Inca Highlands Day 4 - The Sacred Valley

Not too early a start this morning, especially when compared to the previous one. A more reasonable 8am was the time in which we were to all assemble. Breakfast in the Cusco accomodation was adequate, with bread and condiments being made available. There was some Peruvian cereal on offer (with pinkish milk), but I didn't take any. Playing it super safe.

The Sacred Valley tour started off with an introduction by the guide for the day (Roger), who subsequently introduced the driver. Once the introductions were done, we were off to our first stop - a small market approximately 40 minutes out from Cusco.

As I irresponsibly failed to bring a hat along to South America, I went searching for a hat in the markets. I found an interesting hat reminiscent of the good, the bad, and the ugly (in black) but it didn't quite fit. No purchase. The trip to the market wasn't completely fruitless though, as the highlight was just in front of the market proper.

In front of the market proper was a small llama and alpaca pen, inclusive of an aged shepard. The people on our tour bus, as well as tourists from another van, flocked to take photos of the various four legged animals. Obviously, I joined in. There was this cute little llama wandering around just in front of the pen, which was open. Some of us got the opportunity to feed the baby llama before the shepard shut up shop. Clearly wasn't getting as many soles as he was expecting. For taking photos, I provided a small donation.

Once we had spent 30 minutes at the market it was time for us to move on to our next location, an Inca site close to a village called Pisac. We all quickly hopped onto the bus and we were off. En route to the Inca site we stopped along the side of the road for a few happy snaps - very picturesque, with the clouds floating above and the mountains encircling the valley below.

The Inca site near Pisac consisted of well preserved terraces as well as a few intact buildings. There were approximately two dozen terrace levels spanning the face of one of the mountains, and just about all of them were still standing. The guide assured us that only a small percentage of the free standing terraces had to be explicitly restored (due to terrace walls eroding and collapsing). It's clear that the agricultural knowledge of the Inca was quite advanced.

At Pisac the tour group learnt about the rise of the Incas - which included the subjugation of the local populations, the gradual spread of the Inca empire over time, and the importance of the Andean Cross. Whilst the historial and cultural aspect of the tour was not everyone's cup of tea I definitely found it interesting.

By the time we finished the Pisac ruins it was off to lunch - as it was late afternoon we stopped at a small village nearby. Unfortunately for the village and its occupants a mudslide had hit the area and caused a significant amount of damage... with approximately 100 families losing their livelihood due to the destruction of their homes and land.

Lunch was a buffet lunch at a place called Inca House. Given that we were in the middle of nowhere, it was quite nice. We were advised in Lima to avoid buffets, but down in the Sacred Valley with a different tour guide... it was a different story. The lunch was quite pricey, at 35 soles, but it did the job. The lunch also included a complementary glass of Pisco Sour (a popular local alcoholic drink).

On the way to our next location we learnt a little bit more about Inca textile skills. There was a particular segment on how the Inca used to colour their fabrics. All of the colours that the Inca created were natural, which would turn out to be dull in appearance (so if colours are bright - they're synthetic). Different colours required different ingredients and techniques. For example, to get red you had to harvest tiny little insects and squash them and use their blood. Simple enough. Other ingredients used to obtain different colour palettes included herbs and even human urine!

The next stop on the Sacred Valley tour was an Inca town called Ollantaytambo. Apparently this is the oldest Inca town that is still inhabited - with many of the buildings and infrastructure that were in place during the age of the Incas still intact. The locals still live here just like they did in ages past, with a few extra modern luxuries.

One of the highlights of Ollantaytambo is the nearby unfinished temple - a substantial monument that is still surviving to this day. The ingenuity of the Inca was obvious - huge slabs of rock that must have weighed tens of tonnes formed the structure of the temple. Not only was it amazing that they managed to lug the masses of granite hundreds of meters uphill... they were able to build walls made of these hulking stones without the aid of mortar or adhesive material. Quite impressive.


The visit to the temple at Ollantaytambo was not without incident. Humour always seems to creep into holidays. The tour group was on its way out of the temple complex via a narrow path, we paused at a junction that provided a great vantage point for photos. We all took our time taking pictures and were prompted to move on when another group of tourists appeard behind us. Some of the members of the tour group were resting up on the slope of the mountain, as others in the group were actively taking photos.

