Thursday, February 10, 2011
I rolled over this morning to check the time on my clock and it was 6:49am. My airport transfer was supposed to be coming at 6:50. How did I miss my alarm? Apparently the volume was turned down. I jolted out of bed and began rushing around. Fortunately everything was packed and my clothes laid out, but I frantically dressed and washed my face. I turned out the van was running ten minutes late, so I was ready by the time they rang the bell. Phew!
I was at the airport much earlier than necessary and after asking a few LAN employees was directed to the business check-in, which it turned out was off to the side not even visible from the regular check-in desks. I found out why when I walked up. There is not only a separate check-in, but security and passport control. And I was the only one there. So convenient, relaxing, I could go on. The whole process took maybe five minutes and I was on my way to the business lounge. I relaxed there for an hour, before heading to the gate.
The six hour flight to Bogota was fairly pleasant and the fact that it continued to Miami almost made me want to stay on the plane (not really but I liked the idea of connecting with the US). We were served some small sandwiches early on and lunch about an hour before landing. I watched the Pixar movie Up! and finally finished writing about Easter Island and Santiago. The business bags had been pulled off to the side and I made a quick exit looking for an ATM. Turned out the only ATM was in a different part of the terminal so I exchanged a few dollars as I watched a man holding a sign with my name outside continue to wave it around as each person came through the doors.
Jessica, a friend of Ricardo’s who lives in Bogota, booked the airport transfer for me. He was kind and patient and tried speaking a bit of English with his Spanish. We eventually found the hostel, which you can’t actually drive up to because of its location off a square, and I checked in. Louis, the owner, offered to walk me down to the bank to get cash and carried my backpack to the door. He is so helpful. After I got some dinero, I sat in the hostel talking to Amy, a Canadian girl studying in Colombia. For dinner, I joined one of the hostel staff, Kylee (Australian) and Adam (Australian) for Lebanese food of all things. The set menu consisted of chicken, falafel, rice, hummus and salad. For four dollars it was a tasty meal. By the time we returned to the hostel I simply wanted to relax and get a good night sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment