OH HELL & OTHER EXPLETIVES!!

SUNDAY 3rd JULY

  I must have dropped off because the alarm woke me up.  I gathered all my belongings together and slowly carried them down to the lift on the 5th floor.  Down in reception a very nice young lady was on duty.  She asked me if I wanted the taxi straight away (it was 4.00am), and I replied that 4.10 would be fine.  I was sitting in the entrance lobby when an altercation broke out in the street outside.  Two guys came crashing into the reception doorway and I suddenly found my self choking and my eyes streaming.  "Pepper gas", the receptionist said and went off to get a pack of tissues and a bottle of water for me.  Not exactly the start you want to the morning, but it wasn't destined to get better.

  The cab arrived on time and it took about 20 minutes to get to the airport.  A porter with a trolley appeared and asked where I was flying to and when I told him Mexico City he seemed baffled.  There was a large queue at AA check in for Miama and he took me to an English speaking chap to explain where I wanted to go to.  He took my ticket away and eventually came back with a woman who told my ticket was from La Paz, Mexico not La Paz, Bolivia!  "You'll have to fly via Miami", she informed me, advising me to wait until the Taca Airline desk opened at 7.30am.  They damn well put the name of the city and the name of the airport on the ticket, but not the country. Gen Marquez De Leon Airport meant as much to me as it obviously did to Laura at the Flight Centre in Dunedin.  I think I will start a campaign for the country of embarkation and destination to be shown on tickets, that way these errors will not arise.  As it was this was Laura's first South American booking since recently joining the company, so I don't really blame her.  Now just to complicate matters I have checked my ticket and after the name of the airport it has "(LAP)" whereas after the destination airport "Benito Juarez Intl Airport" it has "(MEX)" which would make it fairly obvious I was flying to Mexico, but what the hell is (LAP) meant to stand for?  Lapland?

  So somewhat demoralised I went off and had a cup of coffee and a bagel and sat patiently waiting.  La Paz airport is not the biggest I have been to, and I was filled with a certain dread where all this was going to lead to.  I tried to ring New Zealand on a public phone but my credit card wouldn't work in it, (anyway I later discovered it was the middle of the night there) so I just resigned myself to my fate.  I had paid off the porter with two bolivianos, which was all the change I had on me, and he was not best pleased.  I was in no mood to argue with him, I had enough on my mind not to be overly concerned by his displeasure!

  Taca staff started appearing and getting ready for a check in.  I managed to grab an English speaker and told him I needed help and he told me to come back after they had completed the check in at 8.30am.  In fact that didn't happen until after 9.00am.  I had plenty of time to sit there and reflect on the various options that lay before me.  None of them put me in the sunniest of moods, but there was nothing else to do but sit there patiently and wait.  Eventually one of the staff called me over and told me that there were no flights available today or tomorrow but they could get me on a flight to Lima on Tuesday morning and thence to Rio - that was the only option.  I stumped up the £500 for the ticket and thanked her for her help.  She told me I needed to be at the airport at 7.00am, not as bad as 4.30am, but another early start!

  I asked if there was a hotel at or near the airport, but they told me the one that was there wasn't recommended.  I got a cab and asked the driver to take me to the Columbus Hotel.  There I explained what had happened and asked if they had a room for two nights.  As luck would have it they did - I'm now in 306 - a bit lower down and fully accessible by the lift.  I immediately phoned the help line in New York to inform the hotel that I would be 2 days late.  The buggers weren't that helpful saying I should ring the travel agents in New Zealand, and this line was for emergencies.  I told him this was a bloody emergency, as it was the middle of the night in New Zealand (I had checked that on-line).  He reluctantly agreed to notify the hotel but I wasn't filled with confidence.

  By this stage I was knackered, drained and exhausted - akin to the end of the Machu Pichu hike, and the bed looked really inviting.  However first of all I sent off an e-mail to Laura at the Flight Centre in Dunedin detailing all the problems and asking her to ensure that the pick up car was notified of my change of arrival. I had a good few hours sleep and eventually discovered it was 9.00am in New Zealand.  I waited a few minutes but there was no e-mail reply so I decided to phone.  Laura wasn't in today it being a Sunday.  I described my predicament to a colleague who promised to sort it all out for me, and when Laura was back on Monday, check out the whole booking situation.

  Somewhat relieved I turned the telly on and found that the Wimbledon Final was about to enter the third set.  I watched Djokovic win his first Wimbledon and then went out for a meal, I had another mini spillpich which is the name of this local tradional dish - the full size one has two fried eggs on it.  Well I'll have a full day in La Paz tomorrow.