Travel Day
(You may click on any photograph to pull up a much larger version of the image.)
I took off on a flight from El Paso this morning at 10:30 to Houston, where I’d catch an international flight to Lima, Peru and arrive before midnight there. At least that was the plan.
Dave in front of Casa Donnybrook before leaving for the airport
Taking off from the El Paso Airport, Franklin Mountains in background
The weather in Houston was bad when I arrived…rain, rain and more rain, and a huge system was brewing in the Gulf of Mexico between us and Peru. The Continental Airlines flight was delayed boarding for half an hour, and we then sat in the plane for another hour before things started to look like we could taxi out for takeoff. Finally at 6:00pm Houston time (7:00pm Lima time) we took off!
The 6 hour 19 minute flight was uneventful, except for about 1.5 hours into the flight, when we flew over and around the largest system of active thunderstorms I’ve ever seen from the air at night! The lighting show from our 35,000-foot altitude was remarkable! Flashes lit the clouds below and around and off into the horizon at least every second for over 45 minutes! I was glued to the window!
Landing in Lima, late, and transiting customs and baggage claim could not have been smoother. Then, what a surprise! Jim Davison, who had arrived an hour earlier, was waiting there with our driver to greet me! I thought I’d have to get to the Miraflores Park Hotel by myself, but no, the INHL sticks together! The ride from the airport along the Barranco next to the South Pacific Ocean in the Mercedez Limo that Jim had arranged was sublime. Arriving and checking into this beautiful hotel (photos tomorrow) was a breeze, and taking a shower after the long day…before posting this update and crashing for a few hours…well, it just is too cool! It’s 4:30 here, (2:30am back home) and I’m ready to call it a night.
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