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Good fortune never lasts forever….
Well, the stopover in Quito didn't exactly go according to plan. I have quite possibly had the worst 48 hours ever where everything that possibly could go wrong, has! Having travelled at least once a week every week for 2 years while in Singapore, I thought I was a fairly seasoned traveller but nothing could have prepared me for what was about to happen!
After some very sweet goodbyes in Los Roques on Sunday morning, I boarded the extra long car with wings and made it back to Caracas in one piece. I had 4.5 hours before my flight which seemed like an age but it took me 3 hours to get from the check-in desk to getting through immigration. The airport was chaos and so inefficient - I had to check in, collect my boarding pass, go to another desk for them to check my boarding pass and give me an immigration form, go to another desk to pay the airport tax, stand in a mile-long queue just to get through to security where I had to stand in another mile-long queue to actually go though the x-rays (which everyone had to do twice for some reason, even though the machines were about 5 metres apart and then I stood for over an hour in the immigration line. By this time it was 3pm and I had 3 hours to kill so I went to get some food as I hadn't eaten since 8am.
Stress #1: I turned on my laptop to in fact write this blog entry and my whole hard drive had been wiped of everything - docs, photos, music, films, everything - aaaaargh!!! It only had the basic programs on it that came with the machine.
Stress #2: I then headed to the gate on my boarding pass (22) and sat for while, only to then find out that the gate had changed to 28. I traipsed to 28 which was in the still being constructed part of the airport and the computer at the gate said 'gate under maintenance'. There was only 1 screen in the airport telling you the departure info so when nothing happened on the screen at gate 28, I went back to the computer which told me my flight was from gate 22 but was delayed - fine. I sat at gate 22 for about an hour where the computer there also said 'Quito, delayed.' At about 5.45pm the info disappeared so I went back to the main screen and…to my absolute horror…..saw that my flight had departed. What? How? When? But I was sitting there the whole time. I went to passenger assistance who can really only assist if you can speak and understand Spanish at supersonic speed. She called the gate and confirmed that the flight had indeed gone without me! Oh my God, panic stations. The next flight to Quito would leave Caracas at 5pm the following day but my connecting flight back to the UK was also at 5 - from Quito! A rep from Santa Barbara Airlines (mental note - I subsequently learnt that this happens all the time with them) then appeared and it turned out that gate 17 had also at one point been in the mix. When I said I had been checking the computer screens regularly and this is what they had stated etc etc, the 2 ladies looked at eachother, laughed and said that the info was never correct! Ah…well, thanks for telling me before this whole debacle! They told me they had mad 2 announcements but I didn't hear a thing and I listened to every announcement as they kept calling for passengers for Alitalia and AA.
Stress #3: I was taken to the airline office and then through all sorts of secret passages where they told me it was my responsibility and that they couldn't help me any further. I was concerned about my immigration status as, as far as I was concerned, I was now illegal in Venezuela but they told me that immigration knew and it would be fine (yes, that may be so but there's nothing in my passport to say that?!). I got my luggage back and asked if there was a hotel in the airport but they just said no. Hmmm, what to do now. Caracas airport isn't exactly the safest place on the planet. I decided to call Veronica (the saint) and she happened to be on her way to the airport to collect some people so we found eachother. As soon as I saw her I burst into tears (I'd been holding it together really well up until that point but then just broke down!). She was furious with the airline and said it is their responsibility as it was their error and they should have come to gate 22 to find me. Anyway, she booked me into a nearby hotel and arranged some transport and sorted me out with some money (I had spent everything in duty free!!).
Stress #4: The hotel bus driver was very sweet and kept telling me to stop crying (which just made me worse!). Got to the hotel and was waiting to be served in reception when I suddenly dashed towards the door and threw up - all over - no warning whatsoever. How embarrassing. A Spanish guy who had been on the same bus came to see if I was ok and brought me some water. I was mortified. Don't know if I had eaten something dodgy or if it was sheer stress.
Stress #5: After hardly sleeping all night through stress and an affinity with the bathroom, I noticed what looked like a bit of glass on the floor next to my backpack. On further inspection - noooooo - my dive mask had smashed. That thing has been in the same place, wrapped in the same stuff for 10 months - on planes, trains, automobiles, trucks - being thrown around. I was really upset as it's my comfort blanket when I'm diving as it's the mask I learnt in and I trust it!
At 9am, Veronica appeared at the hotel and said we should go to the airport to try and sort stuff out and she would help me. We went wandering through some passages until we found the airline office and met a very sweet guy called Daniel who promised he would help. He couldn't do anything himself and the ticket sales people didn't start work til 11 but he would make sure I had a seat booked on a flight to Madrid.
