Once again we flew in on the midnight special, except arriving an hour late, it was the 1:00 am special...the longer it takes, the more time for fun! Despite the wee hour, our escort met us and ushered us off to the Hotel Nobility, a four and a half star treat. Unfortunately after an hour's drive between the airport and Lima, we only had four hours to sleep before our busy day began. We paid a visit to Interpol to apply for our International Interpol Resident Carnet to stay in the country two years. Interpol orchestrates a complex process beginning with official photos and an hour wait to receive our number for our turn in line. Out of about a hundred applicants, we lucked out with numbers 5 and 6. They bumped us back a few places to accommodate someone with a screaming child and a couple of expectant mothers...still we were the envy of all those behind us. After another hour, we filled out a plethora of forms including name, address, father's and mother's names, name, address, weight and height in metric, name, address, eye color, and hardest of all, hair color. Ken's application was rejected. Out of ancient habit, he put brown. They made him change it to not grey, but white. Then finger printed, thumb printed and hand printed. An officer announced that we were Americanos and had to be printed twice...hand, hand, fingers, thumb...dum ditty dum ditty dum dum dum. I have to say they were very nice to us. One of the officials kept speaking English to me, Good morning! Tank you! Good morning! Tank you! Then best of all, after another hour or so, we stood in line for the odontologia check. They record individual dental work in case they need to identify your remains after an earthquake. After inspecting Ken's teeth, the official commented that Wow, he had work in almost every tooth. That was before he saw my 16 veneered masterpieces. He'd never seen anything like that before. Luckily Ken was able to explain it to him. After coloring in every single tooth on my dental chart, the poor guy shook his hand out and said it needed a rest. Since such impeccable efficiency shaved a couple hours off our tight agenda, our chauffeur/protector agreed to a quick scenic tour by the Lima Temple, Plaza de Armas, and the romantically fateful post office where I retrieved that infamous letter from Ken 40+ years ago.
 |
| Coca-Cola welcomes you to Lima. |
 |
| Back in the Plaza de Armas, como antes, siempre jovenes y enamorados |
 |
| Linda @ the Plaza of Armas, Lima |
 |
| Lima Temple on a drive-by |
 |
| Castle in the clouds...snow capped Andes poking thru the clouds |
I just read the post to Camilla and Oliver.
ReplyDeleteCamilla says, "I love you. Grandma, I love that you give us gummy worms when be so nice to you."
I say that that's super sweet and romantic. That's practically a family history site for our family!
Thank you, that's so sweet!
DeleteThis is so fun to read. Love you both. Keep up the charmed life.
ReplyDeleteThis is from Martha and clan-- wish Mel was here though-- Is there really a castle underneath those clouds? Is this the castle on Les Mis (from the kids)? Lizzy: Why is there such a big Coca-cola thing? Kids: What is the letter you are talking about? Martha: that is a CRACK-UP about Dad and his hair color! Is that why he was not smiling in the official pics you sent of you and him? Funny- my kids were just talking about how they can't imagine me growing old. I told them I knew exactly what they were talking about and showed them the "official" pic of Dad you sent. Lizzy: that is funny about your teeth Grandpa! Hyrum: why do you and Grandpa have so much dental work? I do not have any dental work on my teeth. Joe does. He had two cavaties. My Mom doesn't have any cavities. She must be really cool (OK I wrote that!)
ReplyDelete