Sometimes you have to be careful what you ask for.  I seek adventure and usually it finds me whenever there are airplanes involved.  This trip turned out no differently.  My route of flight to Cusco was via Miami and Lima with a final flight from Lima to Cusco.  Getting to Miami was no problem, despite the heavy rain the Houston area when I left.  Getting out of Miami was also no problem even though the flight was a red-eye, leaving at midnight with an arrival time in Lima around 5:30am local.  Since I don’t sleep on planes I knew it was going to be a long trip.  Well it was longer than I anticipated.  We got to Lima before sunrise and the city was hidden in darkness and clouds.  It turns out that the city was too hidden in clouds. A low dense fog bank was hugging the shore and creeping over the city to meet the mountains that surround it.  The airport was completely engulfed.  The pilots actually tried two approaches before giving up and diverting.  There was not much communication with the passengers during this time and only if you were paying attention would you have noticed that we flew two missed approaches.  I was paying attention and with sinking heart knew that meant my trip was going to be extended.  Before we had even started the second approach I had my guidebook out looking at the map of Peruvian cities wondering where we would be headed in case of a divert.  I would not have picked out Pisco, a small town just south of Lima some 300-ish miles, which is where we went.  It turns out that there is a small military training center there  with a runway long enough to take a 767.  That was pretty much all that was there, besides fuel- no terminal, no people, no other traffic, just a bare concrete strip and some random small training airplanes surrounded by a couple of small buildings.  We landed, taxied to the re-fueling area, re-fueled and basically sat for nearly three hours on the plane waiting for the cloud deck in Lima to depart and reveal the runway.  Needless to say I missed my plane to Cusco by a long shot.  We landed in Lima about the time I should have been landing in Cusco.  Getting through customs and  acquiring a seat on another flight took another three hours and in the end I arrived about four hours later than I had originally planned.  But I made it and can add another exciting airport adventure to my already long inventory. (Some of my friends have started refusing to travel with me due to my affinity for airline “adventures”.)

My first glimpse of Peru when we diverted from Lima for fuel

There were a lot of people in all of the airports I passed through and it made me wonder how many people all over the world, at any given moment, are on the move through airports or on airplanes.  Taken as a whole it is amazing to think how globally mobile people are and how that has changed the way we interact with each other over the last fifty years or so.  The Lima airport was doing its part to contribute to the movement.  There were people all over the place as the airport appears to be a major hub for not only Peru but also the continent.  I worked my way through the numerous lines that are part of flying, especially internationally, and eventually found myself on a plane headed to Cusco.  Flying over the mountains between Lima and Cusco was beautiful.  The hills are rather dramatic, appearing to jut out of the plain but clearly time-weathered showing soft curves and rounded peaks instead of the harsh angles seen in younger, untamed geography.  A blanket of green covering the landscape lent a lush and alive look to the panorama below me.  From the plane I could spot small villages, maybe 20 to 30 buildings tucked away in the hills with small, barely passable roads leading to them.  They looked very remote indeed.  The city of Cusco itself clings to the surrounding hills forming kind of a bowl shape and has a look all of its own.  I was trying to compare it to other cities I have seen in other countries but nothing easily came to mind.  Perhaps a hint of some of the architecture of the Caribbean and a hint of the American southwest, but yet more beyond that too.  As I get familiar with the city I will post some pictures with descriptions.

View of Cusco area from the plane

After running the taxi gauntlet that is present at every airport everywhere I found the people waiting for me and we headed off to the main office for check-in.  After a short tour of the office I was taken to the family house which is to be my home for the duration of my stay here.  From the street all you can see is a white fence with a latched gate but behind that is a nice structure, similar to a bed and breakfast.  There are three floors with the first floor consisting of the kitchen, dining room, and a small sitting area with a TV in it.  Off the small dining room is a patio/courtyard that looks promising in good weather.  The second floor has five bedrooms and two full bathrooms. I think there may be some more bedrooms on the third floor but I have not checked yet.  I have met about half of the people here and have been told that we are five Americans, five Canadians, one Australian, and one Dutch.  I am sharing a room with a young lady, I believe from Canada, that I have not met yet as she is at Machu Pichu this weekend.  She is expected back tonight some time.

View of part of my quarters

Tonight is Superbowl night and many of the others here are going out to a bar to watch it on TV.  I was invited along but after the grueling trip down here my adventure meter is currently pegged.  As much as I would like to stay up and watch the game I am afraid at the first hint of darkness I am done with the day.  Sometimes I wish I could sleep on planes…

Tomorrow is orientation and introduction to my volunteer work.