The 12 hour flight seemed shorter than in previous years. Maybe the sleeping meds I'd taken helped.
After a lunch of surprisingly edible pasta and a small pastry, and having filled in my landing card, I took the meds and fell asleep. The sedative gave me a whole 2 hours of sleep: I was woken by the family next to me (3 in my row, 4 in the row behind) asking if I could move my seat forward to pick up something they'd dropped. I half-watched a film and fell asleep, to be woken again half an hour later by the person next to me wanting to get out. When she came back, she asked to borrow my pen for her landing card. No problem, I thought, soon she'll hand it back and I can sleep again. It turns out that nobody in the family had a pen, so it was a good 45 minutes later once my pen had been passed round everyone that I got it back.
Back into sleep, woken an hour later by the person behind me tapping my shoulder asking again if I could move my seat forward so she could pick up something. Back to sleep. I was kindly woken by the person next to me for the snack: a cheese and ham sandwich. I cannot stand cheese or most hams, so I passed it over and went back to sleep. Woken when I was accidentally nudged by the person next to me when she gave her rubbish to the stewards. And so the flight continued: half-watching films, sleeping, waking, watching the other half of the film, then sleeping.
Finally, the seatbelt light was back on. I saw the welcoming sight of the sea and fishing boats as the plane turned and at long last bumped onto the runway at Lima. I have to admit that my eyes were a bit wet when I heard the steward announce that we were now in Lima: after so long away, I was finally here.
A short customs queue later, I was soon waiting for my suitcase and was almost surprised after previous experiences of long-haul flights that it arrived, and intact at that. Bags in hand (well, on trolley) I made my way through to arrivals, where my mum's friend's brother who runs a taxi company was waiting for me. We chatted a bit during the half hour journey to my grandfather's house, and soon there we were. In the dark I recognised some landmarks on the way, and was relieved to at last see the house.
After paying the driver, my grandfather's maid Mirian answered the door and helped me to bring my bags inside. She showed me straight to the room where my grandfather was: I'd last seen him when he came to Europe for the first time two summers ago, it was good to see him and he was happy that I was there. He's now almost blind and quite deaf, so as I ate the dinner of spaghetti that Mirian prepared for me I talked loudly to him about the flight and the family. My uncle's on-off partner Yessica, who lives there as she's due to give birth soon, joined us and we chatted for a while before I was shown to the room where I'd be staying.
As in previous visits to my grandparents' house, I stayed in my aunt Gloria's room. She died five years ago, it felt sad to see that her room was stripped bare and nothing of what she'd owned was left. My grandmother died three years ago, so only my grandfather and Yessica live there now, with Mirian staying during the week. My uncles would come to visit in the daytime.
In the meantime, thankful that I'd read an article advising to keep pyjamas at the top of my hand luggage, I swiftly changed and gratefully sank into the bed welcoming a good night's rest.
After a lunch of surprisingly edible pasta and a small pastry, and having filled in my landing card, I took the meds and fell asleep. The sedative gave me a whole 2 hours of sleep: I was woken by the family next to me (3 in my row, 4 in the row behind) asking if I could move my seat forward to pick up something they'd dropped. I half-watched a film and fell asleep, to be woken again half an hour later by the person next to me wanting to get out. When she came back, she asked to borrow my pen for her landing card. No problem, I thought, soon she'll hand it back and I can sleep again. It turns out that nobody in the family had a pen, so it was a good 45 minutes later once my pen had been passed round everyone that I got it back.
Back into sleep, woken an hour later by the person behind me tapping my shoulder asking again if I could move my seat forward so she could pick up something. Back to sleep. I was kindly woken by the person next to me for the snack: a cheese and ham sandwich. I cannot stand cheese or most hams, so I passed it over and went back to sleep. Woken when I was accidentally nudged by the person next to me when she gave her rubbish to the stewards. And so the flight continued: half-watching films, sleeping, waking, watching the other half of the film, then sleeping.
Finally, the seatbelt light was back on. I saw the welcoming sight of the sea and fishing boats as the plane turned and at long last bumped onto the runway at Lima. I have to admit that my eyes were a bit wet when I heard the steward announce that we were now in Lima: after so long away, I was finally here.
A short customs queue later, I was soon waiting for my suitcase and was almost surprised after previous experiences of long-haul flights that it arrived, and intact at that. Bags in hand (well, on trolley) I made my way through to arrivals, where my mum's friend's brother who runs a taxi company was waiting for me. We chatted a bit during the half hour journey to my grandfather's house, and soon there we were. In the dark I recognised some landmarks on the way, and was relieved to at last see the house.
After paying the driver, my grandfather's maid Mirian answered the door and helped me to bring my bags inside. She showed me straight to the room where my grandfather was: I'd last seen him when he came to Europe for the first time two summers ago, it was good to see him and he was happy that I was there. He's now almost blind and quite deaf, so as I ate the dinner of spaghetti that Mirian prepared for me I talked loudly to him about the flight and the family. My uncle's on-off partner Yessica, who lives there as she's due to give birth soon, joined us and we chatted for a while before I was shown to the room where I'd be staying.
As in previous visits to my grandparents' house, I stayed in my aunt Gloria's room. She died five years ago, it felt sad to see that her room was stripped bare and nothing of what she'd owned was left. My grandmother died three years ago, so only my grandfather and Yessica live there now, with Mirian staying during the week. My uncles would come to visit in the daytime.
In the meantime, thankful that I'd read an article advising to keep pyjamas at the top of my hand luggage, I swiftly changed and gratefully sank into the bed welcoming a good night's rest.
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