Day 1: They Taca Us Nowhere

When Mr. Y and I booked our vacation, we were concerned primarily with the time of our flights, and less so with the specific airlines we used to get there. The allure of a Taca flight leaving at 1:25 a.m., connecting in San Salvador and arriving at 2:30 that afternoon in Lima was too good to pass up, as any other flight would cost us a whole day in the air and have us landing late at night. So we booked it.

We arrived at the airport 2 hours early and saw a very short line to check in, we were so excited and optimistic.

But, alas, it was not to be. Taca had either overbooked the airplane, or had overloaded the airplane, and 15 passengers, including us, got bumped. The Taca personnel had no clue what to do. And by no clue I mean they had 5 windows open, each staffed by someone trying to deal with a disgruntled passenger, and by the time Mr. Y and I got to talk to someone it was over an hour later and they were down to 2 windows open. (If US airlines were this incompetent, half the country would be waiting in line at O'Hare right now.) It took them another 45 minutes to rebook us on an American Airlines flight, connecting with a Lan Chile flight in L.A. the following morning. The usually happy Mr. Y was not amused.
But by the time we arrived at the Best Western for the night, he had returned to good humor. We met another couple who were traveling to Peru and were disappointed to learn that they would not be on the same flight with us the next day--they had been rebooked on a Delta flight instead--so we wished each other luck with the next attempt at air travel and settled in for a very short night.
By the time we were checked into our room at the hotel, it was after 2:30 a.m., and we had an outgoing flight the next day at 7:30. But we got there extra early just in case and had no problem checking in this time (yay, American Airlines!). We even had time for breakfast and for Mr. Y to charge his laptop before we departed from SFO.
Unfortunately, Mr. Y and I were completely unfamiliar with LAX and didn't realize the international terminal is in a completely separate building. So the water we purchased at SFO had to be consumed before we went through security at LAX. Needless to say, we were some very well hydrated travelers!
Mr. Y got some work done and I had a snack, and we spent about 3 hours in LA.
I had never seen a machine gun (or is it an assault rifle?) in an airport before, so I had to sneak a picture.
And ultimately, it was all worth it. The Lan Chile flight was absolutely perfect--the most comfortable seats, built-in free entertainment, good meal service, with a newer plane and an extremely friendly and helpful staff.
By the time we landed in Lima, though, and went through Peru Customs, it was the middle of the night. Mr. Y was still smiling ...
but I was too tired to take pictures of anything but the bidet, the first one I've ever seen in a hotel room.

Day 2 would begin with another early flight, so we had a second night with very little sleep.