February 24th - 26th - Durban, South Africa to La Paz, Bolivia

We had our last breakfast in Durban at the hotel about 8:00 and tarried over it for a while.  Then we went back to our rooms to finish our packing and get ready to check out at 10:00.  Both of us put our bags in storage and we decided to go find a nice coffee place to put in time.  That turned out to be Pesto's just down the street in the same block and we sat there for an hour and a half until it was time for Randy to head back and catch the airport shuttle.  I was using their internet so stayed longer since I had a few more hours to kill.

Randy caught the shuttle at noon and flew from Durban, South Africa to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Dublin, Ireland to Washington, DC to Bogota, Colombia and finally to La Paz, Bolivia.   He was leaving at noon on the 24th and arriving at 03:00 on the 26th and covering a lot of miles in between.  His flight was booked by the travel agent through Air Canada partners and cost a fair bit of money although not too bad.  He was flying economy but trying to upgrade to first class using points.  This hadn't worked on line so he was hoping to do it at the airport.

I stayed at the restaurant until almost 3:00 in the afternoon.  My free internet was still working so I was getting some pictures uploaded which really needed to be uploaded.  I had a Hawaiian pizza for lunch and it was really good.  The restaurant wasn't busy so they didn't mind me being there so it was a great solution until my iPad ran out of battery life.  I then went back to the hotel, got my suitcase out and grabbed the top bag from it, went to the washroom area and changed into something more appropriate for flying to a cold place, repacked my suitcase and sat for about an hour charging my computer and uploading pictures very slowly (always a problem at our hotel) until I had to catch the airport shuttle at 4:00.

The airport is about a half hour away from our hotel and it was now rush hour so there was some traffic.  However,  we were still at the airport by 4:40 which was exactly two hours before my flight so lots of time.  My flight is on Aeroplan points so still with Air Canada partners and cost me about $70 Cdn in taxes, along with 55,000 points for first class all the way.  I fly from Durban to Johannesburg, South Africa to São Paulo, Brazil to Lima, Peru to La Paz, Bolivia and arrive about 01:00 on the 26th - so definitely a cheaper flight, a shorter flight and a better flight (first class) than Randy's.  And I was impressed at how easy it was to book.  I just did it all on-line.

Anyway, back at the airport I checked in and the girl at the counter tells me where the VIP lounge is.  That's a great bonus when flying first class!  The one issue we had was that the airline can only tag your bags for three places so she did the tag and said I'd have to pick up the bag in Lima, Peru.  I definitely did not want to have to do that because that is where I have about a 13 hour stop over and I didn't want to be sitting on the outside of the airport with my bag waiting to check in again two hours before my flight.   So we decided, since I'd have over an hour in Johannesburg between flights, that she would just book it that far and then I would grab it there and take it out through check-in to get new baggage tags and then go back through security and immigration to catch my flight.  

The lounge in Durban was nice and I used their free internet as well as ate their food, just some crackers and cheese, before boarding the flight.  The flight in first class was very nice and I had two chairs to myself to book - very comfortable and great service, even a hot meal even though the flight was only an hour and a half.  In Jo'burg I got my bag and had no problem exiting and going to the check-in counter to get the bag retained properly.  The wait for security and immigration was a bit longer than expected so I just had time to go directly to the gate for the flight and had to miss the pleasure of the VIP lounge there.  I did have time to buy some water and spend the last of my African Rand and use the facilities before boarding and that was really all that was necessary.

First class on this flight was amazing.  Again I had two seats to myself and so did most people on the flight except for two couples and two moms with infants.  They started offering you drinks while you were still getting settled.  I stuck with the orange juice, not the champagne.  The menu they offered had full four course meals, lighter fares and breakfast.  I jokingly asked the guy if we just ate for the full nine hours of the flight and he said pretty much if you wanted to.  I didn't want to and neither did anyone else.  I had dinner shortly after leaving Jo'burg and breakfast before arriving in São Paulo.  I read the papers they gave us as we were taking off and before dinner and again while we were landing after breakfast, and throughout the rest of the flight I slept.  The chairs folded out to become beds.  I had two pillows (mine and the seat beside me) and a lovely duvet that was ever so comfy and cuddly.   I went to the washroom a couple times on the flight but that was about it for walking around.  I never would have believed you could sleep that much on a flight but leaving in the late evening and flying east means you were in the darkness all the way, and everyone was quiet and sleeping so it was easy to do.  Yes, you heard the occasional noise like announcements for "the captain has turned on the seat belt sign" and what not but you could ignore them pretty easily.  I had their audio headsets on for a while listening to music but they were too big and bulky to sleep with so most of the time I just kept my good hear pressed to the pillows and slept soundly.

On arriving in São Paulo I went directly to the VIP lounge and spent about three hours there relaxing in the middle of the night.  Their internet was super fast so I got lots of pictures uploaded, which was a real bonus.  And of course there were snacks if needed but I didn't want much - just some of their chocolates which were made right there and delicious.  The flight from São Paulo to Lima was about 5 hours and again I had two seats to myself and the seats became beds so I slept most of the way.  I actually don't even remember whether they fed us when we got on that flight but I'm sure there was something to keep us going.  I know one person had breakfast before we arrived but I decided against that and slept a bit longer instead.  This flight left about 6 so it was just starting to get light outside.  We were still going east so we didn't get anything too bright outside and most of us had the blinds down on the windows anyway.

