Wednesday, February 16, 2016 - Peru to Guatemala Almost

Want adventure? We had adventure!

Wednesday, February 16th was a planned travel day. We were to leave Cusco at 7:30am and arrive in Lima at 8:55am. We were to then change planes and leave Lima at 10:12am arriving in San Salvador at 1:47pm. We were to leave San Salvador at 2:35pm and arrive in Guatemala City at 3:25pm. We would transfer there to two buses and be driven to Antigua, Guatemala. Since this was going from one country to another extra time had to be given at the first airport to check in. We were up at O' Dark 30 and to the airport in time to get 44 people through all the hoops. However...

When we got to the Cusco airport there were clouds and rain. I've posted the pictures of the city nestled between the mountains. Claude described our flight in as going between the mountains and following the canyon till we landed. Because of the weather, the airport was closed. Forty-four people were in the queue waiting to get their boarding passes off the group reservation Alan had for us. They waited hoping the weather would clear a bit. So forty-four people were waiting in the queue for a long time. Alan had them looking for alternative flights as it appeared we would not make the connecting flight in San Salvador. It is not easy to change the flights and get seats for forty-four people. 

I took this picture while standing in the queue. Love the clothes of the Peruvian people.

Alan put all of us on a plane and he and his wife got on another plane. The end result is that we all went to Bogota, Columbia. Alan and Ida Mae ended up in Panama. This is my only picture of Bogota, Columbia and it is at the airport before boarding the bus to the hotel.

When we got to Columbia the airlines had shuttle service for all forty-two of us to an airport close to the hotel. We were each given a room and vouchers for two meals (lunch and dinner). However, it was after 5pm and two meals were not in the cards for Claude and me. We went to our room in a very nice hotel and opened a window as it was very stuffy and there was no air conditioner that we could find anywhere. Then we realized how close we were to the runway. Yep, every plane taking off roared right by our window. It would have to be shut to muffle the sound if we were to get any sleep that night.

We did go to the restaurant and use one voucher for a very late lunch. Then back to our room for as much sleep as we could get for another very early morning. on Thursday.