LTI IN PERU

Wednesday - May 7:

Today we said our "goodbye’s" loaded into the vans and made our way to Miami for departure to Lima, Peru. There wasn’t anything dramatic about the travel time and we arrived at Miami International with plenty of time to check in.

This is when a series of events began to unfold that proved the divine hand of God was with us. We pulled up to the unloading area for American Airlines and saw a sign telling us we could check our overseas luggage at the curb. Since we had 12 full-to-brim suitcases/duffle bags (49.8+ lbs; one over 50 lbs; and another ov er 77 lbs – it was wise to use this service. Our Sky Cap was pleasant and when he saw the weight of our luggage he told me I would have to pay $100 overweight for the 77 pounder and $50 for another.

I had already figured that out before I left home, so I wasn’t surprised. But then he told the man assisting him to let the bags alone and he would take care of the weight problem. He then turned to me and said, "I will only charge you a total of $100 for overweight bags." I told him I appreciated that and gave him my credit card.

After sometime he completed the project and handed me our boarding passes. Since I knew they expected $2/bag, I gave him an additional tip of $5. To this he began to whine and tell me that he had to pay the other man who assisted from his tip. Since I am so famous for being generous, I squirmed and finally gave him an additional$10 because I knew he had saved us a lot of money and time.

We then moved into the terminal, found the directions to an eating establishment and headed that way to fill out stomachs with our last American meal for two weeks. To my amazement and joy, right behind me at the table where we sat was "Ole Five-Bucks!" (Starbucks to you who do not frequent the place.) I finished my pizzas and then savored the Frappacino as though it were my "last supper drink."

The line for the screening process was very long and we thought we would be inline for an hour, but 10 minutes later we were putting our shoes back on and heading down to gate 10. We sat down. The students began to play "Slave". Marilyn had gone "shopping" or something. Then the sound from the speaker system inspired us with the announcement that Flight 917 was now going to depart from Terminal D, Gate 40. We were in Terminal E. Marilyn was no where to be seen. I called out my detective powers and found her next to the shopping area.

The hike began! Ten minutes later – a sweat beginning to pop up – legs moving slower – we arrived at the right location – without going through the screening process again!

We boarded and landed without much happening. Food – sleep – Ipod – laughing – finding the "goat" (figure out what this is) and other developments took us to door of the airplane and the march through immigration and customs. You would have to experience what I am about to tell you personally to appreciate the next events. The immigration process was a piece of cake. Then, with my great sense of leadership I led everyone to the wrong conveyor belt and we moved quickly to the correct one. Our luggage all arrived and after several counts we were sure we had everything. We lined up to move through the exit and customs.

With the final document in each of our hands, pushing the carts loaded with bags – each one containing something that customs could "force" us to declare and pay a ridiculous fee – we started the process of the "Custom’s Light". You hand your slip to a worker, press the button which turns on either a green light or a red light on what is a two light traffic light. I led the way and one by one a green light flashed for everyone! MIRACLE! THE HAND OF GOD!

Relief rushed over me like a warm shower after being out in cold snow! The ONE item I was the most concerned about – a winch for a Nissan Pathfinder belonging to our host, Pastor Agustin Ciccia – went through on my cart without getting a red light! We were "home free" – well we were in Lima, Peru "free."

We were greeted by Marco Aroni, the coordinator for Universidad Impacto De Vida (Covenant Life University) and for this trip along with Roger Falcon, a doctor and assistant pastor and in a few minutes Pastor Agustin and a couple of men from his Church. Everything was LOADED! I mean the 12 passenger van was packed, the Nissan pathfinder was packed and the people had to squeeze in to the limited space that remained.

Finally, we arrived at the home of Pastor Agustin and was greeted by Jessica, his wife and ushered to our rooms, but only after drinking some fresh squeezed papaya juice or some melon juice. And of course discussed the journey, the hand of God on the "custom’s traffic light" – which it was hard for the Peruvians to believe that none of us got a "red light."

By the time I hit the sack everyone else was in bed and probably asleep. I was last because I can’t place my head on the pillow if I haven’t unpacked and readied everything for the next morning.

The day of travel ended at 1:15 AM Thursday.

See you later – well through this blog anyway!

Dr. D. - Marilyn - Mikaela - Bethany - Lindsay - Brian - Zac