Friday — April 3
We landed at Aeropuerto Jorge Chavez in Lima at 11:45p last night, just as the pilot had projected when he took off from Atlanta. It took us another hour to get through the airport formalities, with the longest time spent waiting for our bags to show up on the baggage carousel. We took heart from the fact that we were not alone. Finally, about 45 minutes after having gone through passport control, our bags loaded on a cart, we were headed towards the dreaded green light/red light process at customs. I wasn’t dreading going through because I had something to hide, but because I seem to always get the red light when I hit such buttons, thus necessitating a bag search. This time I passed with flying colors. Mui was right on my heels, taking advantage of my green light. It was getting on towards 1:00a when we crossed the connecting bridge to the Ramada Costa del Sol. Check-in was quick and painless. For the first time in our travels, we had our passports photocopied — necessary proof for the hotel so that we don’t have to pay the 19% IGV (tax). This is a process we will be repeating for each hotel stay in Perú. The hotel may well lack the charm and ambiance of a boutique hotel, but being attached to the main terminal at the airport, it has one thing going for it — location, location, location. Room 237 was clean, quiet, and had the most important element we were looking for — comfortable beds! The room was like a sauna when we first entered it — no surprise since the temperature when we landed in Lima was 81F (27C). We immediately turned on the AC. In the 15 minutes or so it took us to get ready for bed, the room was cool enough that we actually needed to use the covers.
At one o’clock in the morning, we didn’t need charm and ambiance.
The last thing I remember was that the clock display read 1:30a and we had a 5:30a wake up call. Next Up: Day 1 — Cusco Here We Come
I am starting to read your blog with great interest as I begin to plan a trip to Peru for my husband and I. I love your "play-by-play" entries; it's like being on the trip with you!
ReplyDeleteFor this particular entry, I was wondering about photocopying your passport. Did you do this before-hand or does the hotel (voluntarily) do this? Why do they charge a service fee otherwise?
Carol, no email address to reply to, so I hope you return to check for the answer. The 19% fee (tax really) is mandatory for all hotel stays unless you can prove that you are a foreign national ... in which, case, the fee/tax is waived. You hand over your passports at check in, they photo copy and return them to you. There is an additional fee (which is more a service fee) -- was 10% -- that you do pay on top of the quoted rate.
ReplyDeleteThank you for explaining, I appreciate it and will note this for our upcoming trip.
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