Peru: Day One Point Five

[starlady]

Well, we made it. I flew United for the first time in…eight years, and it wasn't actually as bad as I feared; the coffee is actually quite good. That said, we were still delayed an hour in San Francisco because of maintenance issues and then because of an inability to find a United crew to staff the spare United plane they found (where from, who knows; the previous plane and crew were Continental; reconciling seniority systems is the hardest part of airline mergers), with the result that I was running through Houston to make my connection to Lima. Considering that I got on the jetway of my arriving flight twenty minutes before our scheduled departure, and the flight to Lima was not in the same terminal, I felt pretty proud of that.

I'm in a hostel for the first time in…many years (I've been lucky enough to crash with friends, or to get travel grants to cover conference hotels), and it's weird. Fine, but weird. I slept about three hours, maybe, and I'm a little paranoid about my laptop and passport, though I have a private room. Lima seems nice so far, though admittedly we are in Miraflores, which is evidently a relatively ritzy part. I haven't seen much more of the city than walking from the hostel to the hotel to get the conference shuttle, which is what I did this morning.

Equally importantly, Pablo Neruda's "Canto XII from the Heights of Machu Picchu" came up in poetry today, and it couldn't be more appropriate, given my travel plans.

Comments

[cofax7]

Peru, what fun! It was traveling there that gave me my great fondness for Pisco Sours. And, after two weeks of it, a lifelong distaste for chichamorada flavor...

[thistleingrey]

Ah, hostels. I remember sleeping with my borrowed-from-friend laptop and putting my backpack carefully into the shower stall with my clothes when I stayed in a London hostel. No idea whether the latter was actually a good idea, but I was sharing a room with five others.

Have a lovely time!

[oyceter]

Peru, yay!

[troisroyaumes]

Oh man, sounds so exciting! I hope you have a lot of fun and take lots of photos and eat all the best food!

[via_ostiense]

Have fun!