The Drift Of Things

Probably it won't happen to us again in a thousand years, but it was very embarassing at the time. It is only because of certain matters that have come up this month that we tell you at all about it. At the beginning of our trip to Peru and Chile last summer, we were flying with Bill Haddon from Lima to Tacna aboard Fawcett. Being an old hand at foreign travel, particularly in South America, we felt obliged to explain some of the special features of travel in Latin America and the niceties of etiquette in particular and were so engaged when the plane landed at the airport. We led the way briskly into the terminal, expecting at any moment to have a representative of Southern Peru Copper pop up and present himself. However, this didn't happen so we repaired to the baggage arrival station to wait. All the bags were quickly picked up, but ours were no where to be seen. Bill was slightly agitated because the plane was being buttoned up for take off. However, rising to the emergency with our usual aplomb, we took charge of the situation. Brandishing the claim checks under the nose of the porter who pointed to them and said, "si, Tacna," we nodded briskly and in our serviceable Spanish said "si se[n]or, vayase viejo, rapido." He was off and back with our suitcases quickly enough.