Day 461 – Cusco to Lima

Flying from Peru

Today was a nice sunny day in Cusco. We would be flying to Colombia tonight transiting in Lima. The flight was scheduled for 8.50pm. Therefore we had the entire day to spend. However, my wife wasn’t feeling too well so we asked our accommodation, Hostal International Cusco if they would allow a late check out. 

We wanted to stay until 5pm, which we paid 50 PEN (~$24 AUD) for. I think that they offered the room until 4pm for free but considering my wife was unwell, I paid for the extra hour.

For lunch, we decided to use a meal delivery service called Glovo to get some Maccas. The food delivery charge was only 1 PEN (~0.50 AUD) which is crazy cheap. I think it was a special offer though.

The rest of the day was spent resting and packing until we checked out at 5pm. The sun was replaced with rain. We used an Uber to get to the airport.

Cusco Airport

We were flying with the notorious Viva Air. They are a budget airline with heaps of negative reviews online. This is only because they charge for printing boarding passes. Everything else like excess weight, seat selection and food is standard as per any other budget airline. A lot of people had complained about the boarding passes, but the Viva Air website clearly says that they will charge to print boarding pass. Therefore, we had gotten our hotel to print it out earlier in the day. 

I had accidentally looked at the boarding time instead of the flight time so we were an hour too early at the airport. Despite this, we were the 2nd in the check in line. We had to wait for 1 hour and 15 minutes for the counter to open.

The two staff members were only serving the express line (like business class). We were in fact allowed to use this line, since it was included in the package when we purchased checked luggage. But since there was only 1 person in front of us we didn’t think it was necessary. As 10 express line groups were served before us, we wished we went into that line. 

While we were waiting in line, the rain intensified into thunder and lightning. At the check in counter, they said that the luggage wouldn’t be interlined to Colombia. We would need to pick it up in Lima and check it in again. Besides that the process was smooth. 

The airport is very small. Tempo Cafe is the only food shop at the departure gates. They have a limited selection of food. Credit cards are accepted. As we were eating our chocolate croissants, we could see a few water leaks in the airport.  

After an hour, a ceiling tile gave way and fell onto the head of a older lady a few rows in front of us! It was crazy. She was in shock and it was good that so many people rushed to assist her. Security and medics cordoned off the area.

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Flying to Lima with Viva Air

After the incident, everyone else in the airport kept looking up nervously. Luckily no more incidents occurred. We boarded the plane, which left on time. Since we hadn’t paid extra for seating, my wife and I were sitting separately. The seats were comfortable at the start, but started being painful by the end of the flight. 

Probably due to the weather, the short flight was the most turbulent one I have ever been on. It was really scary. For the entire flight, the seat belt sign was on. As we neared the end of the flight, the skies cleared and we could see nice views of the stars.

Lima Airport

We landed safely in Lima at 10.15pm. Since it was a domestic flight, we could go straight to the belt to pick up our backpacks. With our backpacks, we went to the food court to kill the time until our next flight tomorrow morning. There were heaps of people sleeping on the floor at the airport along certain corridors. We had dinner at China Wok and chilled well into the morning.

Travelled November 2019

Expenses and Transport

• Uber – Historic Centre to Cusco Airport – 15.50 PEN (~$7 AUD)