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Published: March 11th 2007
Hello!
Well, here I am at last with my first entry to my blog. The journey here was certainly eventful. First leg to Miami was ok in the plane and I had some very nice neighbours about to do a Caribbean cruise - had the feeling they wouldn´t have swapped with me had I asked, but I wouldn´t have asked!
First incident was the missing rucsack. I got really upset about this as I´d had so much conflicting info on whether my bags would go through automatically. One showed up - the one with all my own stuff in - but the other (with basically my walking boots and waterproof plus all the things I´d accrued to take to the children and all the things many of you had kindly given me to take to the children) did not show up.
I got a bit frustrated as the people I asked to help me really didn´t seem interested and all had a different version of how the process was supposed to work. All I could do was hope it found it´s way to the La Paz flight in the next six hours as I couldn´t get anyone to help, I checked the bag with my own stuff through and then tried to kill the rest of the time. Love US airports for killing time - it amazes me that a country that otherwise beats us all at shopping and eating out in terms of choice offers such mind-numbingly boring airports. My six hours were spent half comatose with my i-pod followed by a ´gourmet´pizza that really wasn´t eaten out of a cardboard box on my lap. Anyway, next leg was ok, a night flight for all concerned (left at 11pm) so lights went out and we all got some kip. Even me, which was testament to how tired I was by then.
I offered up a few prayers for my missing rucsack and the continuing worry about the connection time in La Paz that was destined not to be enough time. In the event, all went really well. The missing luggage all showed up, the immigration process was soothingly easy (vs the lose-the-will-to-live process in Miami which went in straight to number one in slow US airports in my personal top 10) and I had 15 minutes to dash to the desk to convince them to let me on my connection to Cochabamba - which they´d actually pushed from 0630 to 1015 so guess what, I needn´t have worried. Spent my time getting a bit organised, cashed in about half my dollars for Bolivianos, had a coffee and some toast for brekky, cleaned my teeth and freshend up a bit and then called Kirsten, my contact here, to say I´d be in Cocha for about 11am.
If it had all ended there, it would have been perfect. Not quite though. The flight then moved to 1050, but I figured this wasn´t too bad a delay. Many of my fellow passengers to Cocha were really fed up - they´d got up at 5am to make the supposed 0630 and La Paz airport is not exactly a thrilling place to spend 6 hours either! The slight snag with our 1050 flight was that it turned out to take us to Santa Cruz. Cocha is roughly between La Paz and Santa Cruz. Good fun. They tipped everyone off the plane then nearly refused us poor Cocha passengers re-admission as we´d no boarding pass or flight coupon. This was irrational as we´d clearly given those up as we boarded in La Paz. Like so many poorer countries, these guys love their paperwork and their stamps. The logic is sometimes a bit lacking, though.
Some of the other people lost the plot at this: I could follow what they were saying to the officials but could never have put it that eloquently in Spanish after 1.5 days´ travel and sheer exhaustion. The short of it was the officials got shouted into submission. I learnt my first lesson in my overall introduction to survival in this country (which I nevertheless so far love!) - if the officials are being unreasonable, not making sense and stopping you get where you need to go, just argue: it works!
Finally got to Cocha at around 1.15pm, met Kirsten and I checked in at a hostel. As my host family had been told not to expect me today (due to problem of connecting flight), I´d go to them tomorrow. My hostel is ok, kinda basic but I think I´ll be sleeping well tonight. It´s now 6pm, I´ve had a wonder round and called home and had something for tea. So all is good.
I haven´t taken photos yet, though I´ve seen some strange and wonderful sights. Promise to do that soon. Cochabamba is nice. At first impressions quite poor but everyone has been really lovely and I do feel safe. It helps being able to make myself understood and mostly understanding what´s going on around me! The people are all about in the streets and there are some nice big squares where you start to get a sense of the soul of the place. Think I´m going to like it here.
Ill meet my host family tomorrow: all I know is they live in the north of the city and have 3 kids. Kirsten seems really lovely - I admire her so much for the long stints she does here, all voluntary. The commitment and dedication of many of the people I met on the journey here who come to work and try to help out a bit is very humbling. Makes you realise what else is going on in the world as you run the rat race and do your thing.
Lots of love to all - hope this first one wasn´t too dull. Bear with me, I´m a bit sleep-deprived at the moment, and stories are always better once there are pictures to go with them!
Liz
xx
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Karen
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Hola!
Que bueno leer tus noticias. Buen suerte con tu familia e escribe mas pronto! Duerme bien... Besos, Kxx