Now, one of the ladies in the group behind us wanted assistance taking a photo, with the lady in front and the temple as the backdrop. One of the guys in our group hopped down and almost fell off the side of the track - due to the momentum of hopping down. There was a moment where everyone gasped. He didn't fall off, although it was a long, long way down to the bottom. The photo was taken without any further dramas. Many jokes followed afterwards about how 'mamacitas' can inspire guys to do crazy things!

A sleepy bus ride back followed the Ollantaytambo city visit. I did buy a small hat with llama images on them in the Ollantaytambo market on my way out - which would come in handy for the Inca trek itself. Once we were back in town we all split up to do our own thing. For me and a couple of others, it was back to the cafe for some safe food. Carbo loading for the big trek ahead, which was to start the next day. Avoid Spaghetti Bolognaise.... it's just different. Carbs are carbs, I guess. Anyway, an early evening followed dinner and that ended the day.

Inca Highlands Day 3 - Arrival in Cusco

The morning began with a 5am wakeup call. This wasn't organised by me, it was organised by the tour guide - and it came as a bit of a shock. For a minute there I thought that work was calling me up, wanting to discuss an issue! Not only was the wakeup call totally unexpected, it was half in Spanish. Did the job though. The reason for the call was due to the fact that we had a 7:20am flight to Cusco to catch. After showering and packing the bags it was down for breakfast. Breakfast was the same breakfast as the morning I arrived in Lima - scrambled eggs, ham, cheese, juice.

A transfer bus to Lima airport (Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chavez) was arranged by the tour, we arrived at the airport with no incident. Everyone on the bus was in high spirits, considering that it was still early in the morning. At the airport we were handed our e-tickets and proceeded to check-in. Nothing too special so far - except for the fact that the Gate number that I had on my ticket differed from others in the tour. Turns out that they just print any old number when they haven't assigned a gate to a flight. I must say, it would have been much easier to print nothing and tell us to monitor the departure boards!

Whilst the scheduled departure time of the Lima to Cusco flight was 7:20am, we didn't depart on time. The plane (Peru Airlines) set out for our next destination at 8:00am instead. The journey only took an hour, I slept. I woke up fairly tired - that could have been due to the early morning start or the impact of altitude... as Cusco is roughly 3300m above sea level. We were met by our guide, Belge, after we picked up our bags and left the terminal building. There was only time for a quick hello before we were whisked away to our accomodation.

The hotel in Cusco was pretty good. The room was clean, the bathroom was nice, and the shower did it's job. What more could you ask for? As for the negatives - the room was a bit cold and the key to the room did not snugly fit the lock. Getting into the room always took a few tries. All good.

The first day in Cusco was quite light - as we were all supposed to acclimatise to the higher altitude. We were given free time until after lunch and were given a few recommendations on where to eat. Given that we didn't know much of the place, we took up one of the recommendations - a little cafe that was effectively down the road.

Once we were done with lunch we commenced our walking tour of Cusco, led by our tour guide, Belge. The tour was only brief, then again Cusco isn't exactly the largest of towns. The focus of the tour was the Plaza de Armas and surrounds. I was actually impressed by the plaza, as I wasn't expecting much - it was quite a pleasant place to just sit and relax. Once the walking tour finished, some of us headed back to the Plaza de Armas and chilled out in a cafe. The cafe, funnily enough, was called Cafe Bagdad. No idea where the name came from, and I didn't ask.

One thing that i'll mention about Cusco is that it is quite polluted. I don't mean that there is litter on the ground and that it's a gubby place to be, I was referring to the air quality. I originally thought that the air in and around Lima was bad, but Cusco was horrendous. Just about every car on the road would be spewing noxious clouds out the back of their mufflers.

The tour had its first organised dinner at a local restaurant. I can't recall the name of the restaurant, but it was more on the higher end of what was available. The food here was great!  I ordered a chilly chicken dish that was akin to curry. Yum, yum. I also tried small portions of what some of the others were eating as well, with one of the more exotic dishes that I tried being alpaca. Guinea pig was on offer as well, but that was ordered by another table. Many made a mental note to give it a try at a later stage.

