Back in the country but still recovering

Either way, I was supposed to arrive at national Airport yesterday morning. But the line between point A and point B didn't end up being as straight and smooth as I had hoped.

I left Bolivia on Friday night. The plan was: La Paz through Santa Cruz (another city in Bolivia where all American Airlines flights pass through), to Miami, then spend Saturday day and night in Miami hanging out with my friends Katrina and TJ and my beautiful goddaughter, Sophia. Then continue on home on Sunday morning from Miami.

This, however, did not quite work the way it was supposed to.

(I am not, generally, a superstitious person, however I find it appropriate to point out that I commenced travel on Friday the 13th).

Flight one: La Paz to Santa Cruz. Friday night.

The flight was delayed for two hours, so it's good that I wasn't counting on a connecting flight in Miami right away. We arrived in Santa Cruz a little after midnight, and the plan was, to drop off and pick up more passengers and continue on to Miami.

On the tarmac in Santa Cruz, we were informed that there was a mechanical problem with the plane's landing gear and they had to call in a mechanic. After periodic updates for a little while, we were asked to de-plane and await further news. Another mechanic was woken up and called in, while we lined the hallway of the Santa Cruz terminal for about two hours. At about 3:30am, we were told that the flight had been cancelled and that we should get our luggage and proceed to the check in area for hotel vouchers. By the time all of our luggage came through (including my ridiculously large painting), and we got the vouchers, it was about 6am.

We got to the hotel at 6:30, and despite thin walls (enough to hear the next door neighbor taking a shower and the gathering of dudes hanging out with some weird car alarm/horn thing that sounded like the soundtrack to something like 2001: A Space Odyssey), we were able to don earplugs and sleep for 4 hours, until we had to go back to the airport.

Flight two: Santa Cruz to Miami

Luckily this one left on time, but because of all of this mess, I obviously did not make it to Miami to spend the day with Kat and TJ and to fill my Saturday night babysitting duties. This was the most disappointing part of the trip. We got to Miami around 11, and got checked into the Airport Marriott, got some food (and much needed alcohol!) and went to bed around 1am. I could complain about how poorly stocked the plane was with beverages from Santa Cruz to Miami, but that just seems so insignificant compared to anything else. At least there were decent movies.

Flight three: Miami to DC

We woke up at 5:30 to catch an 8:30 (or so) flight from Miami. This time, the plane left on time, but did not have enough blankets for everyone who wanted one. Luckily, my co-worker, with whom I was sharing this unfortunate adventure, had snagged one for me from someone else's seat before everyone had boarded.

Baggage Claim adventure DCA.

I should point out that this entire time, we had been hauling our luggage (which included 4 checked pieces, of which one was my oversized painting and one was my overweight rolling suitcase, for which I paid a total of $144 dollars additional just to get on the plane) to and from every airport and hotel we set foot in. Everything had successfully made it out of Bolivia. But somewhere between Miami and DC, my painting was lost. I travel enough that this was not the first time luggage had been lost/delayed/misplaced/whatever, but it was the most expensive piece that had ever been lost.

Luckily by Sunday night, it had apparently been located and was scheduled for delivery. Though it's Monday at 3pm and I'm still waiting. Though I talked to the delivery guy who assured me it woudl come maybe around 7pm tonight.

I wasn't planning on taking the whole day off today, but after trying to sleep in unsuccessfully and looking around at the disaster area that is my apartment, and realizing I had no clean clothes to wear to work and no food to eat, I decided it was worth taking a day to recover. I'm sure at some point in the future I will be able to look back at this experience and laugh, but I'm not there yet.

But at least I can breathe and not get winded walking up flights of stairs. And I just went on a produce buying binge at Whole Foods. And I'm in my comfy and familiar apartment, even if it does have crap lying all over, half unpacked. And I'm not at work. So life's not all bad. But I'll be much happier when my painting arrives.