Che! Ya Llegamos a nuestra Córdoba querida!

(Hey! We've arrived at our beloved Cordoba!)

Saturday, August 2

Lobby of the Lima Sheraton

I woke up a couple of hours later, and went down to eat the complimentary breakfast we were promised. Delicous. I then settled in the lobby in order to contact my family. There was complimentary wifi here too. It's not too bad to have your flight delayed in Peru! A couple of hours after that, we had lunch (also free) and got on the bus to go back to the airport.






This time around, the radio was playing Eye of the Tiger. Music from the US is pretty popular here. Here are some of the sights in Lima from the bus. There are a lot of historical buildings and statues, as well as more modern buildings.  Mural art and graffiti are all over the place.

So we finally got to the airport, where we had to get a new updated boarding pass, and we waited for the plane. It got here on time and we FINALLY got to board.  The last leg of the journey was going to begin.

First row, window seat!

Take off went smoothly, the two flight attendants worked efficiently and we were on our way very shortly.  We were really close to the coast.  And beaches are so thin from above!  Soon enough, we were over the ocean. It was incredibly silly on my part, but I suddenly imagined a scene from one of my dad's favorite movies...

I know. It's silly. And don't worry, mom, This didn't happen!  But as the clouds cleared, I did get to see islands and the side of the South American continent.It was cool seeing all of this from above. God really outdid Himself.  His creation is beautiful. 

The "gourmet sandwich" was really just turkey
and lettuce in a hot dog bun. The pie was good though

 We ended up getting a 'meal' on this flight too. Coke, Crackers, a "gourmet" sandwich and a pie. It was all pretty good, being what it was.












After the meal, the flight was pretty peaceful.  I decided that I liked flying. I closed my eyes and started to get some rest. But soon enough, I opened the eyes to see the tops of the Andes mountains. The world is a fantastic place! And then I saw the sunset from over the clouds. It was amazing.

Finally, we landed.  After getting off the plane, I went through customs, immigration and to baggage claim.  I panicked a little when my suitcase wouldn't show up, but it finally did and I grabbed it and headed for the exit.  I was in Argentina.

Finally!

WHAT HAPPENS IN LIMA? STAYING IN LIMA!!!

Friday August 1

"Welcome. A Magical Experience. Welcome to Peru"

The Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima, Peru was also a pretty big airport. We got there at about 9:30 pm. I went through customs without a problem and as soon as I got into the concourse of the airport, I saw some people playing Andean music in front of a store. Andean music is the music of the indigenous people who live on the Andes mountains that stretch across a lot of countries, but mainly in Peru.  I was listening to it live! You can watch it here (sorry, I couldn't embed it into this post.)

Well, after that, I went to look for the gate I was leaving from. Since it was getting late, a lot of stores were closing, and the wifi had been turned off for the night! I found the gate and started waiting.  The flight would leave at 11 and I would be in Argentina at 6 in the morning tomorrow!

Except when we all got in line to start boarding, the staff announced that there was bad weather in Córdoba, so the flight will be delayed until 1 am! A lot of people were upset, but they sat down again to wait.  Now I had to find a way to contact my family and tell them about this delay- both my host and real families. But there was no wifi! the payphones required local currency, and there were no open coffeeshops like in Miami. What to do? Well there was a sushi place that has computers for use if you are a customer, so I bought myself a Sprite and got on the computer.  The keyboard is different!! After some difficulty, I signed into facebook, contacted my host mother and through a friend,  I contacted my real mother. (Thanks Becca!)

Saturday, August 2, 2014

When that was finally taken care of, I relaxed, until I looked at the time.  It's almost 1!!! I ran towards the gate hoping I wasn't left behind.  I wasn't, so I sat down to wait with everyone else and after a while they moved us to another gate. where they announced the flight would be delayed again. This time until 3:30 pm! There was an uproar, as a lot of angry people ready to get to Córdoba expressed their grievances to the staff. But the time was set for 3:30 pm.

So the hotel provided us with a hotel to stay at until then.  We followed Zeus (a staff member, the same age as me, if not younger) around the entire airport and finally went through immigration to officially check into Peru at around 2:30 am.  We went outside to the bus....that wasn't there! We waited a bit until it finally got here, and when we were getting on, one of the people in our group said it best, "Bueno, sigue la aventura." (Well, the adventure continues).

Once the bus started moving, the driver turned up the radio. It was playing "All by myself." That's kind of how I was feeling.  I was all alone in a different country on a different hemisphere as everyone I know and love.  But I remembered what my neighbor told me before I left. "God made it possible for this to happen. He won't leave you on your butt!"  It was a good reminder. No, I wasn't all by myself.

We drove through Lima towards the hotel.  It seems like the most common gas station here is called Repsol. I've seen 7 in about 15 minutes.