After dinner had concluded it was time to head back to the hotel for some rest. A big day ahead was planned for us, a tour of the Sacred Valley. It was still early on in the tour, so everyone signed up. A wise decision as we'd be back for another free day post-Inca trail.

Inca Highlands Day 2 - Lima - To Rimac and Back!

The second day of the Inca Highlnds tour ensured that I saw much more of Lima and surrounds. The day saw me visit both the rough end of Lima as well as the more pituresque, the hustle and bustle in the heart of town as well as secluded views looking over the town. The day in isolation would have been a good one, if it wasn't for other groups telling us what we could have done in the day. More on that a little later on.

The morning was supposed to be an early one, with several people aiming to wake up really early (5:30am) to see the celebrations in the main square outside the Presidential Palace (Plaza de Armas). The event was the Procession of the Lord of Miracles - where purple could be seen everywhere, banners are hung off balconies and people dress up in as much purple garb that they can find. I set an alarm for 5:30am, found that I was just too tired, and went back to sleep. I reawoke at 8:30am.

Heading down for breakfast, I met up with those that left earlier in the morning to see the Procession of the Lord of Miracles. They had just come back for breakfast. Good timing. There were a few others in the room for breakfast and we discussed what we could do for the remainder of the morning (as the half-day tour of Lima would be beginning in the afternoon). I didn't really have much of an idea, as I hadn't done any research on what to do in Lima - as I had assumed the tour had it all covered. I was happy to go for a stroll, as were the others in the know. We set off shortly after breakfast had concluded.

I'm not exactly where the target destination was for the morning but we first made it to Plaza de Armas where, as expected, the area was bathed in purple. Even though the speeches and the main procession had passed there were hundreds of people milling about. Perhaps the locals were staying out and enjoying the sunshine, as it was a lovely day outside.

After cutting through the Plaza de Armas the aim was to cross the bridge behind the Presidential Palace. We headed up towards the river towards the Library with the aim of cutting back behind the presidential palace. The road was blocked off by the military. Standing at the blockade we watched as the side gate of the palace opened up. Several military men milled about before an artillery piece was rolled out of the gate. The men carted the artillery piece down the road, and that was that.

As the bridge behind the palace was closed off, we went to cross north of the river via the main arterial road, Abancay. As we crossed the road it seemed as though we had crossed into another world. The feeling of complete safety evaporated as the integrity of the buildings in view deteriorated. As we turned left and walked down Via de Evitamiento, abandoned and burnt out buildings also came into view! Digital cameras that were in plain view promptly made their way into the concealed security of backpacks. We had arrived in Rimac.

Rimac happens to be one of the most run-down areas of Lima, and this was confirmed with conversations later on in the day with local guides. Without this knowledge we forged onwards, passing through a small market. One thing that was of particular note was that there were several stalls selling Chinese food. Bizzare, especially in a place like Peru.

Our stay in Rimac was not an extensive one. A currency exchange person stopped to talk to me, whilst some of the others continued. He gestured to me that we should not continue - I imagine that he was saying the exact same thing. The shaking of the head followed by pointing ahead of us wasn't really the set of gestures that I really wanted to see. I nodded and thanked the exchange person and called out to some of the others. Some of the group ahead were much further on. I didn't have to do too much as some military men had stopped the lead elements of the group and started talking to them, apparently they were strongly told to head back. So turn back we did.

The way back was much more direct as the bridges behind the palace seemed to have opened up. As it was lunchtime, and not too far away from the start time of the tour we dispersed. Three of us decided to have something quick and ate at a chicken shop on the Plaza des Armas (Roccos?). Nothin too special about the meal except for the fact that I tried some Inca Cola. I just had to try Inca Cola as I saw the advertisment for it everywhere!

At 2pm we all gathered in the hall at the hotel to set off for our half-day Lima tour, organised by the local tour leader. Two minibuses were provided for us and we split up accordingly. After a short drive through downtown Lima, we were out onto one of the highways - where there was an accident on the side of the road. As we approached the accident zone, we slowed to a crawl. Looking to the left as we passed by it didn't look good at all. An overturned sedan sat on the side of the road, just shy of the median strip down the centre. It looked as though the car had hit the median strip, which was actually demarked by a raised slab of concrete along the centre of the highway, and rolled over. Glass shards and shrapnel were everywhere. Approximately a dozen people were milling about the car, some trying to assist the driver out of the car, and some just watching. Quite the chaotic scene.

