11 04-05 14 - Moving to Peru  

Posted by Amber

The morning of the 4th, we had Henlie's 2nd year well-check appointment.  She is perfectly healthy.  Dr. Fullmer even gave her some new crayons.  We attempted finishing packing our house as best we could.  I felt bad that we left some packing and cleaning for Devan and Kayla, but c'est la vie.  That afternoon, Larry and Carrie loaded all of our bags and us and drove us to Salt Lake.  We made a quick stop at Matt's office for him to pick up some brochure or something, and then headed to the airport.  We picked up two luggage carts and managed to get all of us and our things inside and checked in.  We hung out for a little while and said our goodbyes.  Then it was time to go through security. 

 Matt scooted away to get out of the picture...but I wanted him in the picture. :)

 Grandma hugs :)

 Grandpa kisses :)

 Saying goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa.


Standing in line to go through security, and we ended up next to Lima on the world map on the floor.

We got to our gate with plenty of time.  I was hungry, so we picked up some food.  It was meh.  And too spicy.  Oh well, at least I was able to eat some of it :)  Henlie set up camp while we waited.  On our first flight to LA, she did pretty well.  She did want to go sit by Dad. (2 seats on either side of the aisle, so it went: Window - Henlie, Me - aisle - Matt, random dude)  Lucky for her, Random Dude was flying with a puppy in cabin.  While you're supposed to leave them tucked under the seat securely in front of you.... he maybe pulled it out into his lap with a jacket over it.  It was a late-ish flight, so he just huddled over it and looked like he was sleeping.  He let Henlie see the puppy for a minute though while we were in flight :)  She was pretty upset when she had to get buckled in her car seat again in preparation for landing.  The couple in front of us (who were on their way to Cusco and Machu Picchu), asked if she needed some gum for the pressure change.  We became sort of friends since we were going to the same place.  I did give her some fruit snacks, and that helped.  
 Setting up camp at our gate in SLC.  So much stuff!

Relaxing for the wait to board with Piglet and fruit snacks.

 We managed to get off the plane and to the international terminal of LAX.  Two rolling carry-ons, a diaper bag, Henlie's little backpack, Matt's work bag, a guitar case, and a car seat do not an easy trek make.  But we did it and got checked in with LAN.  Then it was another hike to our gate.  But not without going through security again :)  I forgot to empty my water bottle after the first flight, but they verified it was just water and we were good to go.  Thankfully, flying with a toddler gets you some perks, like being fast-tracked through security.  Oh, and our car seat is rather large since it is convertible, and they had to find someone to check it since it won't fit in the x-ray scanners.

This is where we had to wait to be fast-tracked through security.  I was amused :)

Our gate was seriously so far away, but we made it.  We opted not to grab another bite to eat since they were feeding us dinner on the plane.  Henlie totally fell asleep 20 minutes before boarding.  Another toddler flying perk - early boarding.  They took all of the people who needed wheelchairs, and then let us get on.  Since Henlie was sleeping, it was extra hard getting everything on the plane, but one lovely flight attendant took the car seat for us.  She went ahead of us and deposited it in between our seats. (We flew in the center on this flight, which had 3 seats together).  We said hey to our new friends as they passed us, and settled in for the 8.5 hour flight to Lima.  (The customer service on LAN was night and day compared to our first flight on American Airlines.  There, we got moved up a row because of the car seat.  She seemed a little annoyed that we had the car seat on the flight.  We were originally right in front of the exit row, so it was a little smaller.  It was nice of her to move us, but everyone on row 6 was confused.  Once we explained they were now sitting in row 7, it was fine.  LAN, on the other hand, was super helpful and nice.)
 20 minutes before boarding, and she's out.  I'm rather surprised she lasted as long as she did :)

And she stayed out, even when we buckled her into her car seat.

 Dinner was served shortly after boarding.  Henlie slept.  I perused the movies and was excited to find they had Harry Potter 7 Part 2 available. (I never did finish watching the series...) So even though I was exhausted and it was late, I stayed up and watched the movie.  During the credits, Henlie woke up sad.  I pulled her out of her car seat and she went back to sleep in my lap.  She stayed there the rest of the flight until breakfast.  It was hot and uncomfortable.  Especially, because I couldn't figure out how to recline the seats until... you know, around breakfast haha

 They served breakfast around an hour before the end of the flight.  Everyone gradually woke up, and we had some half decent food for breakfast.  Henlie really needed a change, but we had breakfast first, and then everyone needed to use the facilities because they'd just woken up.  So...poor girl sat in a nasty, stinky diaper until we got to a restroom in the airport. :/  She survived.  Not ideal, but I didn't have to deal with changing a diaper on a plane. :)

 So we eventually got off the plane, made our pit stop, and then went to customs.  It was pretty simple.  Because Peru struggles, we are on tourist visas right now.  We have 90 days before we either need to have the work visa stuff figured out or we ask for an extension. (I think they can give you like 180 days total).  We got through customs, walked past the lovely security dogs (which were totally not intimidating breeds like we use in the US), and went to pick up our luggage.  Again, we used two carts to haul all our stuff.  We exchanged some money and then put the luggage through another scanner, and then re-loaded it onto our carts. (We had 9 bags for the three of us, plus the carry-ons, personal bags, and the car seat).  Fortunately, we didn't have too far to go before we met with Matt's salesguy, Ricardo.  He had a taxi van waiting, and she took my cart while Ricardo took Matt's (I think, I could be wrong on that fact :))
 I'm quite pleased with this shot I snapped from the window of our taxi.
Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima

 Henlie and me in the taxi.

 Matt and Henlie in the taxi.


Random snapshot of a random street during our taxi ride.

And so, we'd made it.  All the way from Utah to Peru.  The van took us to our apartment, where we, unfortunately, had to meet with the real estate agent and landlord.  I was so tired and just wanted to lay down.  But no, there was chatting, and then the longest inventory of the household items ever.  Okay, probably not ever, but seriously, the Peruvian people don't do anything quickly.  Everything drags on and never starts on time :)  And let's not talk about driving here.  It has been nearly 6 weeks, and the driving (while I tolerate most of it well) is still terrifying.

 Eventually, we could relax and start to settle into our house for a bit before we had to walk to the grocery store for some food and water. (The tap water isn't potable here.  Although I've gotten over it for teeth brushing.  I HATE trying to clean my toothbrush with a bottle of water.  There is no water pressure there :))

 And that is the beginning of our Peruvian adventure.  Naturally, there is more to come, because we're here for at least a year :)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 16, 2014 at Tuesday, December 16, 2014 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

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