Lima, Peru!

Just a quick post from gate numero ocho in Lima, Peru. We arrived here safely late last night, and made it through a labyrinth of customs and immigration relying on a combination of rote "airport-memory", adrenaline induced Spanish, and luck. After catching a few hours of sleep in a nearby Ramada hotel, we ate some breakfast, fresh fruit, stale sweet bread, and room temperature whole milk, and miraculously maneuvered our way through the airport maze again. So far the generic international feel of the airport has lessened the impact of being in a foreign country. In true global fashion there is a McDonalds, Papa Johns, and Dunkin' Donuts in the terminal. And, as Mom has demonstrated time and again, if you speak slowly and use enough hand gestures most people still understand if you speak in Spanish. Really the biggest difference is simply that all the signs have bigger Spanish writing above the English translation and that all the prices are in Soles (the local currency there are about 2.75 in each dollar). But I am sure that the impact of being in Peru will hit as soon as we walk out of the generic bubble of an international airport into Cusco.