February 1 is a day that will be soon forgotten. No, not because anything happened that was exciting, horrible, or awesome. But, in fact, because it was a very bland and boring day, filled with airports, immigration and sleep.
We arrived in Lima just after 6am Lima time. We approached transit security for International Connections and we were the only ones in line, yes you read that right, the luck of the Mr./Mrs. Dcstudent pair continues. Unlike in the US we were not made to remove our liquids, our IPAD or our clothes (virtually of course). We proceeded through smoothly and headed to a back hallway near Gate 17 for the Sumaq VIP lounge.
Now, I love anything that says VIP that will let me in. Frankly, it shows they aren't picky, they just want money and as a Priority Pass basic member I pay Priority Pass $54US for the privilege of entry for my wife and I.
At entry the very polite lounge Goddess mentioned that as a Priority Pass member we were only entitled to 4 hours of access which would bring us to 10:30. Our flight wasn't until 1:30 but Ms. Goddess didn't make the rules and Mrs. Dcstudent and I were not going to try for a couple of extra hours. We made full use of our time in the beautiful space, having a breakfast of sweet breads, coffee (Mrs Dcstudent) and fresh-squeezed orange juice (ME!). Speaking of orange juice, the Sumaq lounge has a really cool machine that I need at home. I just had to drop 4 oranges in the top and it sliced, squeezed and filled a glass for me! (I had two!)
At 10:30 our time in peace and tranquility ran out and we headed into the concourse. We were surprised to see that it seemed there were banks of departures by airlines. For instance at 11:00-12:30 it seemed that TACA Peru had nearly 100% of departing flights, but then LAN had near 100% from 12:30-2pm. We boarded at 1pm, and took off on LAN flight 2443 at 1:30pm headed for IGU, Iguazu Brazil.
We flew on a A319, and we were served by three lovely young and spirited flight attendants, who unlike many US arline attendants, were there to serve, and they served very well. Lunch was a Ham and Chees sandwich, so my wife -being vegetarian- missed a meal, but she did get my chocolate for dessert. I had a glass fo wine (gratis) and she had a diet coke.
While waiting for the restroom in the aft galley later in the flight I realized how much my life has changed (for the better of course!) in the past 4 years. While waiting for the restroom I struck up a conversation with one of the flight attendants. I told her all about the trip my wife and I had planned and how my wife was a biologist and was really looking forward to all of the unique species we would encounter on this trip. Basically I talked about my wife. 4 years ago I had a conversation with a LAN attendant on a flight SCL-LAX which ended with me spending the day at Venice Beach and the Getty museum with said attendant. I live a very different life now, and I couldn't be happier. Really, I'm not just saying this because my wife is looking over my shoulder and my mother-in-law is reading this blog.
We landed at 8:30 pm Brazil time and they pulled up stairs to both the front and rear doors so we disboarded quickly. There were only 2 immigration agents working but we still got through in about 1/2 hour. There was no customs staff and the airline staff had lined up all of our bags on the floor for us to pick up and head to arrivals.
We needed a Taxi and approached the "official taxi desk" which was manned by a youngish man who was wearing a polo shirt and khakis with no name tag or other identifying marks. We told him where we were going, he talked to a cabbie and then told us we would pay $80Reals (about $47). Our cabbie was very efficient (read fast...passing slower vehicles across double yellow etc...). He handled our immigration exit in Brazil and entrance in Argentina while we sat in the parked car. Awesome! Best immigration experience ever! 30 minutes after getting in the cab we were dropped off at our hotel.
To be continued....