KILLING SEVEN HOURS AT LIMA AIRPORT
It was around 5pm, we had our tickets and our luggage and we just needed to wait for our flight at 12:30am. We grabbed a luggage cart and made our way over to the shopping area. As we were walking, we saw some kid with a McDonalds drink up – we both saw the cup, looked at each other in awe and eagerness, and then ran… yes, they had a McDonalds.

It’s funny – we never eat McDonalds here. Well, I guess you should never say never, so maybe it’s best to say that once a year we may eat it. Don’t get me wrong, we love hamburgers and French fries and milk shakes. It’s just that we go to various diners or restaurants in the city when we crave one, including In-N-Out Burger at Fisherman’s Wharf. Why go to McDonald’s and get a hamburger whose ingredients you aren’t exactly sure of, when you can get one down the street that’s real and is the same price. It’s not like we hook up the drive-thu thing here in the city.

Anyway, after two weeks of straight Peruvian food (which is good, but come on!), we were elated, ELATED to see Mickey-Dees. Lima Airport also had a Dunkin Donuts and Papa John’s… Jared really wanted Papa John’s Pizza (they don’t have it in SF), but after multiple attempts at horrible pizzas in Peru, I had no appetite whatsoever for it.

So we ordered McDonald’s and it tasted great. Really salty, and I love salt, but you could really taste it and you know what, it was awesome. It was the only meal I ate that day and I ate more than I had in over a week. I ate one and a half of my cheeseburgers and half my fries. If I ate that meal today I could completely clean my plate off, but considering my lack of appetite and stomach for food for an entire week (while hiking too), it was a big accomplishment.

I was feeling great – I had American(ish) food in my stomach, we had our flights, I called home and told my parents we’d be seeing them the next day, I spoke to Jon and Anika finally… but the honeymoon quickly ended.

Before I get to that – a quick comment about calling home. Calling home SUCKS in Peru. I was sold calling cards, none of them worked, but at the Lima Airport they had this rad little store set-up where you pay to call home by the minute (1 sol per minute). It was awesome. No muss, no fuss.

Anyway, by 7pm, I went from happy Michelle to sick, I-want-to-curl-up-and-die Michelle. Fever, chills, coughing, stomach problems – you name it, I pretty much had it. We went to our terminal and I just camped out on some chairs and tried to rest. It was horrible. Jared was still in bad shape, but I was definitely worse.

Midnight finally came and we got on our flight. We had six hours to cover before we would land in Mexico City. It couldn’t come any faster.