Once in Lima I went to the lounge but there rule was only four hours per person per ticket.  You could then buy 4 or 8 hours so I walked around the airport for a few minutes just to check out facilities and the prices for meals and then went back and paid them $80 US for 8 hours.  That plus my 4 free hours got me through the whole day from about 9 to 9 when my next flight left, and it was money well spent.  I had breakfast, lunch and dinner there as well as any other refreshments needed throughout  the day.  I had a nap in the afternoon in their sleeping room and I had a shower to freshen up.  They had an outside courtyard where you could actually breath real air instead of air conditioning.  That area was a bit hot during the main part of the day but in the evening it was lovely so I sat out there and read for about three hours.  And of course the internet was also free all day.  Unfortunately theirs was not as fast as Sao Paulo's but it was still good.   I got most of the last of my pictures backed up over the trip - down from a couple thousand to just a couple hundred on the iPad now.  

The flight from Lima to La Paz was a bit more crowded and I only got one seat, but then it was only an hour and half flight so not a problem.  I slept through most of it too. It sounds like all I did was sleep on this trip but it really amounted to about six hours on the first long leg, four hours on the second and maybe an hour on this leg so not that much over two days with a lot of breaks in between.  I arrived in LIma as scheduled, cleared customs quickly but then had to wait for quite a while because my bag didn't arrive.  The man at the counter where I was filling out the form found it though.  Instead of going to São Paulo to Lima to La Paz as the baggage tag clearly said, it went to São Paulo to Bogota to La Paz and would be in several hours later - on what I assumed was probably Randy's flight.  

While I waited for my bag I exchanged $100 US so I had some Bolivian money.   I took a cab from the airport - a charge that should be $50 Bolivianos according to the signs.  The taxi driver when I arrived said it would be $100, which I was expecting.  We eventually settled on $70.  The ride from the airport was interesting.  The airport is obviously higher than the main city so it was a long windy road coming down with the city below and we didn't waste any time on it.  Once we got into the main part of the city it was pretty deserted.  There was no one or nothing on the street of our hotel except for closed doors and security gates.  The hotel didn't look like anything great and we had to find the buzzer to let someone know we were there and come down and open the gates for us.  He eventually came so all was well.  I checked in, told him to hold the bag for me and not bring it to me when it arrived in the middle of the night and went to my room.

La Paz is so high that it is very cool and tonight it was very misty and wet feeling so my room with the windows open seemed very cold.  I closed the windows and went to bed - not much to prepare since I had no luggage.  However, I was so cold I couldn't get to sleep.  I ended up with everything I had with me on under a sheet, two blankets and a heavy bedspread.  I think the cool dampness and the late hour - probably 3 by then - and my weariness from travelling just meant I couldn't warm up.  Eventually I did go to sleep and luckily I had figured out how to set the alarm on my iPad because that's what woke me at 9.  I went down to the desk and got my suitcase and then showered and changed and went up for breakfast about 9:30, which was pretty late since it finished at 10.   Randy was there so we compared notes on our travel.  I definitely think I had the better deal, although he did get up to business class for at least part of his journey (albeit at a great cost!).

We both did some laundry after that and about noon we met to go for a slow walk around the area.  At over 12,000 feet you don't step off the plane and start running marathons, not that I ever would anyway.  The air is very thin so you have to let your body get adjusted to less oxygen.  We were out for about four hours and we stopped twice for food and drink.  Breakfast was pretty simple so we needed something more and we were supposed to keep resting and drinking lots of fluids so that's what we did.  I must have had ten cups of coca tea that day.  The coca is also supposed to help your body adjust.  As long as you can sift through the leaves in the tea cup it's not that bad a taste and it does seem to help.  Drinking lots of water helps too.  I did also take the medication the doctor in South Africa gave me - one pill yesterday morning after breakfast and one this morning after breakfast - but I really do not want to be on those for long.  Prednisone is not a nice drug and I still can't believe it can actually help the situation - unless of course you have inflamed lungs to start with, which I don't think I have, so we'll get off that as quickly as possible.

We were back in our rooms resting from about 4:30 to 6:30 and I did actually sleep again, which I didn't think I would but it was obviously needed.   Then we went for another short walk to find a place for dinner and then another short slow walk afterward through some of the market areas.  It is amazing how much they sell in tiny stalls in the city and the people carry the stuff in on their backs, unpack it, sit around selling it then pack it up and carry it out at the end of the day.  Some of the stalls are more permanent and some of the stores are proper stores but generally quite small.  We small small corner stores that carried just about everything, specialty stalls that carried just single products and what we saw was everything from pop and candy to costumes and paint and hardware to the staples of sugar and milk and bread to clothes and shoes and everything imaginable in between.  We are in a very touristy area so there are also lots of tourist spots trying to book you on tours, lots of hotels and hostels and restaurants and cafes.  It's a very busy area during the day - and crazy on some streets if you are trying to cross traffic - but seems to close down completely at night.  We haven't figured out if there are some residential units in this area or whether everyone local just comes in during the day and leaves at night doing their shopping along the way.  We may have to talk to a local to sort that out.