Day 18: Lima to Emeryville: Pictorial Pop Quiz and last words

Day 18:  - Lima to E-ville

Quote of the day: Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us

Weather:    It is warm in the immigration line in SFO, it’s great in E-ville (perfect: warm-ish, breezy)

Pics:    Mystery building, the reason for slow traffic near the aeropuerto, and one sea lion that has departed

Pop Quiz: 

1. What is that building in the pics?

2. How many hours (or days) total did THB spend flying and in airports?

3. How many books did THB read on this trip?

4. THB saw red, white and blue footed boobies: True or False?

5. DB was bitten by a:
a) cormorant
b) sea lion
c) shark
d) all of the above
e) none of the above

6. THB has scaled the highest peak in how many countries?

7. What does the B in Hotel B stand for (bonus points for creativity)?

8. On what beach, island, country and/or continent was the pic of the sea lion above taken?

9. Who authored the QOTD? (Hint: you cannot get the answer from any of the postings)

THB will actually post the answers this time! If you wanna give it a go before then, you can reply to the e-mail or in the comments section.


THB can be pedantic, and redundant. Today is no different. We get up very early at Hotel B(lackout) for a transfer to the airport, 5:15am wake up, 5:45 departure, 6:30 at the airport, 7:40 at the gate. 

LAN finds a new way to make us stand in line: the crew shows up very late (the plane is here, probably due to the traffic accident, see pic, THB was there on the scene!).

Nothing happens until the last pilot arrives, maybe 20 to 25 minutes before the pre-boarding bag check is done. DB gets a special security check, so she gets to stand for 15-20 minutes on the other side of the line separator.  

Nine hours on the plane, THB finishing American Icon and DB getting way deep into The Newsroom series. A walk to dinner by the aromatic roses growing on the fence surrounding Pixar: it feels great to be back in Bay Area!

Book Review: American Icon: Alan Mullaly and the Fight to Save Motor Company, Bryce Hoffman: Really two terrific books! First part may only strongly appeal to those of you that had corporate experience in the last 40 years and wondered if there was a better way through the maze. Mullaly has that better way engineered: he turned Boeing and Ford around using an engineer’s drive for data mixed with cheerfully consistent leadership mixed with will and determination to let the process work. The other terrific book is how Ford survived the Great Recession through luck, timing and leadership.

Meditation Uno: The obvious: the Galapagos and Easter Island exceeded THB’s expectations. And, thankfully, THB is now home and can rest up. If you do everything on offer, it’s a lot. The schedule was designed to make sure we hit all our connections to both big destinations and give us a few hours to explore Miami, Quito, Guayaquil, Santiago and Lima. That worked. The Eclipse and the Explora were both great (though the food sometimes was less than terrific): they got the main thing very right, which was maximizing the experience. Hotel B in Lima was a risk, and the hotel should’ve contacted our travel agent and moved us before we arrived. Once we were there, it was too late (actually, too early) to do anything about it plus the workers appear to have gone home for the evening. Other than that, the trip glowed from beginning to end. At least we got substantial refunds.