The journey past the accident was incident free, and in a short space of time we were in the district of Miraflores - the playground of the more affluent in Lima. We were taken to a local park in the area and were permitted to walk around. The park was reasonably large and was distinctively green. Water isn't the most readily available resource in Lima and therefore its use to ensure the health of the park emphasised the affluence of the area. So we were told, anyway. In the park we were given some basic information about Lima - it's population, size, number of districts, and the city's demographics.

Huaca Pucllana was the next stop after the stroll through the park.Whilst we didn't enter the Huaca Pucllana site, we did get a good view of the structures within from outside of the enslosure walls. The intriguing thing about the series of structures is that it's made up entirely of little mud slabs, that surprisingly hasn't totally decayed away after all this time. Probably better that way, as i'm not too sure how many people were in the mood to spend extra dosh. There was a bloke out the front trying to sell books about Huaca Pucllana, yet nobody was interested. It was at this point we got a bit of a primer on ancient pre-Inca cultures - the Lima and Wari cultures.

We must have only been there for about 20 or so minutes before we were back in the mini-bus. The next stop was the Monumento al Soladado Desconocido, in Chorillos - an area to the south west of Lima. The moument was located at the top of a windy road overlooking Lima as well as the Pacific Ocean. The monument, located not too far away from a stack of communications towers, was to commemorate the persistance of the Peruvian armed forces during the Chilean occupation of Lima. All news to me.


One thing about the area in which the Monumento al Soladado Desconocido resides is that it's not exactly well to do. From the platform you could see the run down houses down below - blocks and blocks of brown sprawled out as far as the eye could see. Having said that, there was a reasonbly nice football (soccer) stadium nearby. I guess that goes to show how important football is in South America!

There was one last stop to the tour after the Monumeno al Soladado Desconocido - the Lovers Statue back in Miraflores. However, there were two minor disruptions on the way down. We were first stopped by a man who was holding a rope taught, where the rope was connected to the rockface on the opposite side of the road. We were warned about this as we set off from the top of the road, obviously this came true. The driver gave the man one sol and we were off again. The second disruption was a pair of sleeping dogs on the road, as we approached the dogs continued to lie there. We stopped in front of them, the dogs continued to lie there. The driver beeped the horn, the dogs poked their heads up and continued to lie there. We ended up driving around them.

The final stop of the tour was the lovers statue in Lima, which provided more ocean views as the sun began to set. As expected there were couples milling about enjoying the sunset. Unexpectedly it was also the place where you could go paragliding. Some people seemed interested in paragliding but it was far too late to do so, and we were already committed to the tour. Once the sun had set we hopped back into our transports and were taken back to our hotel.


Back at the hotel we had a chance to freshen up and prepare for a group dinner at a local restaurant. At this point we were notified of our plan for the next morning - an early breakfast to be served at 5am so that we could be at the airport in time for a 7:30am flight. One of what was to be many early starts.

Dinner was fairly simple chicken dish with chips, as recommended by the guide for the day. No alcohol and no strange food this evening. What I did try though was the local chilli, aji - loved it. I do know that there are lots of types of chilli, but whatever it was... it was fantastic. I loaded up, by adding the chilli to both the chicken and the chips!

Anyway, as there was an early morning ahead of us we all left the restaurant not too long after 9. Sleep promptly followed..

Lazy First Day in Lima - South America awaits...

The replacement 1am Iberia flight passed by issue free - even managed a couple of hours of sleep! A busy drama filled day ensured that I was tired enough to fall asleep. The plane landed at approximately 6am in the morning, and it was off to immigration.

The wait at immigration was brief, although it was longer than it should have been thanks to my luck in picking queues. The slowest queue of the lot was, once again, the one that I chose. Great. Whilst waiting in line a young German tourist started talking to me, wondering what I was doing in South America. We had a brief chat and swapped stories, I was to do Maccu Piccu and she was to stay in Peru for serveral months with no specific plans. There's a contrast.

