In South America

It's Monday night. Connie and Leo came to fetch the kids and their luggage. Simon came for the car. (This is becoming a familiar scene). Dinah finished packing so I managed to sleep one hour. Then we are off to the airport. It's our first time on North West airlines. We fly 7 hours to Narita and spend 2 hours in transit. We fly over 9 hours to LA. We spend 4 hours in transit. Then we fly over 10 hours to Lima. We boarded LAN airlines (Chilean) for the first time. There were 7 newspapers and they are all in Spanish. This is our first time in South America.

We have flown over 33 hours (incl. 6 hours in transit). I am so dehydrated. Dinah remain on the plane to Santiago. She has another 5 hours of flying. It is 11:15 pm and customs queue is taking a long time. Finally I am out at the arrival hall with a sea of faces. After about 15 full minutes of scanning, I spot Julian waving. I push that trolley towards his direction. It's so good to see Terry and Julian. Terry sat in front with the taxi driver. I catch up with Julian.

The taxi reach home after 1 am and they show me to the room. Yes the warm shower feels so, so good. Then I lay down to journal and read the Bible. Not long later I manage to sleep.

I awake on Wednesday to the sounds of birds cooing and chirping. Terry brings me for breakfast and we catch up. Then we go to the Ecuador embassy to apply for my visa. (The Ecuadorian ambassador in Singapore was in Ecuador so I couldn't apply there.) The central business district here is quite modern. We submit the documents and wait. The visa application takes 3-10 days but I need to go to Ecuador next Monday. After over 2 hours the Consul ask to see us. He asks questions in Spanish. Thank God for Terry. He asks me in English. He finally says the visa will be issued tomorrow. The Ecuador team says this is a miracle.

We have time before lunch so we browse at possible gift items for people in Singapore and I want to get groceries for the household. Terry says we'll be away at camp. Instead we have coffee and then it's a Peruvian lunch with Terry and Julian and more catching up. The guys order Cerviche, Peruvian raw fish. We come back to the house and I get the gifts from Singapore for the team. Later the girls come home and we catch up a little. Then I write to Ecuador that the visa is okay.

Serene is practising guitar. Terry is having a nap. Ailay is beside me and Delia is behind me preparing for the camp. As we type, we smell the meat grilling with Julian in the kitchen. Tonight we catch up with the whole team.

Dinner end up almost 3 hours. We are telling stories about Singapore and South America. The beef steak is big and the pre-mixed tomyan soup has kick. The team washes up and prepares for bed. They sleep early and wake up early. The phone rings and it's Charmaine calling for me. Hope the ringing does not interrupt the team's sleep.