It was a typical flight on another cargo plane from Iquitos to Lima, well as typical as a flight on a huge Air Force cargo plane can be. I was drooling on Jorge's shoulder with my book in one hand and my Ipod in the other. Jorge was reading a magazine. The plane was flying smoothly as usual, and inside the plane it was dark and loud. Jorge stood up and followed a friend towards the front of the plane. I sat up, cleaned the drool off my face, and wiped it on Jorge's backpack. Then he came back and he motioned at me to follow him towards the front of the plane. So I followed thinking he must have a good reason for interrupting my intense drooling, I mean reading.
So we got closer and closer to the cockpit until I realized we were going to go inside. "Wait, am I allowed to go in there?" "Yes of course baby, these pilots are my friends, don't worry about that." Of course their his friends and of course they would let me up there like it was no big deal, silly gringa. So we climbed up some stairs, and I don't know why but I was extremely nervous. I held on tightly to Jorge's hand and then there we were...in the middle of the cockpit. The bright blue sky was a bit shocking and I was amazed at what I saw. I have been in plenty of planes and had the window seat plenty of times, but nothing could compare to being in such a large cockpit with the most incredible view I have ever seen.
The sky was piercingly blue. Is piercingly a word? Or is it piercing? Wow, I teach English. Whatever. And the clouds looked like big giant puffy pieces of cotton candy. I wanted to eat it. I have never been that high in the air and simutaneously had that many windows around me to make me feel like I could reach out and touch those soft beautiful vapors cluttering the sky. Oh my goodness. It was so strange to be above the clouds and be able see out so far ahead of me. It felt as if there were no horizon, no land, just heaven. I wanted to stand at the front of the plane with my arms spread out and hear Jorge say, "Do you trust me?" and I would say "I trust you Jorge" and then he would say "I'm the King of the World!" But seriously it was awesome and it made me feel alive and appreciate the amazing Creator that God is. I loved it. Jorge says that feeling never gets old, and that's when I understood his passion for flying.
Sometimes we had clear skies ahead, and sometimes we seemed to be headed towards a huge cloud that looked more like a wall to me. When we would get closer to that wall everything would turn white and the clouds streamed by, and then all of a sudden it was bright blue again, in an instant.
And sometimes those cloud walls were a little rougher. You could feel turbulence, and sometimes a loud pounding could be heard on the windows from ice and rain slamming on the plane. And then, silence again, and then a little sound of wind, and then blue again. So wierd.
Sometimes the pilots strategically headed for big holes in the clouds. Sometimes we were over water. At one point we flew over the Andes. And sometimes we saw islands.
The cockpit had three pilots, three chairs, two beds, and tons of switches and controls.
I found myself feeling like such a child because I had this incredible urge to push a button or pull a switch. Like, what if I just pushed this one? I wonder what would happen. Is that a normal reaction to being in a cockpit? Well I never pushed any buttons but I was allowed to stay up there through the landing.
It was pretty exciting to see that runway coming and watch the pilots do their thing. And just like that we were out of the sky and on the ground. We went back into the gray cave of the plane and joined the rest of the passengers in getting our luggage. It was definetely a good way to start the weekend. I'll be thinking about that the whole time when I fly next. Sorry the pics don't do this experience any justice....
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