0630 Arrive at Vancouver Airport and check in (thanks to Sarah for the ride!). I'm early for my flight but I wanted to leave lots of time for airport security screening. I have 2 large bags, a carry-on with my laptop and both recorders, and my microphone tube that is 3 feet long and makes security screeners very nervous!
0630 Security screening - I have to unpack my carry-on and place all the electronics in separate bins. They don't mind the microphone but my hiking boots and belts set off alarms and result in the full body frisking. Lovely.
0900 Flight to Calgary. I'm delighted to find that my carry-on actually fits under the seat!
1100 Lots of banking and a bumpy landing into Calgary, where we pop out of the clouds only a few hundred feet above a snow-covered landscape. I only have one hour to collect my luggage from the transit carousel and pass through US Customs, then drop off my luggage again. It was pretty tight!
1145 The US Customs agent asks what's in the tube and where I'm going with it. I reply that it's a microphone and I'm going to Peru to record wildlife. He asks what I do and I tell him I'm a marine biologist. "OH!" he says, "like George on Seinfeld! You saw
that episode, right?" I lie and tell him of course I saw that one. This is now the 6th time I've been asked that question by a US Customs agent and they never say "like
Jacques Cousteau"...
1200 Calgary Airport security screening - this time I am prepared and put everything into the bins, including my belt and boots, and get through with no problems - except I am made to drink the very expensive bottle of water I had just purchased in Vancouver!
1245 Flight from Calgary to New York. I watch a fascinating documentary about
manta rays and the movie
Water, about the injustice and deplorable conditions faced by widows in
India.
Everyone should see this film!
1900 Another bumpy landing into New York's JFK airport. I could see the lights of New York stretching below me as far as I could see.
1945 I check into the LAN Chile desk amid throngs of travellers from all over the world, many in traditional clothing from countries as varied as Kuwait, Indonesia and Jamaica. I stop for dinner in Bar Avion and feel replenished after a long day.
2100 JFK airport security screening. This time the screener wants to know if the tube contains a light saber. I play along, joking that my kids sure wish it was. I let her know it's a microphone and she assumes I'm in the film industry.
2230 Flight from JFK to Lima. I manage to get a couple of hours of sleep.
0500 Dawn breaks as we begin our descent along the
Andes Cordillera. The fog bank is socked in tight along the coast, as it always is at this time of year, but I see the mountain peaks soaring up through the clouds like a chain of islands.
0615 We land at Jorge Chavez airport in
Lima. Surprisingly, not one of the officials asked me any questions about my gear or what I was planning to do in Peru. They probably assumed I was heading to the jungle for an ecotour. I’m bombarded by taxi drivers as I exit the secure area, and rescued by my friend Susana who leads me to a waiting cab.
0645 Lima is humid!! We drive through the blue-collar port of Callao and make our way to Miraflores, the upscale district. Along the way we pass workers and students, minibus taxis, and when we get to the coast, long sandy beaches backed by cliffs covered in purple and blue flowers – la Costa Verde.
0730 My hotel is delightful and has everything I could ask for – a bed, a bath, free internet and a huge bottle of drinking water. I get another four hours of sleep and I’m ready to go!
... there's that crazy microphone tube!
(clicking on the images should make them larger!)
