Seattle to Lima

Day 1-2 Seattle to Panama to Lima to Iquitos, via Costa Rica due to being blown off course by a hurricaine

Day 1:  Aug 4, 2000
Our flight to LA was uneventful.  In LA we had a very long hike from our arrival terminal to the international terminal and had to try several times before we found the part of the airport that Copa Air flew out of... it was quite a feat of physical stamina, and in the end, I'm sure we ended up carrying our bags almost a mile before we got to check them in at the international terminal.  They would only allow us one "priority" bag a piece when we checked in, they could not guarante the arrival of our other bags at our final destination.  (WTF?)  Finally got checked in and departed for our first stop in Panama (hopefully with all our bags). Settled in for red-eye flight.

Day 2 (8/5/00)  

Still on the plane headed for Panama - or so we had hoped.  Our flight to Panama was long and uncomfortable.  We flew through a hurricane and ended up being blown far enough off course that we had to stop in Costa Rica for gas the next morning.  The area we saw of Costa Rica from the plane was lush, beautiful jungle.  Almost beautiful enough to distract us from the burned out exoskeleton of a commercial jet that had been abandoned at the side of the runway, ahem…

Our re-fueling detour made us over an hour late for our connecting flight in Panama, but by the grace of The Powers that Be, our flight out of Panama was also delayed (or being held) and after a frantic sprint, we made it onto the plane bound for Lima.  

Upon arriving in Lima, we discovered that indeed one of our bags got stuck in Panama.  Fortunately neither of the large packs with all our clothes was lost, unfortunately the small bag that had our water filter, rehydration mixes, flashlights, toiletries etc. was the one missing.  

Starting the tracking process for a bag missing on a  South American airline when you don't speak Spanish is a bit challenging to say the least; but with the help of a few friendly strangers and a whole lot of patience, we got the proper forms filled out.  The biggest problem was that we did not have the name, address or phone number of the hostel in Iquitos that we would be staying at.  All this time, Michael was waiting outside in the cold rain with Manolo, a representative of our travel agent in Lima.  He was extremely kind and helpful and made sure for us that the paperwork for the bag had been filled out.  He gave us our domestic plane tickets, and helped us navigate the check in and tax payment process in the Lima airport. 

While waiting for our flight to Iquitos we met a very nice couple from Alaska and Michael had quite the conversation with a guy from North Carolina, who in my opinion was a little bit of a bubba.  Turns out he works with the timber industry… (cringe) we didn't ask for details about his job or his company.  Sometimes I wish I wasn't an American.  The thoughtless, capitalist greed and the destruction it drives shames me.  I don't like knowing I'm part of it.