Then I saw a KFC. KFC? Kentucky Fried Chicken? In Lima, Peru? and then a Popeyes.  Popeyes? Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen? That was surprising. Some other familiar brands down there:

There were a lot of people out and about at 3 am.  There was also traffic... a lot of drivers for such an early hour.  And they use their claxton a whole lot more than in Alabama! Then I saw a whimsical vehicle drive by.  The back half was like a motorcycle, but the front half was like a shopping cart.

We finally got to the hotel. The Lima Sheraton (another familliar name!) We were checked in and I went to sleep in my 5 star hotel bed. This wasn't bad at all.

Adios, North America!

Still Friday, August 1

At the Miami International Airport, I had to look for Gate 22. I found it using the SkyTrain. Skytrain? Miami's airport is so much bigger than Birmingham's!  Sure, these are the only airports I've been in so far, but still- Wow!

Inside the Skytrain

...Sorry. I'm easily impressed.

Anyway, once I found out where I was supposed to be, I decided to find some lunch and call my family to let them know I got to Miami ok.  So I took out my service-less wifi dependent phone (why is it service-less? I'm going to get it unlocked and use it with an Argentine SIM card) and tried to connect.

What? you have to pay to use this wifi!? That was news to me.  So I tried using the payphones, 'cause it would be cheaper.  They weren't working... I tried borrowing someone's phone, but that didn't work either.  Finally I find a nice little coffeeshop that had some wifi to lend me. I talked to my folks, breifly about my first flight, and then about my next one.  I had to buy a charger cable and gum before leaving. From there, I booked it to the gate and got on the plane.

Like the airport, this plane was a lot bigger than the other one.  I found my seat and took it.  This time I was in the middle of the middle row, near the middle of the plane too. The person who sat to my left is French.  I heard him say "merci" and I started to speak to him in French!  He was a Parisian, going to Peru to vacation. O yeah. That's the next leg of my journey.  I went from Birmingham to Miami, am going from Miami to Lima, Peru, and then I'll fly overnight from Lima to Córdoba Argentina.

Because the flight was a good length of time, we got snack mixes and then later a meal.  It was lasagna! Pretty good, if you ask me. The bathroom is small and really loud.
Every 10 minutes or so, the screen would show where we were on our flight path.  At 8:05 pm we had past Panama, and were flying next to Cali, Colombia.  Hi Juli!

The flight was still far from done, so I started to talk to the person to my right.  He was from California and works at nVidea, from what I understood, in or near silicon valley. He, his wife and kids are going to vacation in Peru and Ecuador.  He told me he wishes he knew more Spanish. I told him it's never too late to learn!

It was finally time to land.  I had used gum taking off and I got some now as we landed.  This time things were much better! Thanks mom for the tip.

The screen showing our location on the flight path.  We've reached our destination

Now I was in Lima, Peru. What adventures wait for me here?

FIRST FLIGHT REACTION!!!!!

Friday, August 1, 2014

So the day had finally come.  There was excitement. There was angst. It was the day that I leave the United States to study in Argentina, as an exchange student between Samford University and Universidad Blas Pascal.

There was a sign for Samford at the airport, 

right next to the American Airlines line. 

Coincidence? Symbolism? 

When God ties up the loose ends, 

little details like this make the world a better place.

The fact that I was getting on a plane and going to live in a different country for four months still wasn't real for me.  When my family and I got to the airport, and I had my bag weighed, and I got in line to get checked by the TSA, even when I hugged my family goodbye and sat down to wait for the flight, it wasn't clicking.

I talked with my family on Tango for a bit, but then my flight was announced. So I made sure I had my things and I followed down the hallway towards the plane.  I flew once when I was 2 months old- there's photographic evidence-- but I was 2 months old! This was my first flight. My first trip out of the country, my first time away from home and family for an extended period of time. I got on the plane and found my seat. It was a small plane, and I had a window seat.

It clicked.  

All of the sudden I was really nervous! What am I doing!? Will I be okay? I think a big part of it was also my concern that my fear of heights would make me miserable on this flight.  Then the person who sat next to me sat down, introduced himself and asked me what I was going to do in Miami.  I told Robert that I was on my way to Argentina, to study for a semester. He was going to go fishing with his family in Miami.  So the plane took off, he asked me if it was my first time flying, and when I said yes, he gave me protips and I felt better. 

Taking off was smooth, looking down at the clouds was AMAZING!!! I wanted to walk on them, but that would be a bad idea. But still, I was amazed.  The flight was not bad at all. Except for landing.  Ears popping and heart racing, I thought this was as far as I would go! Robert told me to squeeze my nose and blow, as well as to swallow often, and that helped too.


The plane landed. And then I was in Miami.