Airport blur and lentils at KFC

I think we´re back in Quito, Ecuador. I´ll have to ask someone what city this is.

It really feels like a long confused blur. We were in La Serena 3 days ago (I think) and then Pisco Elqui and then La Serena again and then Santiago and now Quito. After a while it all starts to blend together and you can´t really put your finger on a particular day. Was it in La Serena that you had pizza for lunch or Santiago? Which town did you sleep in last night? What day is it today?

Flying (as opposed to taking a bus/train) further blurs the line between places. You don´t see any change in geography when you fly - you might be in a desert at 8am and in the middle of a city of 6 million people at noon. Proust would have articulated this intermingling of space and time way better and much more poetically, so I´d just leave it at that.

Speaking of blurs, it isn´t just in your mind. We had to take an 8am flight from Santiago, Chile to Guayaqui, Ecuador. We were up at 5.15am and by the time we were in line for immigration (for leaving Chile) it was almost 7.15am. I had a light dinner the night before and didn´t have any breakfast, so I was feeling really light-headed because of the hunger. We were in line for at-least 30 minutes and I was getting increasingly light headed. By the time we got to the immigration counter, I couldn´t see anything and could barely stand up. All I remember is getting my passport and tourist card out of my pocket and lifting my hand towards something. I swear I didn´t even see the immigration lady as she handed the passport back. And we still had to go through security! Lulu managed taking care of my carry-on baggage through security while I scrambled to a place where I could sit down. Granola and yogurt came to the rescue finally. Phew.

While at the airport in Guayaquil, Ecuador (waiting for a connecting flight to Quito), I came upon a KFC. I went in to get a bottle of water and saw several people eating what looked like lentils with rice and fried chicken. Whoa! KFC actually sells lentils that are cooked with Indian spices...who would´ve thought. They should start doing that in the KFCs in the US. Needless to say, I had a nice warm bowl for $1.10. The joys of traveling.