Saturday, April 7, 2012

New perspectives from the Lima Airport

As you now, we are laying over in the Lima Airport and Newark or Miami, depending on some factors I haven't been able to discern. Most flights returning to the US leave Lima late at night, so our flight from Lima departs at 10:35 pm, with my group arriving in Newark to greet the sun. We will have a 5:45 layover in lovely Newark, so lots of time with little to do. So, time for some reflection.

A side note to start from last night. The seder was wonderful. About 10-15 students (it changed as the meal went on) gathered around a table filled with the appropriate items for a seder. Our guide, Luis, had spent a part of the day gathering the materials in accordance to strict rules laid down by the students. the lobby was rearranged as needed. I know little about seders, so much was new to me. One interesting observation was the need to place a filled wine glass in the main door, which had to be propped open. The students would do this, then return to the table. The hotel staff, seeing that the front door was open and letting the cold air in. would run across the lobby to move the wine glass carefully and then close the door. After a bit, the students would notice the door was closed, and would run to re-prop it open. This drama went on for the duration. The little hotel in Cuzco rang with English and Hebrew readings, group singings, eating of the meal in the traditional order, and a general sense of accomplishment. One of the students from the Georgia group joined in very naturally, along with several of us adults. It was a great moment, one I will never forget. Many students watched parts of the seder from the upper balconies, which your kids handled well - they were committed to their faith and were cheerful about the odd setting and observers.

Our last day in Cuzco (today) involved a walking tour of markets and squares. We cleaned up our rooms, packed our bags, and then headed out. The hotel, which caters to EF tour groups, had only tiny garbage cans in the bathrooms. When I asked for those big black plastic bags to clean up, they looked at me as though I were asking for golden earrings for the whole group. I thought back to the many locker cleanouts at Deal, and decided that it was on the hotel if they spent the next five hours cleaning up after 52 eighth graders. Special note to parents: your kids are neither cleaner nor messier on average than any other eighth graders. I presume we could have built a small mountain of soda bottles, water bottles, chip wrappers, discarded batteries, and miscellaneous materiel.

I stayed back in the hotel with a couple of ill students - newly ill, as it turns out, not the ones who had been feeling bad before. Altitude is a funny, sickness-inducing thing. When the kids returned, with all sorts of new items they were buzzed and energetic. They had visited a big market that every Latin American town has - animal meats, clothing, small household items, toiletries, souvenirs. This is the equivalent of Costco - everything and anything you can think of, in large quantities. Having lived in Latin America, I can attest to the invaluable presence these markets play - you really can get a piece for everything you might have misplaced. Neal Downing has some amazing, and yet horrific, photos.

Our farewell lunch in Cuzco was the same as our arrival lunch - around the corner at Valentina's. This really is good Peruvian food, served well and in good quantities. A look around showed a much savvier group of travelers. These students had gone from asking whether they should identify themselves as students on their travel documents to seasoned travelers - challenging exchange rates, shopping in various locations for particular items, ordering in Spanish in many different eateries, meeting Peruvians in markets, orphanages, and ruins.

We gathered back at the hotel and waited to load. While heading to the airport, I overheard the students reminisce about how different they felt going to the airport this time. The joked about the lack of air, what seemed old hat to them, and how they were looking forward to traveling home.  We left Cuzco and landed quickly in Lima. A lunch/dinner at Papa Johns or McDonalds was the first thing many of us did (why no rush for Peruvian chicken?). There was a little jostling at the end as many of our kids tried to get the phone numbers (sorry, very ancient of me) the FACEBOOK or TWITTER names of their new friends from the Georgia group that accompanied us. And now, 17 of us sit in front of Gate 25, back in our air travel cohort, ready to go to Newark and home by tomorrow.

When you see us tomorrow, we will be tired, cranky, hungry, and glad to see you. Till then, then.

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