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Woke a little after 7, without alarm. So nice to wake up without alarm. I had a dream that I was a hostage where I worked (it was named Circuit City but it was an outdoor store and also a restaurant). At first it was scary and I almost got killed twice - I stuck my finger in my chest in a bullet hole in case I had to stop the bleeding but it wasn't bleeding that much. After a while a bunch of the employees found each other and it wasn't so bad. I wondered if my family had seen anything about the hostage situation on TV. After a couple of days, they moved us to a Bed, Bath and Beyond. Lilly was there and I was happy to see her. People were sleeping on the display beds and had opened air mattresses and since I was one of the last to arrive I was searching for an air mattress in the store when I woke up. Then I told Chris about the dream and he said he'd punch those hostage takers in the face.
We got ready and decided just to head to the bus station for the next bus to Arequipa rather than try to find something good for breakfast. We got a bus leaving 5 minutes afer we arrived at the station. Don't worry, we had 4 wafer cookies left to snack on for our breakfast.
Once in Arequipa, we took a cab to Plaza de Armas (the main square of the city) and walked (with our backpacks!) to a vegetarian restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet. It was a very yummy lunch and we got some coffee which was also good.
Then we walked around a bit, looking for those last minute souveneirs. I thought the prices were better than Puno. When we had happily found everything we were searching for, we sat at a restaurant on a balcony overlooking Plaza de Armas
and enjoyed a cup of coffee
and a tasty dessert - me, lemon pie,
Chris, banana crepes.
We walked around a bit more. Arequipa is a pretty city with a nicer vibe than Cuzco or Lima, and much friendlier people than anywhere else we went. Maybe they just felt sorry for us - whenever we walked into a shop with our big backpacks, we got some funny looks and giggles. We couldn't have been the first ones to wander around with backpacks! Anyway I would have liked another day there but I enjoyed the short time we had.
Then we caught a cab to the airport for a flight to Lima where we would connect to our overnight flight to the US. We waited 1 1/2 hours (we had arrived 2 hours before our flight, like we were supposed to) and found the flight would be delayed by 1 1/2 hours. Annoyingly enough, the flight that was scheduled an hour after ours (the 6:40 flight) took off on time. I had time to finish my book, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and Chris started it. Good book although I don't know how I felt about the ending. I need to sit on it for awhile, I think. So first they delayed our flight till 7:15, then at 7 announced it was delayed till 11! Our flight to Miami was out of Lima at 1130. I thought I was on top of it by giving us 4 1/2 hours in Lima between flights. So we went back and forth between the customer service line and the phone with American, which was all very frustrating. Initially we were told by a grumpy agent that because we had no proof of our next flight (it was all e-tickets and I hadn't printed anything out) they could not try to get us on an earlier flight. Then we called AA and wrote down every last bit of our flight info (no, there was no internet access at the airport) in hopes of trying to get on the earlier 9:30 flight. So we were on line and I was crying and an employee in a suit came and asked what our situation was. We told him and he took our tickets and said, don't worry, we'll work on it. We stood in that spot for an hour and eventually got on the 9:30 flight. Unfortunately it didn't take off till 9:55 and we weren't sure we'd make it in time for the Miami flight. When we landed, the plan was that Chris would get our bags and I would run to the desk and try to get us checked in. I took off at 11:15 and ran all over the airport. Nobody was at the AA desks. I was told to go to the offices and nobody was at the office. The status of our flight said "boarding" - we were so hopeful for a delay. Of course I started crying again, so I was running all over the airport bawling and creating quite a show for everyone. I wanted to see my dog, I wanted to be in a familiar place, I wanted to go HOME. My biggest disappointment was that I was so looking forward to spending my final day of this long-awaited vacation just lounging, recovering, cleaning up, typing the blog, and resting. Ok, so it would have been a full day, but that's how I relax! Now we wouldn't get to NY in time to pick up Lilly on Saturday, and would spend half the day Sunday driving up and back to get her. No big deal, I know, and of course I felt silly for getting so upset. Luckily I had a wonderful guy with me that just wanted to make me feel better and stayed so calm. Anyway finally the outcome was that we found AA employees and it turns out that since the delay wasn't caused by weather, LAN was responsible for getting us to our final destination, and for lodging if they couldn't get us out that night. They put us on flights the next day, not getting into Laguardia until 9pm! and put us up at the Ramada at the Lima airport. The hotel was super nice. Of course we didn't arrive till 1am, flight next morning at 830, so we didn't get to enjoy the gym, business center, or cable. But they did include dinner for us - a freshly made ham and cheese sandwich and fires. I hadn't realized how hungry I was. Finally hit the hay for a few hours sleep.
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