So, on Tuesday I got up at 3:45 am and got ready for the day. At 4:15 I left my house and worked for the next 10 minutes to get out of my gated neighborhood. Eventually, i decided to give up and go the long way to the gaurd station and have him let me out. I brought my knife (that my woonderful boyfriend gave me as a protective measure) with me because I was going to walk by myself to go meet up with the other 3 40/40's. I wasn't in any danger, but it did make me feel safer. When I met up with the others, we grabbed a taxi for 12 soles and headed to the airport. When we arrived at the ariport it dawned on me that you can't take knives on airplanes.... Dennis brought his on accident too, so we went outside and hid our paraphenalia under a rock.
We all boarded the plane and got to Lima at 7:30. First stop-Dunkin Donuts. Second, Starbucks. lifesaving grace.
Our group went to the Methodist church in town that handles all the mission organizations in Peru. They handed us multiple papers sign here, your address here, sign here, finger print here, so on and so on. I noticed however, that one of my papers spelt my name 'Olvia' so i had the proud honor of retyping that page. I'm praying that I didn't make any mistakes that I overlooked....
At 10:30 we headed to Interpol to do our official residency paperwork. They took hideous pictures and counted our teeth. We did more finger prints and the lady put our information in the computers. Somehow they messed up and my paperwork said 'sexo=masculino'. After a minor freakout, we got that fixed too. It took us 3 hours to get the 12 of us through.
We were all very ready for lunch at this point, so we went to this huge mall on the beach where Tracy, Tyson, Callie, and I ate lunch at Tony Roma's. fabulous burgers, fries, and cold drinks. yummy!!!
After returning to Arequipa, I began to feel the effects of a rich lunch. It's Thursday and I'm still paying for the day....totally worth it:)
All in all, it was a good day. busy, stressful, and exciting. In 2 months we'll return to Lima to officially become Peruvian Residents.
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. When we got back to the airport, Dennis, Andrew, Dennise and I ran to our rock and PTL our knives were still there!!! I was so relieved.
Funny - that was the first thought I had - how did you get on a plane with a knife??? Did you get it in Peru?
ReplyDeleteSo you'll be residents? That's amazing.
I miss you so much. Jayson and I die laughing when we read your blogs. What in the world would you actually do with a knife if you were confronted with a need to really use it? For some reason I just see you giggling instead of actually using it. You are such a blessing. Kiss my sweet nephew and give my sister a hug for me. I love you!!
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