There and Back: The Long Road to Lima

The day began for me where my last post ended: at 3:30 this morning, EST, we left in our caravan (read: BMW) for Nashville. I napped most of the way, which was a blessing considering I haven't had actual deep sleep since I woke yesterday at 6:45 AM. My body is running on Starbucks.

But back to the story: We arrived in Nashville on time, which is totally contrary to everything that the Headrick family is and does.

My first flight was Nashville to Atlanta: blissfully uneventful, very short, and a good opportunity to meet some of my trip-mates. I snagged the window seat in the last row at the back of the plane:

On this Delta:

The flight was literally take-off and landing. We had a glorious launch, achieved our altitude.... and then descended to Atlanta International to begin my seven hour layover. It was all quite anti-climactic, really.

Said layover was chock full** of excitement. (**It was awful) After an all-too-long walk from Concourse A, where our inbound flight landed, to Concourse E (the OTHER SIDE OF THE AIRPORT), where the flight to Lima was to depart from, we, as a group, decided to have some money changed over to the Peruvian Nuevo Soles. The exchange rate is 2.4 Soles to every U.S. dollar, and I decided to have $10 U.S. changed, just to tide me over for the evening until I could get to a proper ATM in Peru. HOWEVER, thanks to rampant incompetence in the airport, they couldn't give out anything lower than 50 Sole notes. What?

But monetary woes aside, the layover was excessively boring, full of sugary snacks and one disgusting coffee based beverage that I managed to hork back solely because I physically ached for the sweet relief of caffeine.

The plane (a Delta 767) to Lima was, naturally, late. An hour and a ten minutes late, to be exact (and yet we arrived in Lima only thirty minutes late. Explain that.). It was an excruciating wait as we queued up in a line of ten to twelve other aircraft, impatiently waiting for our turn at the take-off strip.

Once in the air, this flight was dappled with strange, short bouts of sleep for me, all of which were cut short by one limb or another going numb and tingly and waking me after no more than forty-five minutes with needly feelings. At some point, as promised on this proposed six hour and forty minute flight, I dined on some bland, Lean Cuisine-esque pasta dish, pictured below, while over Cuba:

I destroyed this plate of soggy noodles. I was so hungry.

The next waking I remember was when we finally reached land in South America. We were flying at 35,000 feet over Ecuador (I passed the Equator, yay!) and these small, orangeish blobs began appearing in the distance---surprisingly bright glows from the cities in the distance, scattered randomly across the pitch black.

Our in-flight TV screens, which had flight
data like this that tracked our path the
whole way, and was excruciatingly slow to
watch.

I was offered a snack as we crossed the border from Ecuador into Peru---this little plastic container filled with a random assortment of well-timed edibles. A package of milano cookies, an apple, mayonnaise and a tiny sandwich consisting of cucumbers, egg slices and cream cheese. Stop making that face! Don't knock it until you try it! It was pretty good, and a pleasant surprise.

Delicious little sammich.

The flight landed at 12:30. Baggage claim was a little freaky because my bag was nearly the last out onto the conveyor, but it was ultimately a non-issue. Customs was similarly easy, and we were off to the hotel at about 2AM.

More on the utter cuteness that is our hotel and my adventures on my first day in Lima later this evening. :)