The trip to Bolivia takes some time. My path to get there was Cleveland to Chicago to Miami to La Paz in over 18 hours of travel. In a way, the long trip is maybe the Calculus 101 for Bolivia College: it helps weed out the wary travelers and simultaneously sets the stage for things to come.
In general, Bolivia is a slow country. If you are in a rush, lack patience, or despise spontaneity, Bolivia is not for you. If you have the time and don’t mind playing things by ear and changing plans at the last minute, Bolivia is right up your alley.
The trip was actually not that bad, though it’s debatable whether a Chipotle burrito would have survived the journey (Ranz insists he would eat it in whatever state it arrived). I was hyped up on adrenaline and excitement, so I survived fine.
My flight left Cleveland just before 3 o’clock in the afternoon and got in to Chicago by 4:30. I grabbed some dinner at a Wolfgang Puck restaurant where they serve these delicious tomato pesto pizzas (which Sam’s Club used to sell but disappointingly no longer carry). I had my pizza and a Heineken and watched the other travelers. I carried with me a small pad of paper for making observations and taking notes. I’ve time stamped and italicized my musings.
4:33pm - It’s striking the assortment of attire you find people wearing at an airport. Depending on where they are going or from where they are coming, they could be wearing shorts and sandals or boots and a heavy jacket. I believe this is especially true of international airports. There really is no other place where people’s clothes are that varied.
After my first entry I was already bored with it, so I decided to take on the persona of Agent Cooper in Twin Peaks. Dan File will appreciate it if he’s reading this.
5:42pm – Diane, despite my best efforts at careful, all-inclusive planning, I overlooked the essential airport survival supplement: airborne. Please send some along promptly as coughing, sneezing, sniffling travelers are prevalent.
The pen I took died at this point, and I hadn’t even left the country yet. You would think you could get a regular Bic, but all they sell at the airport are touristy souvenir pens, so I had to pay for an overpriced Chicago pen filled with water and a boat that moves back and forth in front of the Chicago skyline. This pen broke in half when I sat on it in the plane, but I continued to use the bottom half throughout the trip. I also bought a Sudoku book to pass the time.
My plane left Chicago at 6:50pm (EST) and took three hours to get to Miami. I had bought Ranz a book, Fargo Rock City by Chuck Klosterman, which I started reading on the flight.
We got in to Miami right around 10 o’clock. I had to take a monorail to another terminal to catch my connecting flight, but when I got to the gate, the plane was delayed. It was originally supposed to leave at 11:10pm, but was already delayed a half hour. This would become par for the course for a good part of the trip. I grabbed a spot on the floor against a wall and did some more reading. There were definitely noticeable amounts of Hispanic looking passengers. I was getting excited because it seemed like I was getting close.
11:43pm – We are leaving a little late from the gate. We were supposed to leave at 11:10 but it will probably be 11:55. There are a number of church and volunteer groups on the flight going to La Paz and other parts of Bolivia. They are all wearing matching T-shirts.
I talked to some of the volunteers on the walk to the gate, but most of them had never been before either. They were all scared of altitude sickness in
La Paz. A lot of them were going to
Sucre and
Santa Cruz.
No comments:
Post a Comment