Around the World

Our voyage has begun! Flight from Seattle to Houston was uneventful, nice to use the posh airport lounge and first class seats. Houston to Lima got even better, seats that convert into fully flat bed, gourmet meals (air craft gourmet).

Unfortunately our flight arrived in Lima at an inconvenient time, 11:30 PM. After checking our bags through customs we had to recheck them to Cuzco. That flight was at 6:00 AM, their booth wouldn't open till about 3:00. We couldn't go through security till we checked our bags so we sat on a window ledge for several hours until they opened up and checked our bags. Then through an empty security and more sitting at the gate, quite a contrast from the lap of luxury to a sleepless night in an airport lobby. Flight to Cuzco was separate from our round the world ticket and so it was coach (Are those tears I hear you shedding?), good seats by the exit, half empty plane, two hour flight to Cuzco.

Cab to the Hotel Monisterio, joked with cabbie, he said it was a great place in fractured English, and I joked in reply in equally tortured Spanish "mucho dinero" to which he heartily agreed. The hotel is amazing, the whole staff poured out on to the street to greet us, schlepped our bags, gave us coca tea (hope I don't have to pass any drug tests) and got us registered as we sat in the magnificent lobby area. The fact that we were checking in at 7:30 AM didn't faze them they got a room ready for us (an upgrade) which was really welcome. We both needed sleep. Linda went right to bed and I walked around the hotel a bit taking pictures, some of which are included here. Then bed for me too.

A word about the altitude. Cuzco is around 11,000 feet. Both of us are feeling it quite a bit. Climbing a flight of stairs leaves you huffing, headaches are constant, Linda has been feeling nauseous. We had an early (for here) dinner around seven. After that I am writing this, Linda is sleeping, dinner helped her feel a bit better. We want to acclimatize for our two day excursion to Machu Picchu the day after tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow and a good night's rest will have us both feeling a bit better.