A
taxi takes me Manchester Airport. A great service, www.eazycarz,uk . Thank you Richard.
A problem with the bike box. It won't go through
the excess baggage area as it is too large. I have to return to check
in to await someone to take it via another route. I have fun asking
people in the check in queue to sign the box with a felt pen. Two
musicians of a Trad Jazz band do so, as do a family from Jerusalem.
The check in assistants take turns to climb over from their desks to
sign. I photograph them.
Eventually
the box is taken away and at last I can get through security. It
takes forty five minutes to do so! This leaves me ten minutes to get
to my boarding gate! Oh great, I might just miss the first flight.
I
don't. All is well as I calm down in my seat with panic over. We taxi
out and take off into the darkening sky, heading west towards
Liverpool before turning east.
Arriving
at Schipol Airport I take a taxi to my hotel, the Hampton in Hilton.
A
night in a hotel and a coach to the airport, vegan sandwiches, tasty
too, available from a shop near to terminal F7 and news that the
flight to Lima is delayed by fifteen minutes due to the early morning
fog. I sit and wait with sandwich and book.
The
book is Mother of God by Paul Rosalie and I read about his adoption
of a young Giant Anteater. Fascinating book, Paul's description of an
adult Giant Anteater and it's ability to dismember dogs and people
with violent ferocity, using it's razor-sharp six inch claws, strikes
a cautionary note within me. Will I encounter one during my jungle
months?
A
big surprise when someone comes behind me and says “hello.” I
turn to find Dr Rob Williams. Rob has been helping with advice and
contacts in Peru and it is great to see him. Rob takes me over to his
family; his wife, Father-in-law and three sons. There are on the same
flight to Lima.
Onboard
and in the air, we soon fly high over The North Sea and London. Then
I recognise Hurst Castle on The Solent and tear up as Swanage comes
into view. It was in this delightful seaside town that my late wife,
Karen and I lived.
Out
over The Atlantic and over the southernmost of The Azorean islands.
An
eleven hour flight, Amsterdam to Lima, where many hours are spent at
30,000 feet over The Atlantic, it is lovely to see the coastline of
Guyana. South America is reached yet there are still four hours of
flight time left.
The
Amazon, snow-capped mountains, thunderstorm clouds that stretch
higher than we are flying and finally a descent, we land at Lima
airport, Peru!
An
hour wait once passport is stamped for the bike box but there it is
and all in one piece. Mani, a close Peruvian friend, is waiting for
me at the exit and we are soon in the San Isidro home. Katia,
Luisfer, Nicholas are sitting after their huge hugs with their three
dogs. Tani, the family's home help smiles here large smile as she
greets me once more. We talk until eleven. It is five in the morning
in the UK. A thirty hour day, I go to bed.
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