Two travel days and four flights to get me to countries new. I haven't missed a flight yet and I still have my bags. Not sure my planning is exactly perfect as I head back to La Paz for an onward flight to the Bolivian hub of Santa Cruz. I landed at El Alto airport and tried to get to the departure lounge as I was in transit. They would not let me and directed me to the exit. Walking past the luggage carousel I noticed my suitcase going round! I had specifically checked at Uyuni whether I needed to retrieve my luggage and was told no. Lucky for me I saw it or I would have been in trouble. It is an odd system when you have to effectively leave the airport and re-enter and go back through all the security again. The second flight went without hitch and I arrived in Santa Cruz. I had booked a hotel local to the airport so took a short bus ride and walked up to the entrance. I was greeted by two posh coaches, some armed police and a procession of sporty looking young men. This was clearly not usual! I walked inside and tried to check in but was too early. I sat down and watched the people in blue tracksuits slowly leave. Some posed for photographs. I found out that this was the Paraguay football team departing for LaPaz to play a world cup qualifying match against Bolivia. The guy being photographed is apparently their coach.
They lost the match 1-0 but there has been a lot of controversy about playing at that venue as it is at altitude. Bolivia have won lots of games at home and hardly any away, hmmm.
Anyway after all that excitementnt I got the hotel shuttle bus into town, four hours of my life I won't get back. I agreed a time to be picked up and he didn't turn up so after waiting and waiting I eventually got a taxi. I made my feelings plain to reception upon my return.
I got up to rain, the first of my holiday. It was quite nice! Then I noticed that my wash bag was sat in a pool of Lynx shower gel. Whether it had opened by accident or whether some clot hadn't shut it properly was immaterial, it needed cleaning and drying within the hour. Had this been in previous countries I would have struggled but this hotel had a hair dryer which saved the day. Always wondered what they were for...
Refreshed I went back the next day for two more flights. The second was delayed and it made for a very long and boring day. I finally arrived in ciudad del Este, city of the east, and once checked in had a welcome couple of beers. The barman Jorge didn't speak a word of English but was a real character communicating by Google translate. The hotel reminded me of the Googenhiem in New York.
Finally got up to my room to find that my notebook had expired. I think the screen isn't being lit. Don't lose that phone!
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