Janie and I left for Cusco, Peru on Monday, August 8, 2011 to begin our 9 month journey with Doctors for Global Health.  Below you can see all of the stuff we packed to take with us.  I am working on a list of the actual items that we took (our packing list, sort-of-speak, so bear with me).

All of our stuff before we packed it up

We flew through Spirit Airlines (www.spiritairlines.com), mainly because it was the cheapest flight we were able to find.  We booked two 1-way tickets, which for the flights alone cost $800 (about $400 each ticket).  A word of caution, however, to potential fliers of Spirit Airlines is that they literally nickel-and-dime you with various extra fees throughout your travel.  Each luggage that you check was about $30 (even with the Spirit member discount), and each carry-on item was an additional $20.  If your checked item is over 40 lbs., you need to pay an additional fee.  Starting later this year, I even heard they will be charging to print a boarding pass, unless you print it at home and bring it with you to the airport.

An example of Spirit Airline informing customers of the $45 "carry-on" luggage fee

Even the usual "complimentary" in-flight beverages were $3 for each.

We flew from Tampa to Miami, where we had an 8-hour layover.  We tried to keep ourselves occupied the best we could.

Janie taking care of some last minute tasks online during our long layover in Miami.

So, who doesn’t forget at least something when you travel.  Well, that realization came to us about an hour before our boarding time in Miami, when Janie realized she forgot all of the memory cards for her digital camera.  As a professional photographer (www.lifewritingphotography.com), this realization did not come as light news.  Fortunately, we were able to purchase at least 1 memory card once we arrived in Cusco, which will have to suffice until we can get the rest.

Janie's "sad face" once she realized she forgot all her memory cards at home.

From Miami, we flew to Lima, Peru, and arrived around 10:30 pm local time.  Our next flight to Cusco was not until 7:10 the next morning, so instead of staying the night in the hotel, we decided to crash at the airport.  (FYI:  Lima airport has a wonderfully convenient hotel on site; the only problem is it costs $320 (U.S) per night – a little steep for our budget.

Our humble hotel accommodations for our first night in Peru - the Lima airport.

For the Lima-to-Cusco flight we went with Star Peru Airlines (www.starperu.com).  The nice thing about this airline is that it does not charge the “foreigner tax,” and so you can save a lot of money.  The downside, however, is that it was a bit tricky to book a reservation.  You can book through their website, but if you do not have a “visa approved” card, you need to pay an additional $30 fee for the transaction.  You then cannot (or at least in my case) pay for your ticket until you arrive in Lima.  Also, when providing your email, try to use an email other than popular domains such as “gmail,” “yahoo,” “hotmail,” etc. – there seems to be problems receiving the reservation through these emails.

Although it kinda looks like big holes in the clouds, those are actually the Andes mountains popping through - crazy!

We finally arrived in Cusco, and although we were extremely tired, we were graciously welcomed by the local clinic staff, and are now settling in.  As you can see below, we are already enjoying the local flavor.

Our first Peruvian dish, papas fritas con bistec - que rico! Complete with a taste of the local cerveza, "Cusqueña"

Y después...