The Journey

Quorn to Lima

I packed relatively light i.e. one relative thought I was packing far too many tee shirts, whilst the other, me, thought I got it 'just so' like the little bear's porridge. Speaking of small bears, he didn't come with me Paula. He just waved me off. I didn't want it to end up like the Mr Bean sketch where he 'has to' cut the head off his teddy to fit everything in. There was the emotional scene at the airport. I briefly thought Olivia had a quick tear, but soon realised she had covered her face in extreme embarrassment, a response to the extravagant waving from Chris each time I reached a bend in the long and winding route from 'transparent bags' to Passport Control. After a further 15 minute walk to my gate I was ready to go.

Heathrow to São Paolo passed without incident; I chatted to my neighbour who was also on his own and I must have got more sleep than I thought because it seemed to pass fairly quickly. The plane journey from São Paolo to Lima however was spent sitting next to Mr Sleepy on the aisle, which meant I had to wake him up very time I went to the toilet, and when I came back too! The lady in the window seat was just coughing ominously, possibly partly because Brazil was 'licensed' to fumigate the plane by spraying something noxious above our heads before we set off. There was a brief worrying couple of minutes on arrival in Lima when I couldn't spot my taxi transfer and I was approached by the airport meeter and greeter and a phone call was offered, but after another quick circuit I saw him, just arriving, with the biggest sign with my name on it you have ever seen. Definitely one for 'Mrs Huge' Helen.

I was safely delivered to the Gran Bolivar Hotel on the Plaza St Martin and it would have been very grand in its day, fit for the most important visitors according to the guide books. It has marble columns, a huge, central, stained glass dome and a magnificent dining room. It even has an old Ford car in the reception area and sculpted heads on plinths, worryingly life-like when viewed out of the corner of the eye. However, in its present faded state, the hotel can now be enjoyed by the likes of me. My room looked out over the street, which, I decided, might be quite interesting. I was not disappointed by the first view from the window - a semi naked Indian and his braves dancing to Peruvian music. I did start to become a little worried about the traffic noise at this point however, but more of that later...

Comments:

Katharine!! How lovely to hear from you, was going to contact Chris to find out how you were getting on but thought he might think I was after something else...?!! All sounds very exciting, much better than Eastenders, cant wait for the next instalment...... x From Sharon Axten, on Sep 4, 2014 at 07:15PM

Definitely ring Chris if you want - sure he would be pleased to hear from you. He might even give you some apples. :) xx From whatktdid, on Sep 5, 2014 at 02:35AMRead more