The drive to the airport from the hotel was quick and easy again. Cuzco airport security was the easiest I have ever been through. No taking off shoes, no taking off belt, left all my liquids and laptop inside my suitcase…breezy. Once you went through security to get to the gate, you couldn't go back again. Some decided to stay on the side with shops and food. I went through directly so I could work on my journal. I didn't feel like socializing with anyone. None of us said much because we were all so beat. The plane was small. 2 seats on each side of the row. There was a varied group traveling with us - Doctors without Borders had a group on the plane. There was also a white girl completely decked out in traditionally costume-like jewelry. I liked her look, but I found myself judging her thinking she's trying too hard and she can't really be comfortable in her skin to need to put on a show like this. But I could see myself wearing the same thing. We walked out to the plane and boarded from the back because we were sitting in the back. They offered us snacks and showed a "gag" show on the plane TV. It was supposed to be funny in the practical joke sort of way, but I didn't find it too humorous.

We landed in Lima and had about 4 hours before our flight to Houston. We couldn't check in yet. So, we all decided to put our luggage in airport storage until we could check in for our flight. We were waiting for the CEO of Peru and our friend Donato to meet us to say goodbye. Some people got something to eat, some shopped (Angela). There was a starbucks which felt comfortable to many. There was a mani/pedi place which I desperately wanted, but decided against for sanitation reasons and lack of money reasons. Eventually Eduarto and Donato arrived and gave us small gifts and said goodbye. We then ate in the food court - I tried "manos moredos" which had a picture of a big black lady - very racist. It was afro-peruvian food. It tasted pretty good, but it was airport food. I did find some things while souvenir shopping. Alflajores - packaged and little boxed ones. Aguaymados - chocolate covered in a box. And a couple of different packaged sauces - red and yellow ones. Gave away the candy as part of souvenirs for family. Found out later that the alflajores tasted like crap and nothing like the ones from argentina. The aguaymandos maybe even tasted stale - those were also terrible. BUT the sauces were amazing. I need to find out where to buy more of them.

When it was time, we got our luggage out of storage and checked in for our flight to Houston. We still had a couple hours to kill at that point. Our gate had its own security screening checkpoint because it was a direct flight to the US. We were the first group in the gate. It was tiny. We occupied a corner and I plugged up right away, trying to work more on my journal/blog. Eventually people started to fill in. There was a little old lady in a wheelchair. She only spoke Spanish. Renata started a conversation with her and we learned that her sons lived in New York and were very wealthy. Renata helped her use the bathroom and go through security. She basically became her buddy until we boarded the flight. It was so touching. Even at that point of the trip - sleep deprived, intense, mentally and physically exhausting, she was still putting herself out there to help another individual. A stranger at that.

We got on the plane and I noticed many Asian people wearing masks like some did during the "SARS" epidemic. I had been so removed from news and what was happening outside of our experience, that I didn't even know if there was some sort of biomedical outbreak. All of a sudden, as the flight attendants were going through the safety precautions, I noticed that everything was in English instead of Spanish. They didn't even do dual languages, which was strange to me because we were flying to Houston, a US city with a large Spanish speaking population.

The girl sitting next to me was very cool. She was from Canada, and had quit her job to travel. She was pretty young, very eco-friendly and someone I could totally be best friends with. She was traveling alone and got up with this eco-friendly group that backpacked through Peru for a month. She had lined up another job for when she returned and started the job the day after she arrived into Houston. She tried to push it back, but it was a really , really prestigious position in medical engineering or something so she had to start when they asked her to. She was inspirational.

The flight was from 5am to 11am or something like that. They turned the lights off and most people tried to sleep. I got up to use the bathroom during the flight and when I exited the bathroom, there was a man standing right in front of me, too close to the door and he freaked me out. It took me a second to realize he was asleep. Standing up asleep. The flight attendant noticed I was uncomfortable and trapped in the bathroom, so he woke up the sleeping man for me and I escaped back to my seat.

My Cuzco sunburn was really agitating me on the plane. I was trying not to rub it on anything to avoid the pain, and to avoid it peeling eventually. It was super hard to stay hydrated while being burnt, and on a plane. We landed and went through customs. It was almost a mile from the gate we exited at and customs. We went through customs about the same time that a plane from Africa arrived. I couldn't figure out what language they were speaking or which country the flight came in from, but the majority of the people were very dark-skinned and very well dressed.

Made it through initial customs and everyone kind of went their own way. Some had immediate flights to catch and I think most just wanted to get situated. Trish and I were both going to the east coast and had the latest flights. Trish got a cart and put her stuff on it. She took mine too since my backpack was so heavy. Trish ended up having something on her cart that set off US customs, and my stuff was with her, so we had to go through extra customs together. The line took forever and the guards were not friendly. We then ate in the food court - I tried "manos moredos" which had a picture of a big black lady - very racist. It was afro-peruvian food. It tasted pretty good, but it was airport food. They opened up our stuff and found our food and gifts which neither of us had declared, but it turned out to not be too big a deal.

So, 20 minutes later we were on our way to our next gate. I found spot by an outlet and in front of a couple TVs. I saw the same guy from Buffalo who watched the football game with me on the way down, on his way home to Buffalo again. I was back on US soil, with English and terrific tasting food that was bad for me. And I was on my way to spend time with Dana and his family for Thanksgiving. More culture shock to come.

I have a note here about "Christmas" and "ring and babies" but I am not sure what I though was noteworthy to add in here. =)