Alive...

...it is amazing that I am after the plane ride I went on this morning. The day started in the Lima airport when I woke up at 4:00am to meet up the the members of my volunteer program.

The program is through an organization called Cross Cultural Solutions (http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/). While they have many locations all over the world, I have chosen to spend my 4 weeks volunteering in Ayacucho, Peru.

I checked into the airline Cielos Andinas and received my hand-written (yes-actual human handwriting!) boarding pass from the woman who was also the baggage handler, gate check in person and probably co-pilot too. After paying the domestic flight tax (still not sure why this is not included in the ticket) and going through security, I found my gate. I met up with about 10 other sleep-deprived volunteers that had stayed up all night in the airport. All of the girls are still in college and one just graduated, two of the guys are 25 and one is 31.

It was still dark outside when we rode a bus from our gate to our plane (the lady who checked me in was escorting us...I knew she did everything around here). The minute I saw the plane, I decided I might rather walk to Ayacucho. The red dotted box on the side of the plane that said, "cut here in case of emergency" in Spanish did not help to ease my fears. We all nervously sat down and fastened our seat belts nice and tight (as if they would actually help us if our plane went down). The propellers started...well, I guess I should say propeller (singular) because the left side started and the right side did not. I´m no airplane expert, but I was guessing that was not good. I assumed we needed both.

Luckily, the other one started and in a few minutes we were flying. Though at every bump, I was sure the plane was going down. I just kept praying that a plane full of volunteers could not possibly crash today. Once I finished hyper-ventilating, I noticed that it was one of the most beautiful flights I have ever been on. We watched the sunrise and saw mountains poking up out of the clouds. The clouds below us looked like a soft ocean.

We had a short stop off in some town I never did catch the name of (great, yet another take off and landing to deal with). A person that looked like a goat herder got on and sat behind me and we also picked up a woman on a stretcher who was being flown to the hospital in Lima (now, I am thinking for sure this plane can´t go down with this poor woman on it).

Well, we did arrive safely in Ayacucho, but I had already planned on taking an alternate method of transportation back to Lima at the end of my program. The only ones in the baggage claim, we quickly picked up our bags.

Outside, Rudy, the CCS program manager, was waiting for us. We loaded up our less than 20 pound bags (all of them made it under the plane´s weight restriction) and piled in a van. Alejandro, one of the program drivers, drove us back to the house. There were only a few old volunteers at the house because the rest were out traveling. Once we got our keys to our rooms we headed to scout out our rooms.

Not bad, much better than expecting. Amy, my new roommate (a junior at McGill University in Canada) and I each got a bottom bunk in a room meant for four people. We even get our own bathroom with a shower (though later found out that there is rarely hot, well even warm, water).

The rest of the day we unpacked, walked around Ayacucho a bit, and ate dinner. I am excited about this adventure and eager for a great 4 weeks to come!

Alive, Pearl Jam