We left the airport terminal and entered into the barmy night air of Lima. Aba, Raf, and I chatted as Jorge went to get the tour bus.
After 6 months of planning, Aba Shanti-I was now going to be the first Roots sound system to play in Peru.
PERU 2011 16/02/2011 - 21/02/2011 Page I
Date Line: 16th February 2011. Location: In Transit.
I will
skip the previous 6 months of negotiations and discussions that
as brought us to this point, where we are heading towards Heathrow
Airport, to board a British Airway's flight, for the start of
our journey to Lima, Peru.
I will also not tell you about the grief in acquiring a visa for
the US even though we were only transiting through Miami Airport.
The US government now requires you to obtain a visa. The nice
reciprocal agreement called the 'Visa Waiver', which the UK and
other countries shared with the US is no more.
Strange that the citizens of the US. do not require a visa to
visit the UK. Go Figure. The vagaries of the trust between allies.
Looking at this it would imply that all US citizens are implicitly
trustworthy and all other citizens of all other nations, including
the UK, are not…. Hmmmm!
Well
on arrival at Heathrow Terminal 3, I went and viewed the departure
board for check in desk details.
My heart sank. Even though we were booked on a BA flight the carrier
was going to be 'American Airlines'. This is achieved through
a wonderful mechanism used by the airlines called 'Code Share'
where the airline you have booked with, through its agreement
with other airlines, allow them to transport you to your destination.
This is because the other airline has more slots to that particular
destination and is that country's major carrier. 'American
Airlines' are an appalling airline. They have old planes,
old in flight entertainment, rude flight attendants (also referred
to as FA which also means F**K ALL, because that is all you get
out of them) and really awful food. Why do I know this, maybe
because I spent over 6 years working in the airline industry for
'British Airways'. We will come back to 'AA', no
not 'Alcoholics Anonymous', but 'American Airways'
later. But I can see how you could easily confuse the two.
Well
we checked in our bags and made our way to the security checkpoint.
Once through the checkpoint we wandered around the shopping area
gathering up the last essential items for our travel.
For Aba it was batteries and for me, bugs spray repellent.
With our purchases complete we made our way to the departure gate
to await boarding the aircraft. I peeped out towards the aircraft
stand to see if I could see what type of aircraft we were flying
in. I saw a Boeing 747 of a certain vintage. Old is good in wine
and cheese, but not in aircraft.
Aba and I sit and chat as we wait for the flight to be called.
The flight is called and we board the plane. The interior of the
aircraft is not in bad condition, but it certainly could not be
called good.
We found our seats and settled in for the 8 hours and 30 minutes
flight to Miami. I went to sleep and Aba listened to music. I
was woken up after about 20 minutes and was confronted by a flight
attendant whose face resembled one that would not have been amiss
on a Siamese cat, handing me a breakfast tray.
Bwoy growing old gracefully was not in her vocabulary.
I picked at the food as I was more tired than hungry, but I availed
myself of the coffee on numerous occasions. I then went back to
sleep.
I woke up again after another hour or so shut eye and a flight
attendant was offering me refreshments from the trolley. I partook
of some more coffee and went back to sleep. I woke up again after
another hour or so shut eye and a flight attendant was offering
me refreshments from the trolley again. I partook of some more
coffee and went back to sleep. Bwoy this was becoming like 'Groundhog
Day'.
I woke up again after another hour or so shut eye, and a flight
attendant was offering me refreshments from the trolley. I partook
of some more coffee and instead of trying to go back to sleep,
I engaged Aba in conversation.
The
plane landed at Miami and we disembarked and went to get our luggage.
You have to collect your luggage and take it to the AA transfer/transit
luggage area yourself. There is not an automatic baggage transfers
between flights. No problems at customs and immigration. We only
had one and a half hours between our flights so we went to our
departure gate for our flight to Lima. Man it was a long trek
from where we had arrived to where we needed to be.
I went and confirmed our seats for this flight and Aba and I sat
down and chatted.
As we
were chatting I noticed this small Rasta Man with guitar case
in hand wandering about looking lost.
First he went that way and then this, from one desk and then to
another. He went out of the gate area only to return about 5 minutes
later to perform the same aimless wandering. His meandering lasted
a good 30 minutes.
I knew he had a purpose, I just could not figure out what it
was. Had he missed his flight? Had he misplaced the other band
members? Did he even know where he was? He did look familiar though.
Eventually
the flight is called and I see the small Rasta Man coming back
with a bemused look on his face and a ticket in hand. As we lined
up to enter the aircraft, he was in front of me and then it hit
me who he was.
He was David Hine of 'Steel Pulse'! I did not say anything to
him as we made our way to our seats. I sat down and then I was
joined by Aba. David Hine was five rows up from us on my right.
I mentioned to Aba that the bemused Rasta Man was David Hine and
he was off to greet him. Me, I am more laid back and like to give
man and man dem space. Aba is not of that thinking. I remember
only last year Aba engaging with Frank Bruno in Gatwick airport.
It was not the greeting that bugged Frank, more the very bad impersonation
that Aba did of Frank. "You no wat I mean Harry".
Anyway Aba was bounding across the seats to hail up the aforementioned
Mr Hine. Greetings exchanged Aba returned to his seat. It seems
that David was going to Peru to do a show, san band. (No not
with a band called 'San', it means without his band).
Strange when we travel to far flung and not so far flung places
we meet up on nuff people that we know, in dem places where they
have gone to hide… Hide, did I say hide, I didn't mean 'hide'
I meant live. Don't misinterpret my words. I truly meant live!
The
plane had seen better days. How long ago those days were is open
to debate. I was half expecting goats and chickens being transported
in people's laps, such was the state of the interior of the aircraft.
One thing that I have to commend AA on is that the theme of old
and decrepit extended to all aspects of the aircraft and that
included the flight attendants. I am not being ageist here, I
ain't no spring chicken me self, but rudeness, disinterest and
an ignorance attitude is not endearing in a young person, it is
totally unacceptable in a service industry from an older person.
Where is the good example being displayed?
Well the plane took off and 5 hours and 30 minutes later it landed
at Lima.
We had
no problems with immigration or customs and we made our way out
of the customs area.
As we entered the arrivals area the place was packed with people
and I mean packed, then out of the throng came a shout of "Aba",
it was Rafael.
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As soon
as Aba saw him he recognised him from back in the day when Raf
would attend the regular Sunday night sessions at 'Imperial
Gardens'. We went and greeted each other. Accompanying Raf
was Jorge (El Dragon). We left the airport terminal and entered into the barmy night air of Lima. Aba, Raf, and I chatted as Jorge went to get the tour bus. After 6 months of planning, Aba Shanti-I was now going to be the first Roots sound system to play in Peru. |
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During the drive I mentioned that 16 years earlier I had work with a Peruvian Reggae band called 'Tierra Sur'. Jorge was surprise and excited as he told me that they were not only still going, but they were one of the biggest reggae band in Peru and he knew them very well.
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