Our conversation ended when I passed through immigration and waited for my luggage. Luggage was being unloaded painfully slowly so I proceeded to the money exchange booth nearby, then went back to waiting. One thing that I always find a tad annoying about baggage collection is how everyone hovers around the conveyer belt. It doesn't matter where in the world I end up, people seem to always act the same way.

As soon as all of the passengers make their way from the plane to the corresponding luggage conveyer belt people line up right against the conveyer belt - restricting both vision and other people's access to the belt even if their luggage were to appear. Terribly frustrating. It would make much more sense if everyone stayed back a couple of meters then more people would be able to see the bags on the belt as they rolled through, and people would be able to collect their bags if they saw them. Simple!

Being the honest broker that I am I was stopped at the customs gate. The customs declaration form for Peru states that people are able to bring along 2 memory sticks for cameras for personal use. I brought three. At the end of the day it would be much easier just to say that there was nothing to declare, but I wrote in that I had 3 memory sticks. After a quick confirmation by the customs officer, I was waved through.

The taxi ride in from the airport to Hotel Maury was brief and only cost 45 soles, which equates to almost 18 dollars or so. Not the cheapest, though I didn't have anyone with me to share the cost of the cab. I managed to get to the hotel not too long after 7, and proceeded to have breakfast. I may not have arrived in time to check-in the evening before - but I was able to eat the scrambled eggs, toast, and jam breakfast that I was entitled to. Woo!

After waiting around with Jo for the others to wake up 7 of us set off to explore Lima. We only made it as far as a block or so before we all stopped. A shady looking money exhange vendor provided a decent rate and the money changing began. A group of tourists huddled around a dodgy money changer. Quite the sight. After a few trades the exchanger ran out of local money to exchange - he was willing to get more, but we decided to call it quits and move on.

We made it another block before we were interrupted by a street procession. The procession was lead by a lifesize figure pair of a woman and a baby child on a platform adorned with flowers, which was being carried down the street that we were walking down. We stopped to watch the procession, as did many locals.

The parade was a colourful and lively one, heading away from the central plaza. Perhaps it is preparation for a large event! We stopped to observe for approximately half an hour before deciding to move along to the Palace square - which was only a few streets away.

The sqaure itself was nice, although not fantastic. There were plenty of people in and around the square, particularly in front of the palace - where a parade was taking place. Obviously we took a look. Nothing too special. The most interesting component of the parade, was one of the guards on our side of the palace gates. A soldier with dark glasses armed with what looked to be an AK-47. Intense!

We watched the parade for about 15 minutes, at which point the parade ended. The crowd began to disperse. We decided to head off towards the Convento de Santo Domingo and proceeded to exit the area of the palace. Standing by the wall at the edge of the plaza was a column of police. The police saw the swarm of asians with cameras and beckoned one of the girls over, photo time. Apparently the girls didn't ask for a photo with the cops, but the cops did. Two of the girls in the group joined the column for the photo and one of them was lucky enough to have a cop drape his entire arm over her. Hillarious. The race for which girl could pique more interest was on! The photo detour didn't take too long, line up, snap, and we were away.

Downtown Lima isn't all that large, most touristy things are in a several block area. In no time we were outside of Convento de Santo Domingo. The group split into two groups, one to investigate the Convento de Santo Domingo, and the other group... wander around Lima, with a lunchtime meeting place of Convento de San Francisco. I was with the wander around Lima group.

Lunchtime provided much entertainment. The meeting place for everyone was to be at Convento de Santo Domingo, arguably the most important religious complex in Lima. In the courtyard some locals were selling food - an interesting assortment of local dishes. Not quite knowing what to get, we had a look at what was on offer and what seemed to be popular. One of the ladies that worked on the food stall sprung to action, visibly excited that some Chinese people had stopped by.

I don't really understand the total fascination with Chinese people by local Peruvians, but it's definitely there. The lady at the food stall eagerly assisted us in selecting our meals. She didn't speak English and we didn't speak Spanish, so it was an entertaining exchange. After we sat down at a nearby table the lady at the food stall was keen to continue conversing, so she called up her son - who could speak Mandarin. She passed her mobile to one of the girls and a brief conversation followed. A match made in heaven, so the rest of us joked!