Stress #6: I finally got booked onto the flight and the lady told me it would 5,800 bolivares. Now this is about US$1,400 at the official exchange rate. But no, they did not accept credit cards and of course there are no friendly ATMs in Venezuela, nor can you cash traveller's cheques. By this point I was losing the will to live as I only had US$700 is cash on me and no access to anything else. I was racking my brains trying to figure out how I could get my hands on some cash there and then. Then another saint appeared and said if I used the black market exchange men (the ones you are warned not to talk to!), I would get 5,200 bolivares for US$650 (they would give an exchange rate of 8 instead of 4) and they would accept that. I told him I was a bit scared of the exchange men so he went and found a 'safe' one and I did a deal in a dark stairwell round the corner from the check-in desk!I then traipsed back to the desk with my wads of cash and all was sorted out. (This is what the emergency cash fund is for - never had to use it before but luckily I had it!).
Stress #7: I made sure I knew exactly where my gate was and went for something to eat. I still had 97 bolivares left and you can't change it back so I went up to the Clinique counter in duty free and asked what I could get for it. Lipgloss was about it but that was coming in at 98 - oh no! They let me off with the 1! Then, I couldn't believe my eyes. As it got closer to the departure time of my flight, the board at the gate said Tenerife. I kept slyly looking at other people's boarding passes and must have asked about 10 people if they were flying to Madrid. The flight was delayed (in the end by 3 hours) and I was convinced it was going to go from another gate. Not until I was on the plane, did I start to relax. (Oh, and that was after another 2 security checks at the gate - 1 x-ray and 1 manual - that was 4 in total since checking in! If only they were more efficient and had the security equipment at the entrance tothe gate so that everyone was checked and ready to board once the plane was ready but noooo, it took another hour to get everyone though…..).
The flight ended up being ok in terms of comfort etc but I was put in the creche section (and you know how much I would love that?!) where every kid seemed to be grizzly. I was asked to move as I was in the emergency exit row and this time they decided my Spanish was not good enough to direct people out of a burning plane. I'm not sure anyone would say much more than 'vamos' to be honest though. Anyway, I moved to the row behind which had already been trashed by a little boy whose mother and other family members were sitting across the aisle (why you would put a little boy on his own is beyond me but anyway…). They then started to shout at me that I was in his seat. I really wasn't in the mood for this so called the stewardess over who told them it was my seat. They then all gave me the evils, pretty much throughout the flight. If they had said nicely to the little boy that the seat was mine or if they had asked me if I would mind moving, I may have considered being nice but no way after being spoken to like that. The little boy then screamed non-stop and started shouting 'agua, agua, agua' over and over at the top of his voice. I got so frustrated that I gave him one of my looks and yelled at him (in English) to shut up! I didn't hear a peep out of him for the rest of the flight and everytime he caught my eye, he looked terrified. Ah, the power of intimidation!
So, I am currently in Madrid airport where I almost kissed the tarmac when we landed - civilisation! It's changed a lot since I was last here and is brand new, with snazzy shops and bars/restaurants. I've already had a mini shopping spree in Zara (so much cheaper here!) and still have enough kudos on my Cathay card to get into the lounge. Thank goodness as I don't know how I would spend 8 hours here otherwise. I tried to change my flight to an earlier one but due to the bloody French being on strike (well, there's a surprise!), every flight is chockablock.
So, this has not been the relaxed ending to my Latin American journey that I was hoping for - spending 17 hours in a 30 hour period in Caracas airport, missing a flight and forking out a huge unexpected expense. After a lucky 8 months where nothing has gone wrong - I haven't been sick, I haven't been robbed, I haven't missed any connections or got lost - everything went wrong all at once. Still, I have some very fond memories of a lot of places (and some I would rather forget!). I've met some fantastic and genuine people who I know I'll be in touch with for a long time; I've met some people I thought were wonderful at the time but turned out to be the opposite, I've met some real drongos and some total f***wits and a lot of people who've really made me realise where I sit on the normality scale!
You'd think that 8 months here would have really improved my command of the Spanish language but sadly not.A few weeks ago I asked how much it would be for a man for 2 hours (I meant shade - hombre, sombre - same thing?!), I've asked for an elbow instead of a password and a wash instead of a key. On one flight, I kept speaking to the stewardess in Japanese as it's the only language I could think of which confused her somewhat! Somehow, with a smile, some arm-waving and a sheer look of desperation, I always got what I needed in the end and the locals have generally been very patient and friendly - in some countries more than others.
I won't miss the food on this continent as I think I've eaten enough rice and beans to naturally power a small village and I never want to see a ham and plastic cheese sandwich ever again. I'm looking forward to being able to put paper down the toilet, to drinking a huge glass of ice cold water straight from the tap, to everyone understanding my language (well, maybe not in London eh?!) and to eating some good hearty food - soups, Sunday roasts, Danish bacon sarnies,cucumber sandwiches and lashings of ginger beer! I am desperate for a decent glass of wine that won't cost me an arm and a leg (apart from in Argentina and Chile of course) and a proper cuppa tea and a chocolate hobnob biscuit! I'm also looking forward to sleeping in the same bed for more than 3 nights but that may not happen just yet. Proper washing machine, fabric softener, proper clothes (and heels!), hair straighteners, real TV in English - and just a snippet of normal life. I'm sure after a couple of weeks of this, I'll be raring to go again but for now, I AM DONE!
Hasta la vista chicas/os. Next plans to be unveiled soon……
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