Got to sleep in somewhat (noise in the lobby) on Monday morning since my flight from Armenia to Bogota wasn’t leaving until 3:15. Repacked the luggage so that I would only need my carry-on luggage for these two days. My big suitcase is just that …. BIG & HEAVY. Sandra and Tim can attest to that!
By 1 pm I had checked out for the 40 minute taxi drive to the airport just outside of Armenia. Got to the airport to find out that the 3:15 flight had been cancelled and merged with the 5:15 flight. No big deal, just a lot of time to spend waiting in a small airport. I’m finishing a book about Egypt, so I had at least that to keep me occupied. Flight went well, got to see more of the Cordileras mountains this time from the air. It was interesting to see all those mountain ranges I had crossed by bus, from the air. Everything was so green.
Got to Bogota at around 7 pm. Got some info on a nearby hotel from the tourist desk at the airport and grabbed a taxi to get there. Unfortunately, there appears to be two hotels with the name “Los Balcones” and the driver did not look at the address which had been written down on a piece of paper for me. We were driving towards the city centre and had been for about 10 minutes when I questioned where he was going. I repeated that it was supposed to be a hotel near the airport. So the driver stopped the car, in the side of the freeway (blocking traffic ! ! !) to look at the address. He had to double back almost to the airport before veering off in a different direction. Finally got to the hotel to catch a few hours sleep before my 5:15 am wake-up call. Hotel was quite noisy but earplugs helped to dull the traffic noise from the street.
I slept soundly for about 4 hours, then woke up every hour after that. At 4:30 I finally gave up, and got up to get ready. Grabbed a taxi at 5:30 and was at the airport by 6 am for my 8:30 departure (international flight to Lima). Did not have a window seat to begin with, but the gentleman who sat beside me changed seats to be closer to his friend, so I got a window seat after all. There were mountains almost all the way, but the green of Colombia gave way to the grey & brown mountains in Peru. We are farther away from the equator here, and it is still early spring. The closer we got to Lima however, the more green started to appear, first in the valleys and then on the mountain sides facing the Pacific. It was amazing to see how the moisture from the clouds, trapped by the mountains, made a difference in the growing seasons. One side of the mountain starting to show a beautiful light green while the other side was still brown. Huge agricultural fields here as well, but in the early part of the season. Got to the Lima Airport at about 11 am and went through the paces of the airport: Go through Immigration, pick up luggage, go through Customs, make my way to the Departure area for my flight north to Chiclayo, had to change my boarding pass, and got dinged for suitcase being over the weight limit ! First time since I left Ottawa, so I’ve been lucky.
It was strange to be back at the Lima Airport. When Yvette and I were here a few years ago (which year was that ? 2008?), we were met by Juana and Claude Gervais when we arrived, so I did not see much of the airport. Even when we took our flight to Cusco, we just followed Juana and Claude and I did not pay much attention to my surroundings, which is strange for me. It is only when Yvette and I, and the two other ladies (mother / daughter team) from Northern Ontario, came back to the airport for our departure flight, that I really got to see the airport. Yvette: the “Britt” shop is still here and I stopped to treat myself to a bag of chocolate covered passion fruit ! I have another long wait since my flight does not leave until 4:30, so I’m updating the notes for my blog. Tried to send this from the Lima airport, but all wifi connections are “local only”. Will have to try again when I reach Chiclayo.
Chiclayo is on the Pacific coast. Hope it’s hot and sunny because I plan on veg’ing for a few days.
Got to the very small airport in Chiclayo and there was a bus from my hotel waiting for me. How nice is that ! The advance reservation sure paid off this time. Had a quick check-in, unpacked (have to find a “lavanderia” to have all my clothes washed !) had a nice shower (well maybe not so nice since both the cold and the hot faucet produced the same cold water), but at least I was refreshed and smelled soapy ! Got all dressed up tonight (only clean clothes left in my suitcase) and went down to the hotel restaurant for a nice dinner, complete with a before dinner drink (pisco sour), heart of palm salad, chicken stuffed with cheese and asparagus (with some kind of berry sauce trickled over it ) with garlic buttered rice and corn, along with a nice glass of merlot. There was absolutely no room for dessert ! I’ll have that tomorrow, instead of dinner.
I started chatting with the couple at the next table, because he was telling his wife (in English !) that pisco was the same as grappa. They were from Calgary, but obviously not original Canadians because of their very thick accents. Turns out he is originally from Romania and she is from Russia. They met and married in Calgary. This guy was a fount of information, whether I wanted to hear it or not. He just would NOT shut up and he was so hard to understand. I was very nice and tried to participate in the conversation, but it was obvious that he just loved to hear himself talk. His wife tried to intervene a few times, but that did not work either. They were a very nice couple but by the time I finished my meal I really was ready for some peace and quiet. After spending the entire day in noisy airports and planes, I really was ready for some down time.
So I’m back in my room, it’s 9:30 here (10:30 Ottawa time) and my eyes are closing from this extremely long day.
Don’t have the energy to add pictures from my day in the Parque Nacional de Café, so you will just have to wait until I’ve got my batteries re-energized. MY batteries, not the computer’s and not my camera’s!
Buenos noches John Boy !
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