There wasn't just the one phone call to the son over the course of lunch, there were several. Which was helpful, yet odd at the same time. The lady at the food stall was helpful to the point of giving us free drinks, a wonderfully refreshing maize drink (that was purple) was offered! Once we had finished lunch she helped us get started with the Convento tour with a peek into the temple, she then lead us to the starting point of an English speaking tour. So very helpful, we were very lucky.

The tour through the Convento de San Francisco was informative and it actually surprised me. I wouldn't have expected there to be a vast library in Lima. Not wanting to be offensive, I just didn't expect it. The library of Convento de San Francisco contained massive prayer books and held thousands of dated texts, quite amazing. One of the more entertaining moments was when we were asked if we had any questions about the library - one member of the tour asked "Are these books original?", classic!

The highlight of the tour of the Convento de San Francisco was a visit down to the catacombs. The catacombs was one of the few places that locals were buried in a younger Lima. A severely limited view of the chapel was available though one of the roof grills on the top floor. Furthermore, the catacombs had several levels and the level in which you were buried depended on status. The members of the convent would be buried on the top level and the poorest of society at the bottom. Tens of thousands of people have been buried there! The odd thing about the whole setup is that the bones have been arranged in a decorative manner by the archaeologists that discovered the catacombs. Having said that, it probably looks much better than a mess of bones!


The visit to the Convento de San Francisco capped off a busy day, i've written too much already! Not many more things of note happened in the afternoon before returning to the hotel. Quickly zooming through the rest of the day - back at the hotel we all had our rooms re-assigned in preparation for the tour, all of the members of the tour had an opportunity meet eachother and we were briefed on the tour ahead. Two important events for the next day: early morning festivities in the palace square, and a guided tour of Lima in the afternoon.

London to Lima... the journey that almost wasn't to be

Ok, so it's all a little late but I did make notes of my holiday as it progressed. So i'll start from the top. I'll consolidate all of the links into the one page once I get enough written up. Now, it's time to rewind to the very start of my journey way back on the morning of Saturday the 16th of October 2010!

I woke up in the morning at approximately 4:30am, for a 7:25am flight departing from Heathrow Airport. It all seemed like a very good idea at the time, given that I only had a few minor things left to pack. I finalised the packing, double checked what I had packed, hopped into the shower and got myself ready. Once I was all done, I grabbed all my gear and headed on down to the London Underground - Kings Cross Station, Picadilly line, all the way to Heathrow Airport.

Now, I wasn't checking the time through all of the stages of getting ready. Not ideal. As soon as I rolled out of bed I just assumed I had enough time. Really bad. Usually i'm quite early for flights, although that may be hard to believe after this particular fail. I was at Kings Cross Station at a quarter to 6. Considering that I really needed to be at the airport two hours prior to departure, this was not good. I must have had a brain snap when setting the alarm, as I must have been preparing to be at the airport by 7:25, instead of 5:25. Excuses, excuses.

As soon as I hopped onto a plane bound for Heathrow I began to worry. Checkin would definitely close by the 60 minute to-go mark, meaning that i'd need to traverse through 24 train stops inside of 40 minutes. Not likely. As soon as I started counting the train stops that were remaining, I realised the abject totality of my failure. Whilst the train ambled along to Heathrow I began to look at alternatives to get to South America... the mobile phone searches were not promising. An extra 5 minute stop at Earls Court did not help to settle my nerves.

The train finally made its stop at Heathrow (Terminals 1,2,3) and I dashed towards the Iberia counter. At 6:45am I just knew that it was already game over with respect to check-in. Hope and luck was all I really had left. Just having a sit and a cry wasn't really an option. As was expected I was not allowed to board - I told them my situation, apologised profusely and handed in my travel itinerary. The people at the counter, one male and one female, proceeded to check alternative flights. The flight later in the evening... sold out.... the flights for the next day... sold out. Searching for the next available flight turned up something, yet not the answer that I was looking for. The next available flight out to Lima was next Friday. OMG.

