless apartments, roughly constructed - an interesting intro to the city. Few areas were street lit, drivers were all over the road, no lanes were visible, or if they were, they were not adhered to. Bruce then made the decision NOT to ever drive in Peru - good thing!
Discovered our hotel was a 2 star, rather basic place, & it´s clean. It appears we have the only room with bath on the first floor. The building is a colourful colonial style. The owners welcomed up with a bottle of wine, seeing as we are booked for 3 nights. Nice touch! Hallways are decorated with primitive Peruvian art - dolls, weavings, 3-story religious scuptures, and pottery.
Now, we´re drinking wine, looking forward to our time in Lima, hoping to remember our Spanish. We will keep in touch - Love :) Claudette & Bruce
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Glad to hear that you arrived safely to Peru and have already found your land legs... a bottle of wine would no doubt be of help! The de-icing of your plane before you left Edmonton was in anticipation of the snowy next few days that we got to enjoy. Waking up to snow covered rooftops and gardens is not what we look forward to in May. I'll be vicariously enjoying the warmth of Peru while you travel.
ReplyDeleteTake good care,
Sandra :-)
Hi Darlin's;
ReplyDeleteJust read the whole blog up to today. You are having a blast, it's obvious! I'm going to be anxious to see your pictures .. Peru and Bolivia are places on my Bucket List... You're doing a beautiful job of conveying some of the colour and grandeur of what you're seeing.
Interesting to hear your reaction to seeing poverty up-close-and personal. Pretty heart-wrenching, isn't it? I also got a kick out of you being disconcerted about not flushing paper in the loo. Were there old women sitting outside selling you the paper? That's standard practice. That system is in place in most of North Africa, the Middle East, Turkey, and in a number of the Asiatic countries we visited. (There are even worse loos than that ... but we'll save that one for one of our get-togethers!)
Carry on Beautiful Lady and Handsome Swain ... looking forward to hearing more about the Great Adventure.
And thanks for the prayers ... you're not forgotten either.
Love
Diane