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Guelph family finally home safe and sound from Peru

The Beitz family finally got on a rescue flight home after trying to get out of Peru two weeks
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The Beitz family: Raquel, Jake and their childrenn Victoria and Bianca, in the family living room. Supplied photo

A Guelph family that was stranded in Peru is finally home safe.

Jake Beitz, his wife Raquel, their daughters Victoria, 8, and Bianca, 11, along with Raquel's mother returned to Guelph in the early hours of Thursday morning after 19 days in Peru, the last two weeks stuck in a hotel in Lima as they awaited a flight home.

"When the plane took off we all cheered. We were all clapping and very happy," said Raquel. "Even when we were on the bus and saw the plane sitting there waiting, it was the most beautiful thing ever because we knew we were on our way."

She said the whole ordeal feels surreal.

"It all feels like a bit of a dream," Raquel said.

The family arrived in Peru on March 13 after making sure there were no travel restrictions. Things quickly went sour and they ended up being mostly confined to a hotel room, bored, lonely and scared.

They tried several times to get on flights leaving the country but couldn't get seats, as others were given priority.

Once the Canadian embassy gave the Beitzs a code to book seats on the flight out of Lima via email, they encountered another problem: paying for the seats.

A second confirmation was needed online, which was a phone call to the number associated with the credit card. That number was the Beitzs home number, where nobody was.

They frantically got relatives back home to give loan their credit card number (it took a moment to find a person with a high enough credit limit) so they could book the flights.

After booking their flight, they went to the Canadian embassy in Lima where they were then bussed to the nearby military airport.

They were waiting on buses along with hundreds of others getting on the Air Canada flight for several hours.

"Eventually we did get on," she said.

"There was over 400 Canadians on the flight," said Jake.

After an eight hour flight to Toronto they picked up their car that had been parked near the airport and got home around 4 a.m. Thursday.

They were greeted by a sign on their front lawn that said "Welcome Back Beitz Family" with little Canadian flags on it.

Friends and family had filled their fridge and pantry with fresh groceries.

"I'm just so glad to be home, so glad. I don't know how to say how happy I am," Raquel said.

The first things the Beitz children wanted once they got home in the wee hours Thursday?

"They just wanted to sleep in their own beds in their own room," Raquel said.


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Tony Saxon

About the Author: Tony Saxon

Tony Saxon has had a rich and varied 30 year career as a journalist, an award winning correspondent, columnist, reporter, feature writer and photographer.
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