After hearing that the next available flight was to be in a weeks time the lady at the desk attempted once more to get me onto the plane. By this stage it was 7:00, only 25 minutes to go before scheduled departure. Thankfully this time, after some pleading by the helpful lady at the desk, I was given the green light. I ran to a nearby check-in desk that was suddenly manned, dumped the bags and was instructed to run to the gate. Thank you Iberia! With lady luck on my side nothing else could have gone wrong - or so I thought.

I sprinted to the gate to ensure that I was not to be denied a second time. I did get a few curious glances as I steamed along to Gate 23, I didn't care. A few short minutes later, I was standing in the queue (of 4) to get into the waiting area of Gate 23, puffing and panting. I handed over my passport and boarding pass, and walked into the waiting area pumping my fists in the air. Within two minutes of my sitting down a communique went out to the passengers of Gate 23: due to French strike action, boarding was to be delayed until further notice.

Delays in flights wouldn't usually be a problem, if the flights were direct. In this particular case, the plane that I was waiting to board was bound for Madrid. Furthermore, the transit time between the connecting flight to Lima was two hours. Not the healthiest of margins, that's for sure. People were initially quite calm, but as time progressed people in the waiting area were starting to worry. It turns out that I wasn't the only one who had a connecting flight, there were a total of 40 people who were, like me, bound for Lima. There were also others who were connecting over to the once-a-week flight bound for Guatemala.

After the one hour late mark we were given the go-ahead to board the plane, to the relief of those heading for Lima. Unfortunately it was all too late for those bound for Guatemala, who had only a mere one hour transit time planned for their journey. Relief once again swayed back to worry for the Lima bound passengers, including me, as the in-plane announcement by the captain mentioned that there would be another 40 odd minute delay whilst something was being done about the impact of the French strike action. Sigh.

At 9:20am the captain finally announced that we were departing, which was met with cheering and clapping in the passenger cabin. Assuming that Iberia were to hold the connecting flight to Lima, all would be good and I would be in South America by the evening. Relatively speaking, the flight to Madrid itself was quite uneventful. I dozed.

Upon landing in Madrid (Barajas) a special announcement was made by the captain for those bound to Lima. We were instructed to disembark via the back of the plane, as there was a passenger bus waiting for us to help us on our way. Things were definitely looking up. Why else would they give us a bus if there wasn't a plane waiting? The Lima 40 quickly made it onto the bus and the mood was jovial, overall. The bus passed under the tarmac into a series of tunnels and popped up on the other side after a short drive. Upon disembarking we were told to make our way upstairs to the main terminal area.

Madrid (Barajas) airport is a nice airport overall, but it does seem to have plenty of twists and turns. There seems to be escalators and elevators going up and down all over the place. Somehow it all works, but it's a bit of a mess to the first-time visitor. Back to the main story, there was an airport worker in uniform waiting for us up on the main foyer. He waited for us to all gather and quieten down before making his big announcement. The plane bound for Lima had already left. Before he could finish what he had to say, people began to interject, and interject quite rudely... meaning that he had to repeat himself several times. I caught the gist of it and moved off to be one of the first to get sorted out - go to the Iberia service desk, and they'll arrange for alternative plans.

I jogged up to the check-in area and moved to the first customer service desk that I could find. It was busy, I lined up and waited. After a few minutes, an Iberia staff member wandered over and mentioned that I could use the nearby Business Class service desk. Woo! First time i've dealt with Business Class staff. The lady at the counter was quite helpful and told me that Iberia would provide a hotel for my duration in Madrid and that they've scheduled a 1am flight to Lima (as opposed to the midday flight that I was originally supposed to be on). Better late than never!

By the time I was issued new tickets and was given a hotel voucher for the 4-star Tryp Alameda Aeropuerto hodel (Sol Melia Group) it was approximately 2pm. With the remainder of my time left in Madrid I decided to check-in to the hotel, have lunch there, and make a quick dash around the city.

As for Madrid - I was only able to see the Palace from the outside, visit the Plasa Espana, and take a quick stroll on the Via Grande before calling it a day - making the journey all the way back to the airport accomodation. For reference, the airport is at the far edge of the Madrid metro system, with a 45 minute journey each way.

As opposed to the morning, there were no issues with the transfer to the hotel and the 1am flight bound for Lima. Finally, my South America trip was about to begin - the journey that almost wasn't to be.