I made it!

So here I am, in Arequipa Peru! I arrived bright and early this morning around 6:20am and was greeted by the local members of Cardiostart. I was more than happy to finally arrive after 24 hours of travel. Everything went well along the way. When I arrived in Lima I had a slight freak out session as the plane landed. That's when it hit me that I was all alone in a foreign country where I don't speak the language. I started worrying about getting through customs, getting onto my next flight and wondered what I would do if something went wrong in Lima. Figured this time mom and dad wouldn't be able to bail me out! Plus being one of the first to arrive there was no one to call from Cardiostart yet. By the time I got off of the plane I was collected, I figure what happens happens and its to late to turn around now (and I probably wouldn't of even if I could!) and I was definitely excited again.
Lima was beautiful at night. I will have to come back sometime during the day. You could see all the boats and barges on the water as we flew in and the city just kept going. The airport in Lima was nice, which is good being I had a 7 hour layover. I had problems getting checked into my next flight, they lost some of my info so that took awhile. I discovered that language is definitely going to be a barrier. Luckily so far everyone is friendly. I had my first 'adventure' in the Lima airport! Once I finally settled in there an earthquake hit! That was definitely cool, not scary. It wasn't a very big one and didn't even last a full minute... but it definitely shook things up. I was talking to the local cardiostart members and they said that here in Arequipa earthquakes are common due to the volcano's. I look forward to some more... small ones of course! The altitude hasn't affected me at all which is nice, found out I am getting 18% oxygen in the air here verses the normal 21%. Once we go on some tours we'll go higher and than I may notice the effects more.
My hotel it amazing. It is more than I had hoped for. I was lucky enough to get my own room. Its clean and quaint and has free wi-fi :) I'm an Internet junkie. There is a nice courtyard which is where I am at currently as I type this and visit with everyone. The floors here are all tiled and the building is made of white volcanic rock which is very pretty. There are bright red geraniums everywhere you look which make the white stone appear even more white. On top of the hotel you can see the city and 3 volcano's with their snow caps. Plus you can see the monastery which I hope to visit tomorrow(pics will follow).We already did a little exploring to stockpile water and see the city. I love it! I'm so glad I signed up for this. Tomorrow morning I go see the first hospital. I better get going, time to clean up, meet more people and than we are going out for dinner on the town. More to follow!