The Sun Will Come Out…Tomorrow By Margaret Denny

The Sun Will Come Out…Tomorrow

By Margaret Denny

Is it Sunday already? Wednesday we traveled to Houston, spent the night, then left for Lima, Peru at 3:50 PM.  After a surprisingly pleasant 6 hour flight, we arrived in Lima, unscathed and really not all that weary. Kenny was told by one of the flight attendants who had lived in South America for many years that the Lima airport was a happening place! We got off of the plane, looked around, and seriously questioned her sanity. Then…slowly, steadily, the people came marching one by one like ants to your favorite picnic food.  Suddenly, we understood that her sanity actually was intact! Time ticked quickly by even though we actually had almost a 3 hour layover in Lima before leaving for Santiago.

Here is a very important tip. If you ever get a chance to fly LAN airlines (which is a partner to American), jump into that plane seat! What a fabulous trip that was! Having watched the series, Pan Am, on ABC this past year, it was almost like traveling back in time.; impeccably trained flight attendants, planes that are modern and clean, great (can one really describe airplane food as “great” – perhaps it is lack of sleep talking) food, and many wonderful entertainment selections on your own personal video screen. What more could a traveler ask for? It seemed as if they were always feeding us something. We even got a full breakfast about 4AM that consisted of a sweet bread, roll and jam, orange juice, fruit, and an omelet.  Now that is what I expect for breakfast!

Once in Santiago, we had to go pay our fee to be allowed in the country. For whatever reason, our cold, hard US cash was not enough. They told Ken and me that our money was ripped or torn, creased, and dirty. So we had to pay $320 via credit cards for the two of us to proceed through immigration. Once finished with that ordeal, we got through all our other checkpoints and onto the next plane to Concepcion without problem.

After landing in Concepcion, we were greeted with several people from the school, who were most gracious. We went to the school and got the grand tour of every classroom and space in the school. They gave us cappuchino, empanadas, and this wonderful lemon pie! I will have no trouble at all eating the school cafeteria food! In fact that notion was reinforced when later in the day, we were fed pork chops, yellow rice, and this wonderful vegetable casserole. Outstanding!

Throughout the afternoon, all I could think about as well as Ken and Kenny, was getting a nap. We finally got to our apartment, and quickly went down for that much anticipated sleep. Since I’d only slept about an hour total while we were flying, I still managed to fly (no pun intended) straight up out of bed at 6:30 PM knowing we had somewhere to be at 7PM. How in the world I woke up from a dead sleep is beyond me, but I did. After meeting up with Leah and Deanna, our 2 wonderful grad students, we ate dinner, then we were finally able to go “home’ and get a real good night’s sleep.

When we arrived in Concepcion, the skies were gray and it was misting rain. This occurred off and on all night. We awoke this morning to a dawn that was still gray and misty. However, as we were leaving the apartment to walk to the city center, I saw that glow behind the clouds that signals the sun is desperately trying to make itself known. By noon, the sun indeed showed her might and parted the clouds. What a great day in our wonderful new home away from home! . Tomorrow I know the sun WILL come up!