That's my bag there on the right, with it's partially undone cacoon. When I showed up at the SF airport with my "customized bag" I was told to get it wrapped in plastic to keep it secure.

If you look closely a the left side of the bag you will see a maroon piece of nylon emerging from the black part. I wanted to take my baby Taylor guitar this year, but I didn't want it to count as a whole piece of luggage so I bought this duffle bag, turned the top pocket out and reinforced it with another piece of heavy cordura nylon to accomodate the tip of the guitar. I had to coax the hard shell case into the extruded pocket to get it to fit into the duffle. Meanwhile I packed things above, below and all around it.

I was hopefull that I would be able to check it "asis" at the airport and relieved to be asked to "cacoon" it. It worked very well and my butterfly emerged unharmed in Lima.

I arrived in Lima on a Wednesday and Musi had already bought our bus tickets for Mancora to leave Thursday. We decided to go to Tanta for lunch before boarding the bus that day. We went back to the house and took a taxi to the bus station. But when we got there, we weren't very happy with the news we received. No bus that day, strike by the farmers closing a road on the way to Mancora.

We returned back to the house, hoping that the strike would only last one day and that we could travel to Mancora Friday. Woke up that morning, got a call, no such luck.

Meanwhile, Lima is a hot place with bad air. The bed we were sleeping in is the kind that makes sure you do your yoga in the morning from the stiffness it causes. "Oh Goddss, hear my prayer, let the farmers get listened to and stop the strike." Could anything happen on the weekend? Would we be stranded for another couple days?

The next morning, better news, my prayers were answered. The bus would leave and we would be on it.

The pictures here are from Lima.