We're the First to Arrive

Sunday June 12 - Monday June 13

We arrived in Piura, Peru early in the morning at 7:01 am. Our flights were all on time.  Our flight from Chicago departed on the 12th at 3:35 pm. My husband JJ drove us to O'Hare with a gracious heart. He doesn't like traffic or O'Hare but was very good willed about both. He walked us through security as far as he could and then we said our goodbyes. Each of us were traveling with three bags:  one large suitcase filled with the donations from St. Paul and two carrying on bags. International travel allows two checked bags per person so we could have checked one of our carry ons but decided to play it safe and not chance losing one.  Each of the donations suitcases weighed close to 50 pounds which was the weight limit.  Olivia's suitcase of donations from St. Paul didn't have wheels or a handle. JJ carried her bag from the car to the airport but Olivia would have to carry the bag the rest of the way. The weight limit for our carry on bags was 22 pounds. My carry on was too heavy. The girls teased me that I overpacked! I thought about how Olivia had helped me pack and was having laughing fits. I had to take some things out and redistribute them to the donations suitcase to make weight.

I was looking forward to traveling with my two daughters, Olivia and Lindsey, but was also a little nervous. We told each other that we would just go with the flow and things wouldn't be perfect.

Olivia had checked us in online for our Avianca flights on the 11th and she did a great job getting us aisle seats next to each other. We flew Avianca airlines and though the planes seemed a little older, they were very reliable and professional. We flew 4 hours and 40 minutes to San Salvador (in El Salvador). I sat next to an elderly couple who knew no English. The man sitting right next to me had his pant leg rolled up and was rubbing his knee and wincing. I felt bad for him. I figured he had arthritis. I tried to ask him in Spanish if he had arthritis. "Tienes arthritis?" I asked. "Si," he said and then went on a one hour discussion with me in which I discovered my "comprendo Espaniol un poco" quickly turned to "no comprendo Espaniol". He was such a pleasant man. I wish I had my Biofreeze to give to him. He kept pointing to Olivia and saying "Bonita" and I kept thinking he was saying daughter but he was actually telling me she was beautiful. His wife took tender care of him opening his meal and silverware when the stewardess served it. She gave him a cracker from her purse which he handed to me. I tried to say no but he insisted so I ate it. I was hoping I wouldn't catch whatever cold he seemed to have. "Gracias".

The woman (I think her name was Margerita from what I gathered from her husband) received the baggage declaration paper from the stewardess. From this I gathered that San Salvador was their final destination. We wouldn't need a baggage declaration form until we reached Lima. Each country has their own baggage declaration paper. Margerita waved her paper at me. I thought she wanted a pen so I gave her one from my backpack. She smiled and handed me her paper. She wanted me to fill it out for her either because she couldn't read or because the words were too small to read. I don't know which. I handed the paper to Olivia and she filled it out. Most of the instructions were in Spanish. Olivia was getting to be a pro at international travel.

When the plane began to descend I looked at the man and he was holding his head and wincing. I think the descent was hurting his ear. My ear felt a lot of pressure too. I pulled out my cherry bubblegum balls and gave him one. He took it and looked at his wife. She smiled at me and nodded to him. I asked her if she wanted one, "¿Quieres?" and she nodded and smiled. They put the gum in their mouths and seemed delighted but I don't think they actually started chewing for a minute or two. I think it was quite a treat for them. The plane landed on time, we disembarked and hurried through the San Salvador airport to our next gate. We only had a about an hour before our flight to Lima, Peru was to take off.

Our flight to Lima left right at time at 8:20. We landed at 1:40 am on Monday the 13th. This flight was uneventful other than my knees were aching and Lindsey's hips hurt and Olivia sat next to some young Peruvian children who weren't quite behaved. Lindsey had a seat between her and the Peruvian man near the window but he moved over to sit right next to her and giggled and tried to flirt with her the entire flight. We tried to sleep on the plane but it was difficult.

On the plane to Lima we filled out our baggage declaration. Because Peru was our final country destination and Lima was an international airport, we would need to claim our bags, go through customs, then recheck our bags before the last flight to Piura.

As soon as we found the baggage claim, two women (security airport personnel) came up to us with a sign that said 'St.Paul'. Olivia conversed in Spanish with them. They had our names on a list. They wanted to look in our donation suitcases. We followed them with our bags to an area marked for mercenaries. They went through each bag checking to see if each bag had what was listed in their records. This went smoothly. Then we were able to go through customs. This also went easy. Olivia and I remarked how much easier than it was in Guatemala and even Canada where the agents stared holes through us and asked us many questions. In Lima there were no questions except for how long we would be here. Once through customs we had to walk outside and go back in a door twenty feet away to re-enter the building to get to ticketing and recheck our bags. No problems there. Then we had to walk outside and go twenty feet away to re-enter the building to get to our departure gait. It was 2:45 am. We thought about eating. All of the fast food restaurants were open in the Lima airport. We should have eaten but we thought we'd be able to get something to eat in the airport in Piura. Our flight didn't leave until 5:20 am. We sat in the eating area for a bit while Olivia and Lindsey connected to wifi and checked in with loved ones. I had trouble connecting for some reason. We made our way to the gate and sprawled out on the seats to sleep. I slept until 4:30 am. We were taken by a bus out to the tarmac where our plane was parked. It was very cool outside and getting dark as we took off.

Our flight from Lima to Piura took off exactly at 5:20 am. This was a short flight and we landed at 7:01 in Lima. We left the plane on the tarmac and walked into the airport.  We were wrong about restaurants in the Piura airport. As soon as we claimed our bags the only way to go was out the door where dozens of taxi cab drivers were waiting for travelers. I went directly to security and asked for the shuttle to the Wyndham. He escorted us to the shuttle bus. The driver had our name on a list from the hotel. We arrived at the hotel and were told we couldn't check in until 2 pm but I think the receptionist took pity on us and we were able to go to our room right away. The hotel room was cold due to the air conditioner.

We took a long nap then freshened up. The hotel room was nice much like the hotels in America. We checked out the spa on the 5th floor. Several men were photographing a young female model in the swimming pool. We went out for a late breakfast at El Chalán. Eggs, cheese, and ham and toast. It was good. It was a white cheese not cheddar.

We walked all over Piura to the main square, to the Plaza Grau, to the Banco Central De Reserva, to the Museo of Arte Religioso, to the Iglesias San Francisco, and to the Iglesio Catedral De Piura. We didn't go in anywhere. We just walked around and took pictures. It was HOT!  We were sweating a lot. It must have been in the 90s.

People stared at us. Not quick glances but long unapologetic stares. In every block men would whistle at Olivia and Lindsey. We walked past a group of policemen and even they whistled. Lindsey was very uncomfortable with all the stares and whistles. She didn't like it at all. People stared at her long blond hair and her long legs.

We went back to the hotel and decided to check out the pool. We put on our swimsuits and walked up to the 5th floor. The attendant turned the lights on for us in the pool. The temperature of the air had dropped dramatically. It was probably 60 degrees out. The water felt cold. We didn't stay. We went back to our rooms and read our novels until close to 11 pm then turned off the lights.

Submitted by Lisa Weber