A little Flash back..

Our honeymoon trip went by fairly smoothly, almost perfect. We arrived in Peru on the 9th October 2007 till the 14th May 2008.

Our last dinner at a restaurant.. went to a chinese restaurant to hve dimsum and there were some sushi too. I was craving for both Japenses and Chinese. We chose this cos in France it will be TOO pricey to eat out. Enjoy while we can.

The hiccup of our almost perfect journey happened in Lima on the day we were leaving. On Thursday 14th May we went to my friend's home to collect the rest of our belongings cos we left it while we went to Pisco where we stayed a month to help reconstruct homes and people there from the earthquake. We arrived at their home near 9am and we had to leave by 3pm for the airport. We had breakfast and had enough time to repack our bags and got ready. It was a pretty tough job trying to pack everything and I seriously thought we wouldnt have enough space but fortunately a little squeeze here and there... the job was done by 1pm and we had a good lunch, followed by a nice bath before taking off. We even got a taxi to pick us up at a reasonably price. It was the same taxi that took us to our friends place. We were happy and please that we were well organised.

this is just an example of one of our packing days.. but there are LOTS more than this.

We got in the taxi, relax and getting our mind ready to leave our holiday behind us..it was a mixed feeling of sad to leave but happy to start something new in France.. anxious too. Anyways, we arrived at the airport everything going smoothly, too smoothly. The whole entire trip in South America was great. We never got mugged, no assaults and nothing was stolen. We never felt in great danger by the people..We were careful though. . Wow.. we were very happy. We were pretty happy by the end of our trip.We got the things out of the car. We got the trolleys packed with our 4 check in luggage. We were allowed 40kilos for each of us.. soooo, our bags are well packed and within the limit. 4 check in bags, 3 hand carry bags, 1 laptop, 1 guitar. OK... now you can imagine how many bags we got. TOO MUCH!!!!

another photo to show some of our bags.. missing 3 big ones here. Otherwise TOO MUCH. Here we were waiting for a bus to go into Argentina. I am holding the orange/grey bag that we forgot in the taxi.

So bags out, paid the taxi man, waved goodbye and looked at each other with a look of satisfaction and THEN.... Johan asked me, "We got all the bags??" I replied "AHA, YUP" then he looked at the two trolleys with all our bags and said "where is the other little orange and gray bag?" ( that is our hand carry bag) We realised it was still in the backseat; He truned to me and asked " is there anything important in the bag" I was a little dazed by the situation and gave blank look with a slight nod. Without thinking if anything was really important. I was just saying yes.Then he just took off and ran after the taxi car!! Looking for the taxi car more likely. Of course all this conversation was within seconds after the taxi man left us. Johan ran and ran. I was like oh no... then I started thinking of what was valuable in that bag.

I took out the taxi man card with his number on it. I was looking around if I could ask someone for help and call the guy before he got TOO FAR away but unfortunately no one close by and I couldnt leave the bags unattended to. So I just waited for Johan and had the number ready and thought about the things in the bag. Fortunately I had the passports and the money, credit cards with me in my "kangaroo pouch". Hmmmm, lets see the things in the bag? Water while we wait, the travelling pilows, books, chips, sweets, some handmade jewellery-gifts from the girls at the children's home... thinking about other things.. Nothing too important after all but what a shame to lose the bag now!! At the end of our trip. hmmm waiting for johan to come back.

A man walking pass me and I took my courage to ask him for help( in spanish mind you) He was like money.. and he will help to call. I was saying i dont have cos johan had the coin wallet. Just as I said that johan came back, and i gave him the number. The guy took Johan to a phone booth. Oh dear.. he couldnt get to a phone and he came back with 2 men we knew from Pisco. We didnt know they were coming to bid us farewell.

Johan informed Keny and Jan our situation and Keny started calling and calling the guy. No chance, the guy never picked up his phone and couldnt get hold of him. Time was running and we had to check in. Still nothing. So we said we will check in first while Keny will continue to call the taxi man. We still had a little less than 3 hours before take off. So Johan and I went to a Q and it was a long Q for check in; Like Air Asia's Q.

Anyways, we stood in the line thinking about the bag and saying... "well at least we have a story to tell about lost bag. Since everyone we know seems to get something stolen." Then we were both regretting how we both saw that bag in the taxi but didnt take it out as soon as we saw it. We delayed our action and that was the case...we both thought the other one had taken it out and we didnt think of checking one last time in the taxi. We both were sighing and thinking "IF ONLY.." you know it doesnt help.

Then I went through the things in the bag with him. To say that it's ok. Nothing too serious lost. The most valuable thing for me was the novel I was going to read. Heard it was a good one "the kite runner" I was going to read that on flight.

THEN it struck me! Yes; like a lightning bolt . OH NO! WE MUST GET THE BAG BACK I said to Johan. OUR WEDDING RINGS are in there!! YUP!! I was thinking about the book that related me to my reading glasses and the glasses case where i put the wedding rings, engagement ring, bracelet from my mum, necklace from sis in law.. OH MAN!!! it gets worst, my 21st bday ring from my beloved grandma!!!! OH NO OH NO!! I was suddenly so sad and really wanted the bag now. I kept that in there before for safe keeping and was putting it off to put it back on our fingers. SIGH what can be done??? just wait and see if Kenny gets hold of the man or not. IT is a very rare case that we will get it back. I mean he is a taxi driver, he could pick up another passenger who could have taken the bag with him/her.. Who knows, the taxi man could even take the bag saying that someone else took it. Who to believe right?? That was our scenario in our heads. So sad for the rings and all the jewels. My heart sank. Then we tried looking on the bright side and said to each other, "at least we both lost our wedding bands at the same time. but still...."

Finally checked in and rejoined Keny and Jan. They were still trying to get hold of the man. We told Kenny about the rings and he was so upset too and really wanted us to get our bags for that. He was even willing to drive to meet the driver and get it back. Keny kept leaving messeges on the phone but still nothing. Suddenly by 6pm the phone rang.. it was the driver!! Hooray! Then he still has the bag! DOUBLE HOORAY!! He said he was sleeping and he would be at the airport in 30mins with the bag. OUF. RELIEFED!

To celebrate, we went to drink coffee with Kenny and Jan. Our boarding time was stated 6.20pm but we were only flying by 7.55. So we said that we still would have time. SIGH. What an evening. By 6.30pm, the taxi driver came with our bag!! Miracle. we got everything back!

A BIG BIG THANKS to KENY and JAN for helping us to get our valuables and staying on till the end!! We truly apprecaite your friendship and kindness.

We said our goodbye to our friends and had to board.

How happy we were to get back our things . Of course after that we kept an eye on our hand carry. It was easier now to see cos the rest of the bags were checked in. We put on our rings and my bracelet and necklace too. Now we can breathe and relax and enjoy the flight. Hoping that our bags will arrive in one piece.