My flight home was relatively painless though it seems like the pushiest people fly in the middle of the night from Lima. One of my checked luggage was a woven plastic bag, which is a proven method of taking my stuff home from previous years. In the airport I was approached to have my bag wrapped in plastic for $8. I figured why not, and had it done. It certainly made my luggage stand out:
{My luggage is ready for anything.}
All told, my woven plastic bag luggage cost around $12. And since my woven plastic bag was protected, I now have a convenient place to store my winter clothes.
The day after the earthquakes hit Peru. While the news outlets reported from Lima, understandable since it is the most well-known city in the earthquake area, I saw on the maps that the epicenter was right next to Pisco and Ica, two of the towns I visited with the archaeoastronomy students and Lin. In the following days, word filtered through from those towns. The main plaza of Pisco was in ruins:
{An aerial view of Pisco’s main plaza after the earthquakes. (Luis Choy/El Comercio}
Fortunately, Bob and other people I know in Peru are all safe. As usual, the major news outlets were full of speculation and misinformation in the hours after the earthquake. Oddly, the best place for straight news that I found was on my Wii’s News Channel. It displays AP articles and photos on a gorgeous interactive globe.