This morning both Donna and I had a nice little sleep in. Whilst Donna had a shower, I phoned home. Just wanted to let my family know that I had survived Colombia.
Once I was showered and ready, I quickly popped down to reception to check on my washing. Much to my disgust, I saw that my washing was still sitting there on the floor, in exactly the same position as where it was last night. I mentioned again to the same receptionist that I was leaving early afternoon, and questioned if it would be ready, she said that she would check with the girls doing the laundry. Holy crap, I was so counting on having this laundry done. I had to wear my bathers today, as I seriously had nothing else to wear!!
Donna and I then went to breakie, and we sat and had our last supper with the tour gang. They all excitedly had things planned for the day today, whilst Donna and I had an exciting day of waiting ahead of us. But in saying that, we had already hit all of the destinations that they had planned to go to, so we knew that they would have a good day!! We planned to meet up with very one at 1pm to say our final goodbyes!!
After breakie, we made sure all of stuff was packed, and then decided to hit the streets for one last time.
It was a Sunday, and most of the shops had yet to open. We walked around, and headed back past the artisan market near the gold museum. Whilst I was here, I found a canvas print of one of Botero's paintings.... The ballerina. I loved it so much, so I ended up buying it!! Happy with my purchase, Donna and I slowly walked our way back to the hotel.
Once there, I checked in for my flight, and lucky enough to get a window seat on the emergency exit row. Brilliant.... not that I have long legs requiring the extra leg room, the extra space will not go astray, especially after the cramped bus trip we had.
We walked back up stairs, where we saw Andrés having breakie. We sat and we chatted to him about life, and where he saw his future heading. He had so many big ideas for Colombia and it was nice to see someone with so much passion!!
We said our fond farewells to Andrés, and then grabbed all of our bags and headed down to reception to check out. The reception was where we were going to be waiting for the next couple of hours, so we got settled.
We chatted as we sipped on a coca tea. We did a bit of surfing on the net, and watched as people came and went. At around 1pm, Donna and I said our last farewells to our Colombian tour family. It was sad to say goodbye. Especially as I was feeling so homesick when I first arrived in Colombia. I was so blessed to meet some amazing people who helped me over come and forget my homesickness!!
Soon after my washing arrived! Yay... Thank goodness it has been done. As I started to unpack my laundry bag, I soon realised that it's contents were not mine. Oh s***. This is not good. I quickly told the receptionist that the clothes weren't mine, and she ran out the back to find out what happened. She came back and told me that my washing would be ready in 10 mins. I hope so, as we were leaving for the airport real soon.
I anxiously waited, and 5 mins later one of the maids walked in with my clothes. She stood there, literally praying that she had put the right clothes back in my laundry bag. As I looked in my bag, I started to see familiar clothes, yes they are mine. I thanked the maid profusely for doing my washing for me, and then madly set about the task of packing it into my luggage.
In the middle of the reception area, I had my bags completely open, and I packed and stacked my clothes in, and finally with much difficulty zipped my bag up!! Argh, all done.
At around 2.30pm, we organised for a taxi to come and take us to the airport. My flight wasn't until later on tonight, however it seemed a waste for Donna and I to catch separate taxis to the airport, only hours apart. Either way I have to wait, and it's either at the hotel reception or at the airport. At least I will have Donna to chat to for a couple of hours at the airport!!
So the taxi took us out, and we arrived safely at the airport doors. I think it is now safe to say that I officially survived Colombia. No kidnapping, no drug cartels, organs all intact, and with a new insight on how beautiful Colombia is. The scenery was spectacular, and the people so warm and friendly.
I thought that it would have been too early for me to check my bags in, considering my flight wasn't for another 8 hours. I decided I would try my luck. I approached the avianca counter, and asked if it was too early to check my bags in. They happily told me that it wasn't too early, and to please go right ahead. The best part of this, was that no one was waiting in the line. I essentially walked straight to the check in counter, checked my bag in, no problems at all!!!
I then met Donna again, and we set about finding some lunch. As we sat and ate our lunch, we still couldn't believe that this was the end of our time together. We had become such good friends over the last week, and again I was so blessed to have found such an amazing travel companion. We have shared plenty of laughs, and seen some amazing places here in Colombia.
Once we finished lunch, it was time to do all of those airport things..... Like head through immigration and security. Both of which I passed with flying colours. We had a look around duty free, and then headed through to the gates.
Before we knew it, it was time for Donna to board her plane. We said our final goodbyes, and I watched as she made her way through to her plane. And with that, I was back on my own again!!
I only had 5 hours to wait until my flight. I can do this. I had a look around a few more of the shops, and spent the last few Colombian pesos that I had.
I then just hung around at the gate. I worked on my blog, read my iBook and then had to find a charging station to recharge my phone!!
It got to 9.45, 30 mins before my plane was set to leave. With no signs of boarding, I was madly trying to listen to the calls that they started to make. However, with the calls all in Spanish I had no idea what was going on. And then, as if they read my mind, an announcement came over the loud speaker that our flight was now leaving from another gate. This isn't a good sign, I'm guessing my flights not leaving at 10.15.
Like a flock of sheep, everyone grabbed their cabin bags and walked the 100m to the new gate. Again we sat down and waited for the crew to start boarding the plane. At 10.15, the time our plane should be taking off, we instead started boarding.
I boarded the plane and then made my way to my seat. There was so much leg room. I was just starting to get comfortable, when an air hostess came up to our row. She asked if I spoke Spanish. I said no. She then explained to me that I would have to move seats, as to sit in an exit row seat you need to be able to speak Spanish. It was really weird, as when I booked the ticket it only insisted that I speak English or Spanish, however the information sheet in front of me definitely said that I must speak Spanish. So the air hostess was really great about it, and she found me another window seat further down the plane.
The plane was far from full, so I was happy to find that I had a spare seat next to me. Again I got myself sorted in my seat, and turned my attention to finding some good movies on my inflight entertainment unit.
I watched a couple of movies, and was surprised when the announcement was made, that we were now approaching La Paz. It was soon after 3am, and by now I was looking forward to getting to my hotel and into bed. However I knew that this would need to wait, as I still had immigration and customs to navigate.
I joined the queue at immigration, and waited in line for my turn. Eventually, I had a new stamp in my passport, and I went through to the baggage claim to get my bag. By the time I got through immigration, the carousel had already finished spinning and my bag had been taken off the belt and placed on the ground.
I was lucky enough to be waved through customs, and for the first time ever, I had to present my plane ticket and bag ticket to the police officer, who checked it against the ticket that was on my bag. Pass!!!! I was now free to enter La Paz, with my bags.
I went through the doors, and found the board with my name on it. Thank goodness my transfer is here. We jumped into the van, and made our way into the heart of La Paz!!
The lights of La Paz twinkled around us, and I could see that, as like many cities in South America, houses were built high up on the mountain sides. It looked so beautiful.
At around 4.30, we arrived at my hotel. After a quick checkin, I said goodbye to my guide, and made my way up to my room!! Finally, bed!!!