I´m finally here...

I´m a day behind in my blogs already, but by the time I got settled into the volunteer house yesterday, I had been up for 39 hours with only a few cat naps in between... so I figured I better wait until morning when I have a little bit clearer head. I was so tired last night I didn´t even notice the barking dogs outside my window.

My trip started at 7:30am Saturday morning with me being the first one in line at the American Airlines ticket counter. Five minutes later, I was checked in and ready to go. My first stop in the Milwaukee airport was to get something to eat, so I headed for a cafe. I wanted to start off my trip with a little adventure, so I ordered a spanish omelet... something I would never have ordered before, but I wanted to challenge my taste buds to new possibilites. Wasn´t sure how my tummy would handle the combination of eggs and salsa at 8am, but there´s nothing a little imodium can´t cure! As I sat at the airport waiting for my flight, I kept my eye on a family with a little girl about Annalyn´s age. Made me miss here terribly, already.

Fast forward 15 hours later to my arrival in Lima. I was expecting to meet up with Carmen (from HBI) and the rest of the Affinity team who had been scheduled to arrive an hour earlier than me... but it was just Carmen. Oh yea... remember that dream I posted about earlier, where when I got to Peru, I was the only one there because I had traveled on the wrong dates? Well, this wasn´t exactly the case... but I WAS the only one there (besides Bob and Ben, from HBI). Due to a snag in Houston, the other six ladies were not expected to arrive in Peru until the next night. Their flight had been cancelled in what I would call a travel nightmare. So, Carmen and I went in search of some much needed coffee. By then, it was just about midnight. I was going to be making the Lima airport my temporary home until the next leg of my trip, which was scheduled to depart at 6:45am. I was so desperate to find some sleep, but there was no where to get comfortable other than the hard cement floor or the handful of uncomfortable chairs that had already be spoken for. Sitting was the last thing I wanted to do... I´d spend the better portion of my day in that position (I was one layover away from getting a pressure sore on my tush!). In fact, we were so desperate, we headed to the airport chapel hoping to land a pew... but it seemed everyone else had the same idea. So, we drank our coffee and talked about anything and everything until the sun came up.

Dr. Bob and Father Alex were waiting for me at the Arequipa airport... and this is where my adventure begins...