A BLANK DAY ! ! !

Well what a day it has been! 

Left LA 2:30pm arriving Mexico City 7:30pm and 4 hours later took off for a five and a half hour flight with AeroMexico to Lima Peru. Tried hard to sleep on the flight but . . . .  any way we landed some time early in the morning somewhere in the desert next to an  air force base. I finally made some sense of it from the hostess that Lima was fogged in for 3 hours so we were stuck here.

I said to Joan ¨Now we have a feel for what a hijack situation is like!¨ as we parked by the runway, then moved to refuel, then with cheers then groans in the cabin as the plane taxied for an aborted take off. These Latino people are very patient and persevering and guess what - they are rubbing off on me. Eventually despite poor communication, aircon, and flight attendant service, we made it to Lima about 11am.
 
Fantastic! Not so!

Slowly, slowly the baggage carousel spewed forth its offerings but none for these Gadabouts! Finally with only 18 baggage carousel watchers left we Gadabouts had our first offering - Harry´s case ... and then our  toiletries ... then suddenly the carousel stopped! 17 Latino voices rang out in rage - Latino coolness only goes so far! - but this Gadabout thought 2 out of 3 ain´t bad! An hour and a half later we Gadabouts - the shito last in line Spanish speakers, had our claims paperwork processed and could finally go to relax and unwind! Thoughtful that Joan has no other clothes, shoes, underwear - nothing except what she has on.

Fantastic! Not so!

An interesting taxi ride (road rules very much like the Vietnamese NO RULES system) took us to our travel agent booked ¨Studio Apartments San Martin, Miraflores¨ - only to find the security gates locked - admittedly I had communicated that we would be in fairly early! Eventually an apartment dweller let us into the compound and through my excellent Spanish and his poor English we ascertained that the concierge was not there and had no idea when the concierge would be back.  Tired, deflated ALMOST beaten I thought ¨BLANK¨

Found something for us to eat and drink then had a think! ¨If this prick dosen´t come we are in a stink!¨ seeing this is where the lost case would come to when its found.


Crappy situation! Not so!

Found a B&B nearby (3 hours later) - great setup, owner has a fantastic personality and speaks perfect English and Español. He sorted out the airline problem, Joan got a hot shower! I got some beer! Then we hit the town - a bustling place with social interaction a lot different than what we know. Melded into the street scene in a curbside restaurant - Joan with a bottle of Chilean Saviognon Blonc  and Harry 1 litre steins of beer.

We both agree its been a BLANK day but are looking forward to our journey ahead.

P.S. this page is BLANK (devoid of photos) because I forgot the BLANK camera  which thank god was not in the BLANK lost suitcase.

Sunny California

Arrived LAX 8am Tuesday (4 hours before we left) severely jetlagged. Cleared immigration and customs easily - have always had a great trepidation a big black dude was going to prod my body! 11am saw us on Blue-bus 3 on our way to Santa Monica and its famous pier.

This pier and its amusement attractions is a relic from the thirties, the carousel was made in 1920's and featured in the Robert Redford movie The Sting.

Being early in the week and not that hot theplace wasn't crowded but there were lots of Japanese and a few Australians like this one -

Walked along the beach path for miles looking for the body builders  before realising we should be going south instead. saw a crowd on the beach and joined them before a security guy said "Sir you have to move back"  Me: "Whats going on here?"  He: "They are shooting a commercial here" Me: "Oh! So where is muscle-beach?  He: "Sir that would be Venus Beach, miles away."

So if you see a commercial with a hundred young bodies runing down the beach and an oldie standing there - Its this Gadabout!

Only 5 days to go!

Time is reigning in with a few nerves setting in .... think I've forgotten the little Spanish learnt! 

Have had a great distraction bowling at Bendigo the last four days with my Inverloch mates Ron, Chas and Ray; even making the local news paper.