Fri 12 Sep

After a light breakfast at the hotel in Lima we went back to the airport to prepare to leave for Bolivia. We will have a stop in La Paz.

Flying is work! We went to the LAN Airlines Staff Travel office to get accepted on the flight. Then downstairs to check in our bags. Then waited in line to go through security. Stood in the wrong line for half an hour (dumb Americans). Then went through security. Then through immigration. And now we're finally about to board. Phew.

Curtis didn't know we missed the flight last night so I guess he was at the airport at 3:30am to surprise us. The mission secretary called us this morning to see if we were ok.

What a great day! Our flight to Santa Cruz went well. We got to the airport and Curtis wasn't there but he showed up quickly and it was a sweet reunion.

We went non-stop after that. We checked into the hotel, went to the mission office to get Curtis' luggage and visited 3 families. We met a young couple that Curtis taught and they were baptized after he was transferred. We fell in love with their little daughter. We met a couple our age that joined the Church recently and then we met a family that have been members for a few generations. We were fed twice and they were all so nice. More of the same tomorrow.

Thu 11 Sep

We both slept on the red eye to New York and now we're having a relaxing 4-hour layover before flying to Fort Lauderdale. While waiting for our flight they observed 3 moments of silence for flights that were involved in 9/11 13 years ago. Somber to remember that tragic day in history.

For our 4-hour layover in Fort Lauderdale we rented a little green toaster and drove to the beach and had lunch. Not used to the humidity. This is probably just a taste of what we will experience in Bolivia.

Well, we didn't make the connection in Lima. I was worried about that because it was a short window of time to go through immigration, get our bags, go through customs, and then check in again with a different airline. No biggie. We are staying the night in Lima and we'll fly to Bolivia tomorrow morning. We should get there at about 3:30pm. Good night. I mean Buenes Noches.

Wed 10 Sep 11:45pm

We're on the first flight, a red eye flight on JetBlue from Salt Lake City to New York. Cameron came over while we were doing the last of our packing to write his death bed repentance letter to Curtis. We love that kid and I know he and Curtis will be happy to see each other. The girls cried when we said goodbye. Well, the adventure begins.

Monday, Sep 8 - Kaysville, Utah
We got our last email from Curtis today and we leave Wednesday night. I can't believe that we're finally at this point and that we're really going. We're getting way excited (and a bit nervous). 

In addition to packing and the myriad of other details to get ready for the trip, I took time for two "inventions". My mom mentioned taking a notebook of dollar bills on her trip to Peru and she said it came in handy for street vendors, paying tips, etc. I couldn't find a bank that had any so I watched a YouTube video and made my own by using some liquid rubber stuff. My first attempt was a failure but my second one turned out pretty well (see photos below). Oh, and I had to iron my bills and Maureen thought it was funny so she posted a picture on Facebook. I had two neighbor teens comment by saying  that they were glad that they weren't the only ones that ironed their money. Ha ha ha. I don't iron my money, but I did just for this project. Apparently there are people out there that are more OCD than I am.

My other invention was to make some over-the-door hooks. I read some travel tips and it mentioned bringing some hooks that you can hang over the stall door in bathrooms so you don't have to put your backpack/purse on the grimy floor. I used hooks from clothes hangers and then dipped them in the liquid rubber. That stuff is fun. I started dipping whatever I could find in that stuff.