Rolling With the (oh-so-many) Punches

I've found in my many trips around the world traveling to 3rd World countries (or even 2nd World countries like Ecuador), one must learn to just go with the flow and expect the highly unexpected. Today was no exception.

I awoke at 4:50 AM- 5 minutes before my alarm went off. Once again, my inner alarm clock was revved up and one step ahead of my battery-powered one. I'd arranged for a 5:00 wake up call and a taxi to arrive at the hotel to shuttle me to the airport at 5:30 for my flight to Lima at 7:55. As it's my nature, everything was laid out, luggage organized, tightly-packed and zipped up so that all I needed to do was hop in the shower, step into my neatly-folded clothes and hit the road. Checking in at the airport was effortless and smooth. The normally-long lines at the immigration station were sparse, and I arrived at my designated gate by 6:30. "Maybe this will be one of those rare days where things will go smoothly!", I thought to myself with a quiet, cautious sense of optimism. Little did I know it would not be the case.

At 7:20, over the loudspeaker came an announcement saying that there was a "technical difficulty" with the plane (never a good sign), that the flight would be delayed and more information would be come at 8:30. I stretched out on the airport floor, snoozed for a half hour with one ear on guard using my carry-on bag for a pillow and waited. Another heads-up at 8:40 saying the issue had not been resolved, more news to come at 9:20. Another quick nap, followed by a quick bite to eat and a petite cup of very strong Americano coffee. At 9:45, finally- the big bombshell proclamation: "Ladies and Gentlemen, we regret to inform you that Flight 1631 to Lima has been cancelled for today. The flight has been rescheduled for 2:45 AM tomorrow." Instantly, people were on their feet, irate and swarming the ticket agent's booth- at least 10 different languages could be heard and some of it (make that much of it) sounds like cursing to me. Stunned as everyone else is, I fell into the line that has formed and dozens of question marks circle crazily over my head. How does this effect my connecting flight from Lima early the next morning? What about the room I have already reserved tonight? How many dominoes will tip before this catastrophe is over?

Just as I'm standing in line ready to have my turn whining at the agent and extolling all of my woes and worries, a very typically-rude and disgruntled Frenchman decides he wants the spot in front of me and boorishly barges in line. Now since I was a kid in grade school, I've had to deal with people "cutting in line". I accept it as just part of life. It p*sses me off, of course, and often I will fight it. But today- I just let it go. What is one more spot in line really worth when I know I'm going to have to kill an entire day waiting? It simply wasn't worth it to me. Still, I secretly despised him for doing it. When I did speak to the now beleaguered and exhausted agent, he assured me that I would make my connection flight the next morning. (My first stay in Lima was only a very brief jump-off for my trip to Cusco and Machu Picchu, so losing 3/4 of a day there was not the end of my world.)

We were all herded into an empty room like obedient cattle and told that the airline would put us up in Hilton Hotel until 1:30 AM and then return us back to the airport for our flight. As it turns out, the person STILL in front of me as the group of stranded passengers were loading onto the big bus was "Monsieur" himself, the Parisian line hog. I noticed that the bus had filled up quickly and as I slowly inched up to the steps to board the bus, the Frenchman (dear God, could you really be this cruel?!) was the last one allowed to get on. Sacre bleu!! As if I were in a bad dream, the driver (who had been literally counting heads) thrust his arm across the thresh hold directly in front of me and said, "No more on this bus." I had no choice but to throw my head back and laugh out loud!! It just doesn't get any funnier than that at times!

The 2nd half of the herd -my half - was squeezed into two smaller vans and whisked off to the Hilton. Interestingly, when we arrived, I noticed the large bus was nowhere in sight. My group checked in, was given vouchers for lunch and dinner, and assigned private rooms that are luxurious, swanky and full of all the high-end amenities. The first and ONLY thing I could think about was taking a hot, soothing bath since I hadn't had a good soak in a tub in 5 days and generally take TWO per day in the old clawfoot back home. Gleefully, I flew into the bathroom and began drawing a bath but quickly realized that the drain stopper doesn't work properly. I try, and I try weeping quietly to myself and wondering what have I done to deserve this torturous day? Calling the front desk, there is no answer. Calling the operator, no answer. I check out every single one of the 20 buttons on the suddenly-not-so-upscale Hilton phone and see that there is an "Emergency" button with a white cross medical icon below it...tempting... but opt against that since that would have been just unethical, I thought. Finally, after 2 more rounds of aggravating, unanswered calls and my blood pressure slowly rising, I got through to someone via the "housekeeping" button and a maintenance man arrives - after 45 minutes of agony - and fixes the problem.

An hour later, I emerge- waterlogged, squeaky-clean and relaxed- and head downstairs to the restaurant to sample the outrageous, royal assortment of delectable buffet jewels featuring dozens of various meats and seafood, pasta, salads, traditional Ecuadorian dishes, desserts and various gourmet delights. Deciding a proper, much-needed, long nap would be in order, I headed back to the elevators toward the lobby and saw a long line of tired and familiar faces waiting at the front desk. I asked an Austrian woman I had spoken to in the airport who was part of this"big bus" group why they were still in line, and she reported that there was some kind of "technical" issue with the bus (it broke down on the way from the airport) and they sat for the longest time waiting to have it fixed. And (oh, sweet justice of the ages) can you guess who was standing in the second-to-last place in that line? Yes, it happened ironically to be Frenchie himself.

And before I leave later this evening - just because I can -I'm taking another bath.