Dec 21: Made It.

The trip down here was long but uneventful: Calgary to San Francisco; wait three hours; on to San Salvador on a red-eye; wait six hours; then on to Lima. Andrew had been nervous about the connections since they had been booked separately through each airline and there was no fallback plan if anything went awry, but once we found our private guide at Lima airport we could finally relax. We've lashed out for the deluxe tour for the Peru leg of our journey and as such we have private guides throughout, meeting us at every airport and hotel and taking care of all the details.

Our hotel in Lima is one of the best in town and was GORGEOUS: a huge room, view of the coastline, and a swank bathroom with a huge tub and a the highest-throughput shower we've ever seen. (You could easily drown standing up in the thing.) Even the breakfast restaurant was stunning:


Sadly, we didn't get there until past 8 and had to be up at 6 to move on the next morning, so we didn't really get a chance to enjoy it.

First impression of the Peruvians is that they are incrediably warm and generous. (Post ed: this has been repeatadly backed up in the coming days.)