Day 1: Miami/Dallas to Lima, Peru

Monday, May 7, 2001

We started our travel day by turning on to NBC's The Today Show. It was the week of “Where in world is Matt Lauer?” In the past, he has turned up in Nepal, Thailand, Africa, Iceland and other exotic spots. And there he was standing in the ruins of Machu Picchu, saying it was one of the most spectacular sights he had ever seen. What a good omen, even though Joe tried to convince Lana that since they'd seen it on TV, there was no longer any need to go.
The Joplin contingent had spent Sunday night in Tulsa and caught an early flight to Dallas and Miami and then on to Lima, Peru. Lana and Joe were to meet up with them in Miami, but their journey didn't start off too well when their 8:30 AM flight was cancelled out of Washington National. Luckily Lana had planned for some type of delay and they were able to catch a later flight and at still make the connection out of Miami.
The flight from Miami was uneventful. First order of business was to convince Lanny that Cusco was several thousand feet higher than Machu Picchu. None of the information in the guidebooks convinced him until an honest-to-goodness South American businessman, also on the flight, confirmed it.
After arriving in Lima on time at 9:30 PM, we retrieved our luggage and cleared customs with no problem. A representative from Adventure Life met us and helped put our bags on the bus - through a side window. It looked like everyone is already over the 40-pound limit as we struggle to pack them “high and tight.” The ride to the hotel took about a 45 minutes. We thought we would never get there as we passed through seedy parts of town as well as nice parts. We took narrow roads that wound through parks as well as 4 lane boulevards. But along the way we got to see much of the city: full of life, political posters, museums, nightclubs, restaurants, and businesses.
We finally arrived at the Hotel Villa Molina at about 11:00 PM. From the outside it was nothing but a big, ugly iron gate. But inside it had a nice waiting room and a beautiful courtyard. Unfortunately, our rooms were on the third and fourth floors and the only elevator's capacity was limited to just one person and a few pieces of luggage. Bad news: the 5:45 AM pickup for transfer to the airport was now scheduled for 4:45 AM!! It was going to be a mighty short night. We laughed at the welcome literature that suggested places to go, things to see, and places to eat during our stay in Lima. Yeah, sure.
Don and Chris met Linda in Dallas and flew directly to Lima. Unfortunately, their plane wasn't scheduled to land until 11:30 PM. They made it to the hotel at 1:30 AM. Subsequently, their 4:00 AM wake up call would come much too soon.
Footnotes:
A term used in trucking to describe the need to pack freight to the top of the trailer and closely in order to get as much freight on as possible. Very appropriate because of the group's connection with trucking.
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We started our travel day by turning on to NBC's The Today Show. It was the week of “Where in world is Matt Lauer?” In the past, he has turned up in Nepal, Thailand, Africa, Iceland and other exotic spots. And there he was standing in the ruins of Machu Picchu, saying it was one of the most spectacular sights he had ever seen. What a good omen, even though Joe tried to convince Lana that since they'd seen it on TV, there was no longer any need to go.

The Joplin contingent had spent Sunday night in Tulsa and caught an early flight to Dallas and Miami and then on to Lima, Peru. Lana and Joe were to meet up with them in Miami, but their journey didn't start off too well when their 8:30 AM flight was cancelled out of Washington National. Luckily Lana had planned for some type of delay and they were able to catch a later flight and at still make the connection out of Miami.

The flight from Miami was uneventful. First order of business was to convince Lanny that Cusco was several thousand feet higher than Machu Picchu. None of the information in the guidebooks convinced him until an honest-to-goodness South American businessman, also on the flight, confirmed it.

After arriving in Lima on time at 9:30 PM, we retrieved our luggage and cleared customs with no problem. A representative from Adventure Life met us and helped put our bags on the bus - through a side window. It looked like everyone is already over the 40-pound limit as we struggle to pack them “high and tight.” The ride to the hotel took about a 45 minutes. We thought we would never get there as we passed through seedy parts of town as well as nice parts. We took narrow roads that wound through parks as well as 4 lane boulevards. But along the way we got to see much of the city: full of life, political posters, museums, nightclubs, restaurants, and businesses.

We finally arrived at the Hotel Villa Molina at about 11:00 PM. From the outside it was nothing but a big, ugly iron gate. But inside it had a nice waiting room and a beautiful courtyard. Unfortunately, our rooms were on the third and fourth floors and the only elevator's capacity was limited to just one person and a few pieces of luggage. Bad news: the 5:45 AM pickup for transfer to the airport was now scheduled for 4:45 AM!! It was going to be a mighty short night. We laughed at the welcome literature that suggested places to go, things to see, and places to eat during our stay in Lima. Yeah, sure.

Don and Chris met Linda in Dallas and flew directly to Lima. Unfortunately, their plane wasn't scheduled to land until 11:30 PM. They made it to the hotel at 1:30 AM. Subsequently, their 4:00 AM wake up call would come much too soon.

Footnotes:

A term used in trucking to describe the need to pack freight to the top of the trailer and closely in order to get as much freight on as possible. Very appropriate because of the group's connection with trucking.