Airports & Such

I kept a day by day journal for my trip. I was going to blog the whole thing but really, what can you say thats entertaining and witty in 2 pages (small pages, this isnt a stupid spiral notebook here)? However, after I decided to condense the whole thing into much more exciting and hopefully at least somewhat hilarious posts, I let Mom read my journal and she especially wanted me to share the first couple of days because at that point, I was bored at the airport/on the planes and had some witty things to say. :) So here goes.

Day 1: 7/3/11
Got x-rayed at the airport. Apparently getting 27 hours of radiation in the next 23 days wasnt enough. Had a pony tail in my pocket with which I planned to overtake the plane with, but they caught me and had to pat down my right pocket. They didnt take it away from me though. And I live to see another day.

I'm entirely on edge. Couldnt find my camera awhile ago and freaked about it. Luckily I had tucked it way into my jacket, likely to protect it (from all the dictionaries, I wonder?) I never made time to put music on my iTouch and also packed the charger like an idiot. Tomorrow will be a very long day. Possibly no music, or when I do have it, it will be repetitive, for 8 hours of airport enjoyment. I have two books plus all the Spanish I could ever want to know. (3 dictionaries: Medical, General & Phrases).

PS - Checking in there were some guys who seemed intrigued by the backpack (weighing in at 29 lbs). One thing I do miss about CO is the boys. :/

Day 2: 7/4/11
Red eye flights suck. I find myself sleepless and sore on a foggy 4th of July morning. My insistence to avoid caffeine the past two weeks was irrelevant as I drank my Vanilla Latte upon arrival. I managed to read Tess Gerritsen's entire book Bloodstream, which is now a forgotten item at the Newark Airport.

As the fog decides to lift, I can see NYC across the river. I thought I had seen the tops of a few of the buildings from the plane, I guess I was right! I definitely have to make a better effort to come back to NYC and visit.

Its funny, being stuck in an airport for 8 hours. It makes you finally understand movies when they talk about walking up to the departure board and picking a random destination. Bermuda just loaded. After me is Germany. Earlier I saw Shanghai board. Probably due to anxiety, I find myself longing to go to one of thes places instead. I guess that means I ought to halt the reading and study some Spanish instead? Ugh.

The child sitting behind me is driving me insane. When stretched out, his feet push against either my lower back or my butt. 8 hours of this?! It wouldnt be so bad if he was sitting still, but he does it, then stops, then does it, then stops. The people he is with don't give a damn. Some people's children!

In other news, apparently movies are free, so I'm now watching Hes just not that into you, my last run in with the industrialized world. While I study Spanish of course.

Finally landed and got through the airport. The delay in seeing my bag at the baggage claim forced me to believe it was lost somewhere in New Jersey, but it finally showed up. Diana is awesome as is Renzo, who Diana often works with. Jessica is here too, having missed her flight to Iquitos today. It's raining, which apparently never happens in Lima. Btw, Lima is huge! I didnt expect it to be so large. Drivers are a little crazy.

Well its midnight in Philly, so I will close my eyes and imagine fireworks going off. I wake up in 5 hours for my 630 am flight to Iquitos. Jess and I will be sharing a cab back to the airport, which is awesome.

Still freaked out about the Spanish. Jess is super easy going though so thats awesome. Apparently we will be eating a lot of chicken... and fish! My favorite! What did I tell you all? This summer is the best diet plan ever. Food I hate, lots of exercise, and diarrhea! Thats an automatic 5 pounds a week, right? ;) Ill have to remember to weigh in when I get home to let you all know if it works. "The miracle jungle diet, only $3000!' lol Lovely.

Well I'm not just here for the diet but for the jungle and the people too, so I ought to get some sleep so I can be alert tomorrow. Cheers!

Day 3: 7/5/11
What an interesting day! The early wake up was terrible, I could have used about 4 more hours. Then I take my flight and got to see some amazing mountains and the Nanay River. Jess ended up flying in on the next flight w/ Jason... which was delayed for two hours!

So I met Pablo. He does jungle tours, but not 'the stupid touristy ones with the fake Indians w/ makeup.' On his tours you see 'the real jungle.' He was very entertaining. His friend, mistaking my miserable Spanish for no Spanish, had a conversation which included the words bonita and prometedor ... yea not looking for any engagements this summer! (Assuming that is what he meant). He kept talking about my blue eyes.

Once they finally arrived, we took Pablo's other friend's mototaxi/motokar. Interesting! The driving is fairly rule-less but they do stop at red lights. Its incredibly dangerous for pedestrians though, and I almost learned this the hard way. We got to Nativa Apartments and its wonderful! No hot water :/ but at least its nice. (Not in journal here... turns out you can turn on the water in the rooms individually, so we did have luke warm showers after that first day).

Everyone has been incredibly welcoming, which is great. I was so nervous. We have a couple people with little Spanish, but having been identified earlier, they were given less responsibility than me. I also offered up my camera and 8 gig card for filming :( But! This is only for 4 days and Dr. Amstet (sp?) is going to transfer everything to his computer, so I can have my 8 gig card for the rest of the trip.

So Iquitos... wow. One word. Poverty. Another word. Chaotic. Everyone calls it noisy but they all live in CO. None of them in Philly, I feel right at home! lol Anyhow, buildings are in complete disarray, the streets are filthy, its all very impoverished. Many places have 3/4 walls, which is interesting. I haven't seen much jungle, like its not around how I pictured it. Maybe if I go to the boat docks tomorrow I'll see it better.

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And thats all she wrote folks! Lol. I know. I think I'm clever.