Lima,Peru

Tuesday, July 1st- We arrived safe and sound in Lima after a long trip that began in Cobleskill on Sunday at noon. We took the bus to Albany and changed buses to NYC Port Authority. Then we took the A line to Rockaway Blvd and a car service to our hotel (Howard Johnson Express). Our driver, Frank, was very friendly and offered to pick us up at 4:00am and deliver us to JFK. We had no problems in the airport, except I caught my nail on my luggage in the rush to grab my recently scanned luggage from the conveyer belt and screamed in pain as my nail was torn way lower than a nail should tear. Patrick scorned my love of long nails and warned me to cut them before any adventure. The nice stewardess on the flight to Costa Rica gave me a bandaid. It was strange being in the familiar airport of San Jose. While I was waiting for my flight I emailed my friend and colleague Lindsay, who is studying in Costa Rica. Our flight to Bogota was uneventful except for some stomach churning turbulence. I sat next to a Spanish teacher from Utica who was going to teach English in Huancayo. Chaz Hamilton was his name.  On our flight to Lima the air was extremely hazy, I assume due to the massive burning of the Amazon. The sunset was spectacular! We met a young girl from Lima who was studying in NYC and hadn’t been home in two years. She invited us to call her and go out to lunch. Her name is Rosa, she is very nice. We had arranged with our hotel to send a taxi to pick us up at the airport. We stood there for a while looking for a sign with our names on it.  We were getting a little anxious when we saw our man with “Maribel y Patricio Clark” on a piece of paper. After the harrowing ride though third world traffic we arrived at our beautiful turn of the last century hotel”The Grand Hotel Bolivar”. My father stayed in this same hotel 45 years ago. It was like stepping into a time machine, with a Model T in the Reception and a huge stained glass dome with faux marble pillars. The furniture is also of the same period. I will download some photos of this remarkable hotel. After our arrival we went down to the elegant cocktail bar where waiters in black served us our first Pisco Sours (a drink made from clear grape brandy) We also had some snacks of fried fish,calamar,potatos, and yuca. We then retired to our luxurious room for the night.