I arrive to the airport worried the plane may be cancelled due to weather. All the planes the previous day were cancelled. I get into the terminal into the gate and finally into the plane. The plane is tiny only one row of seatsndown eAch side of the plane maybe a total of twenty seats. The two piolots are in the front easily visible to the passengers. I can see out the front window. The piolots mess around for a bit then tell us the starting gear is broken and they need to fix it then we can get back on. We all go back to the gate and into the terminal to wait. I keep thinking maybe it is because of weather and they are just telling us different ( they aways tell you what you want to hear and not the real story). After an hour we boarded the plane again and were in the air. The views of the Andes were amazing, steep, snow covered peaks. There was no safety talk no buckle up now, and no flight attendants. There was a sign that said " in case of cabin pressure loss the attendants will pass out face masks. Insert the tube into the hole and turn right. Oxygen wi continue to flow until the mask is remved" who is goingto pass them out? There are two piolets and that is it. So funny. After thirty minutes we start to decend into the clouds , thick clouds. We decend in the clouds for ten minutes and I keep thinking we have to be close. Finally I can seethe forest. It is pretty close to us as I am relieved as I know the airplane doesnot have rAdar so cannot land unless it had dry clear conditions. I can see the rain on the window. There are riversand thick forests below. We get close to the runway which I heard is grass. I keep thinking I hope it's not muddy from the rain. We get close the wheels touch down, skid a little, then straighten out amd come to a stop i see the piolots sigh and drop their shoulders and relax. There is no terminal only a bus at the end of the runway. Our bags are put on top of the bus and we drive five minutes to a small one room shack. Yes this is the terminal. Funniest airport I have ever seen I spend the day looking arround the town in the cold and rain. I heard it was hot muggy and full of Mosquitos. I book my tour for the forest with my Canadian roomates. The town is quaint And quiet. It sits along a wide muddy looking river. The hostel has hammocs which really make me feel like I'm in the jungle. The cows are huge here. There are chicken and dogs that run in the streets. The main transportation is motorcycle. The intersections have no apparent right of way as motorcycles just cut each other off and hong their horns at anything in the way. Turn signals have not yet been discovered by these people so when crossing the street you can only pray the bike is not turning. The town had many many second hand stores and people shuffled through them looking for clothes. Probably because it was one of the few cold fronts that come through. The normal 30 to 40 degree f heat was less thAn ten with cold wind and ice like rAin.
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