The Long Flight - Madrid to Lima - Thursday, August 5th

This update is really short, but I had to get it out of the way, so here it is.  After this it's just four more (Lima, Cusco, Florida, and a Conclusion).

I woke up early today, got dressed, and got ready to check out.  This proved to be a little difficult, though, as my sheets had somehow gone missing in the middle of the night.  This was a problem, because I needed to turn these back in in order to check out and receive my deposit.  I needn't have been concerned though, because the women behind the desk was cool about it and gave me my deposit regardless.  Having checked out and put my pack on, I walked out to the Anton Martin Metro station and began the same convoluted three line change route I had used to get here from the Madrid Barajas Airport, only this time in reverse.

Once I arrived at the airport I followed the signs laid out for my airline, AirEuropa, and after some snafus going to the wrong terminal, I got my boarding pass for the flight to Lima, Peru.  I was soon checked in and had my bags on their way to the cargo hold.  I then passed through security without any issues and found myself in the international departures terminal, only to learn that my plane had yet to arrive and that the flight would be delayed by at least two hours.  With all this extra time on my hands I had some airport lunch, wandered around the terminals, and did some work.  Almost as soon as I had finished my second set of wanderings though, the plane was ready for boarding, right on time.  I was thus confused, but not unhappy.  We did wait for for about an hour out on the tarmac, though, ensuring a late departure.

The flight, aside from being a long journey over the Atlantic Ocean and the Amazon rain forest, was a fairly normal one.  There wasn't even that much turbulence as we passed over the parts of the ocean which regularly spawn hurricanes.  To start things out, about an hour into the flight, we were given a meal of pasta, chicken, and olives, which was actually quite good.  Soon after this the entertainment system was switched on and I found myself rewatching Invictus, but this time with much more understanding of the events and people involved, thanks to my visit to South Africa and my having read Long Walk to Freedom.  We got two more meals on the flight, both of them sandwiches, and I slept for a little while.

Our landing went off without a hitch and I cleared immigration in Peru very quickly.  Once I got to the baggage area the carousel had yet to start and so I took the time to configure my phone to be able to call both Peru and the US for relatively little cost.  Once the carousel did start I was forced to wait for about 45 minutes until my bag eventually did come out.  I don't know how Cole could have lived with so little on his trip (he only brought a small backpack with all of his possessions) and I admire him at times like this.  At the same time, having multiple pairs of underwear is nice.  Once I got my bag I then walked out into the arrivals hall, where I was very pleasantly surprised to find that my ride from the hostel was still there waiting for me, despite all of the delays.  We walked to his car and then drove over to Miraflores, a suburb of Lima.  On the drive I couldn't help but noticing that Lima looked very much like Miami.  Even while living in Miami I had not noticed just how Latin the city is in its design and look.  The driver's obsession with American disco music was a bit odd, but somehow relaxing.  Once at the hostel I checked in and was shown around.  It's a nice little place, although the hallways are all outside, which is a bit of a hassle since it's winter down here.  I went up to the rooftop bar, had a look around the area from up high, and then crashed in my bed, since there was a big time difference between here and Spain.