LIMA

Saturday May 13, I believe

After flying all the way to Miami to catch a red-eye to Lima, we are finally here. We were collected at the Lima airport at 430 a.m. by a chatty A&K rep (Julio) who handed us our portfolios and itineraries and plane tickets for upcoming flights, then got us checked into the beautiful Miraflores Park Hotel. Then off he scampered into the night.

Hector and I slept a few hours and now I can't remember a word Julio told us. I do remember our driver being stopped twice by the police, with Julio giggling and saying they were just trying to shake us down because we were in a nice car. He told them we were from the US and they made themselves scarce. Hmm. I didn't know that had any pull, I would have suspected the opposite. And now I have a vague recollection that we are on our own until 2pm Sunday. We strolled about this afternoon, I just finished a great massage with Antonio and Hector's having his now. I suspect we'll do room service dinner.

The hotel is right on the Pacific but the fog is so bad that we can barely see 100 yards. Apparently this is more common than not here. Our room is very nice, they call it a suite but that's a stretch. It just has as much furniture as a suite, but it's all in one room. The bathroom is spectacular, however- an important component. So we'll see a bit of the old downtown tomorrow, then we depart for Cusco early on Tuesday.

A NEW LEAF

I have a brand new laptop and brand new wifi in the house so I'm all set to restart this tired old travel blog, even though it seems I've driven away everyone who ever came near it.

So in a nutshell, there was Puerto Rico at Christmas, a fabulous 2 weeks in the Mideast in March, then a lovely Big Sur road trip over Easter, followed by a quick trip to Dallas to pay last respects to Dad, and on the heels of that- a nice little 5 day jaunt in Chicago where the weather was not icy and bitter but a balmy, welcoming 70 degrees. And Friday we depart for the long awaited Abercrombie & Kent trip to Machu Picchu and the Galapagos Islands!

Get ready, put your reading glasses on!