No One Wants to Spend the Night in Lima

There are not many situations more depressing than spending the night alone in the airport, but that's what I did last night in Lima. It wasn't much fun. Let me back up a bit:

I had to leave class early on Friday to get to the airport. We were having class at a museum, so I said my "chao"s in the middle of the museum. I'll miss that class, we had a lot of fun. I walked back to the school, grabbed my bags, and headed to the airport. Quito's airport is easily the most confusing airport I've ever been in. That's a pretty impressive accomplishment considering it consists of about 5 or 6 gates. It just doesn't have much flow like other airports. The flight to Lima wasn't too pleasant since I was sitting in front of a screaming child who liked kicking the back of my seat. I think they blamed it on his ears being in pain, which makes me kind of want to forgive him, because I have certainly been there, but he was just as loud and annoying in the airport. Plus, when my ears are in pain, I don't kick and scream, I just suffer in silence.

I got to Lima around 8ish pm. I had to check in again for my flight to Cusco at 3:30 am. I couldn't check my bag, so I threw it on a cart and had to push it around all night. It's pretty annoying when you're by yourself and you have to bring all your luggage with you into the bathroom. I tried to control my water intake. Eventually I found a kinda-sorta comfortable position that allowed me to sometimes doze off with my feet propped up on my luggage. I really loved it when they ran the motorized floor sweeper thing between 1 and 2 am. That was great.

We boarded our flight on time, then the pilot came on and said non-chalantly that it would be another hour before we could take off because of the weather in Cusco. Two and a half hours later, we were still sitting in Lima and they told us to get off the plane. Not usually a good sign. The delay wasn't as bad as it could have been, and we got into Cusco a mere 5 hours after schedule.

An employee of the school picked me up at the airport and dropped me off at my temporary lodging (with wireless access!) just in time for lunch. I was starving. My miniscule ham and cheese sandwich on the airplane hadn't exactly lasted that long. He asked me what kind of foods I didn't like, and this time I didn't beat around the bush. I said I don't like potatoes, vegetables, or fish. (Obviously the list is much longer, but I didn't have all day, and those are the biggest offenders.) So what did I get for lunch? Soup (of course!) with potatoes, vegetables, and fish eggs. Plus a pear, I think, just to throw in a random fruit. I accidentally ate some of the fish eggs without knowing what they were. I don't really want to talk about it. Everyone who is here at the house assured me that that was the wierdest food they've been served, and that it is normally much better. Still, I really need to get my own place so I can cook for myself.

Good news: No altitude sickness problems (yay for Quito!) Several people told me they were sick for days when they first got here. AND the school offers free salsa lessons. I already went this evening. It was a bit basic for me. :P