Peru day 1... The longest day. Ever.

Blogging from my phone could be a challenge but I'll see how I go!

Eliza and I started in Melbourne and made our way to Auckland where we had a 5 hour lay over. We then jumped on a LAN flight to Santiago.
LAN were pretty good to fly with but the actual flight itself was probably up there with the worst I've ever experienced. We battled through over an hour of turbulence and I thought I was going to vomit!
Wasn't a nice experience.
After 11 hours we arrived at Santiago and hung out in the airport for 10 hours. Luckily I slept for about 7 of the 10 and Eliza managed about the same but we woke up looking like we'd been though the wars!!
We shared the biggest plate of guacamole I've ever seen and made our way to our flight from Santiago to Lima.

This flight was pretty cruisy, although we were delayed a little in taking off when the lady sitting behind me suddenly produced a beagle out of no where!! One of the air hostess' realised and from what I can gather, told her that she could not bring the dog on the flight and that she would have to get off the plane!
The lady clutching her beagle started arguing back in Spanish which then led to about 5 flight attendants all gathered around our seats arguing back!
The lady was becoming quite distressed so I popped my head over, gave her a tissue and she explained to me that she didn't understand why the pilot wouldn't allow it and 'where was his human kindness?!'
I wasn't about to start debating with her about humans and dogs so just gave her a sympathetic smile.
Anyway, after a lot of back and forth discussion the pilot must have given in because the beagle was allowed to stay!

God knows how she got the pooch onto the plane in the first place!

Later, after another four hour stop off in lima, we jump on another flight and landed safely in Cuzco.
Flying in was simply spectacular. Unlike any landscape I have seen before.
All of the sudden I didn't feel as exhausted... And then realised Eliza and I had another 5 hour wait in the airport for Mel!
By the time she arrived we ushered her out as quickly as possible and checked in at our 'colonial' hotel where we will meet our tour group tomorrow. We managed to explore the local streets a little, grab some pizza (apparently loading up on carbs and water helps deal with altitude sickness) and finally managed some much needed rest.

All in all probably the longest 40 hours of travel I've ever had.
All worth it to be here on an adventure with Mel and Eliza though :)