Made It!

We finally made it to Arequipa.  I was so nice to be greeted by the Arequipa team and see smiling faces.  What a great bunch a people.  They welcomed us to the guest house and helped us with all our luggage, fed us dinner, and even cleaned up the dishes!  :)
I am sorry, but I totally forgot to take photos.  Will try get some tomorrow.  Tonight we hope to get a good night's sleep.  We are all pretty tired.

First Days In Peru

After a busy weekend of good-byes and our commissioning service, we headed for Detroit.  We flew out of Detroit on Tuesday afternoon.  Our layover was in Atlanta.  There were some fairly bad storms in the area and once we landed, the airport closed for almost an hour.  We were very fortunate to have made it in.  Our flight for Lima was delayed of course, but we arrived safe and sound.  Our luggage however must have sat on the tarmac in Atlanta because it arrived in Lima soaking wet!
We finally got to bed around 4:00 a.m..  The next day, Wednesday, we spent with Robbye as she educated us on some of the ins and outs of finance here as well as helping us get a phone to use locally here.  Today we went to Interpol to be fingerprinted and then we had the opportunity to meet the SIM Lima team.  What a great bunch of people!  Afterwards we went to a shopping center for lunch and to look at mattresses.  Tonight we eat pizza (yes!!) with another missionary family.    Tomorrow we leave for Arequipa.  The airlines here only allow one checked piece of luggage.  So, most of our luggage is being sent down there today via bus or truck.  Praying that it all arrives!!
                                           Here are some photos of our first couple days. 

So, I know many of you were wondering….this was all our luggage

Waiting in the jetway.

Good -bye to the good ole U.S.A. and life as we know it.

Settling In For The Long Flight….side note…after the first half hour of flying Gracie said "I don't know why I was so excited for this plane ride.  There is nothing to do but sit!"  Yep.

Trying to sleep while blocking out all the light and city noises.

First Breakfast In Lima: Eggs, Ham, Bread and Papaya Juice.  And Yes, Coffee.

Thank goodness eggs are universal in taste.  Well, for the most part at least.

Squishing in for a taxi ride.  The smiles lasted only a few minutes before the reality of driving in Peru set in.  

A view of part of the city and the shopping plaza.