Goodbye America

Well, it's been quite a day. We began this journey at approximately 3:18 am. Our flight left Las Vegas at 6:00 am, so we had to be up and at 'em bright and early. Ok, so it wasn't really bright, but you get the picture. We got to the airport before the gate was even open, so we had to stand around waiting for them to get everything going for a few minutes. We finally got to our gate and it was time to board. We flew out of gate D19. Had time to take 2 pictures.

After one small heart attack that we got on the wrong plane (I thought we were flying into JFK) everything went great (with the exception of a lot of turbulence) on the flight to Newark, New Jersey. We thought our layover was about an hour and a half, but once again, we were wrong. It was only 45 minutes, and our flight landed late. So we had about 30 minutes to find our gate, get our passports checked in and get on the plane. It turned out fine, and we made it.
However, I had planned to only carry on. My duffel fit just fine on the flight to EWR, but apparently it just wasn't happening from EWR to Lima. I don't know why. As we were on the little walk way to the plane, some guy thought that he needed to check everyone's bags. Ugh. I tried to sneak past him to no avail. He caught me and asked if I would like to check my bag. I told him no, to which he replied, but the overhead bins are already full, and this is a small plane. I told him that the last plane was small and my bag fit just fine, but he insisted, without knowing what size of plane I had previously come from, that this one was smaller and there was just no room for it. UGH!
I got on the plane, found my seat and looked around. The plane was exactly the same size as the previous plane, and every single overhead bin from the front of the plane to the middle of the plane had room for at least one bag, and the one right next to where I was sitting looked like this:

Apparently, this means it's too full for one more bag to possibly fit. I was a little perturbed, but after venting about it to Anne Marie for a few minutes, I vowed to let it go. :)
Anyway, we landed in Lima about 45 minutes later than we were supposed to, made our way to baggage claim, and my bag was already there waiting for me so I couldn't be too mad. We got through customs in a breeze, and about 20 minutes after we landed, we made it safely to our hotel, which was approximately 20 yards from the airport. Nice.
Tomorrow we are flying to Cusco where the conference is. I am excited and a little nervous to present. Ok, a lot nervous. It will be a great experience. I am a little bummed, as there is still a lot of damage on the rail road tracks and we may not be able to do Machu Picchu after all. Oh well. I have to keep telling myself that I utimately came for the expereince of presenting at an International Public Health conference, and Machu Picchu would just be a huge bonus. There are still some amazing things to see, and it will give me a reason to come back, with Danny!!

After being up for nearly 24 hours, I think it is time to say goodnight. It was too dark when we got here to take a real photo of what Peru looks like, so this plant in our hotel will have to suffice for now. :)

Thanks dad, for letting me borrow your camera. Already I can tell it is going to take way better pictures than mine would have! Stay posted. I will keep you updated! Much love, peace out.