Houston, we have a problem! June 19th

It all began on father’s day 2011. Rachel’s family picked me up and we were off to the air port. We stood outside to check our bags where the line was only about 7 people long. When we made it to the counter the man at the desk asked where we were headed to.. I replied “Houston to lima.” Of course his reply was that he couldn’t check in international flights but if the line was too long he’d see what he could do. We had gotten there in good timing only to find a HUGE line at the check in counter. Seriously the line had at least 100 people and it was moving at the rate of a snail. Rach & I debated about what we should do. She decided she would stay with our stuff and I could go out and ask if he would check us in. I went outside and waited in line til he noticed me. I finally said, “on a scale of 1-10, how bad do you not want to check us in??” of course he let us come back outside to check us in. jamal…we love you-you will never understand what a blessing you were to 2 anxious, first time travelers. As he checked us in he teased us about our passport pictures and came up with nicknames for us-he was so great. 

Needless to say, we got to Houston with no problems.  Our plane got in around 2:55 which left us about an hour to get to our next flight to Lima. We got to the gate only to find a HUGE line (again…) Apparently the computers were down…awesome. 4 o clock rolls around and the dreaded announcement is made…”folks, our plane needs some mechanical work done and the part won’t get in until 7 o clock.” Sighs, moans, cursing, etc was all around. Conveniently a little Peruvian lady sat next to me and decided I looked like I could speak Spanish. At first, she was great company but then all she wanted to do was talk and I could barely understand anything she was saying! The next announcement was then made around 6 30-“ the part needed for the plane wont be in until midnight. We are going to give hotel vouchers for those who are not local.” Obviously, I was stressed out. It didn’t help that my little old lady friend was making me call all her family and explain the news because she didn’t know any English.  Once she realized we were going to a hotel she asked me if we could get a third bed so she could stay with us. Talk about having an insta-pet..she could hardly walk at 88 years old! Another announcement was then made around 8. “the part came in early and we can get you out of here at 10.” 10:30 came and finally they put us on the plane. After sitting there for 40 minutes or so they made an announcement over the intercom apologizing that they needed us off of the plane because the crew had been awake too long. We finally went to the hotel and were told to come back the next morning by 9 :30 for an 11:30 flight which of course got delayed until 12:30 which then got delayed 3:50. What a way to start an adventure!