Professional Development

Day 1, we fly to Lima
I am riding to Houston with 3 women whom I don’t know very well. Over the course of the 3 hour car ride that changes, as we talk about whatever comes to mind – teaching, husbands/men, traveling – but not necessarily in that order. More of the group meets us at the airport, we eat some lunch, wait some more, and finally board the plane.
We are scheduled to depart at 3:55. We take off at 5:10. Apparently there is trouble with passengers. Two men sit in business class but they have economy tickets. They refuse to move, so they and then their luggage are removed from the plane. Then there is a woman and her 12ish year old son who want to sit in the emergency exit row because there is more leg room. He is too young to sit there, their tickets sit them elsewhere, and finally after they are threatened with removal they go back to their original seats. And we take off.
After 6+ uneventful hours of flying, in which I can’t see anything out the window because I am in the middle (albeit on the aisle), we land in Lima, Peru. The bus meets us, it’s hot and humid – like Houston – outside, and we drive 40 minutes to Miraflores, one of the rich areas. Our hotel is not a rich one, but it has a bathroom with a toilet (you still have to put the paper in the trashcan) and Internet. We sleep.