Not such a smooth journey

I got up at 4.30 and the taxi arrived before the agreed time so I left the hotel at 5.30. Just as well. There was already a long queue of people with mountains of baggage. As I was sitting minding my own business in the departure lounge, my name was called over the PA system and I was invited to accompany an official as my case had been chosen for anti-narcotics inspection.

Are you Mrs. Mary Rodriguez?
Yes.
Is this your case?
Yes.
Are you travelling alone?
Yes.
Where are you travelling to?
Buenos Aires.
You aren't travelling to Madrid?
Not today.
So you are travelling alone?
Yes.
To Buenos Aires?
Yes.
Not to Madrid?
Not today.
OK. Then you may go.

After that all went well. We left Cochabamba only 15 minutes late.

At Santa Cruz the 1 hour and 30 minutes between flights was just enough to clear the stream of bureaucratic requirements. First of all passport control. Then hand in a declaration that you are not taking out more than US$10,000. If you are then you have to justify how you came to obtain this money and what you want it for. Next Interpol anti-narcotics control governed by Bolivia's infamous Law 1008 where they go through all you hand luggage.

After that, to the departure lounge. The Buenos Aires flight was posted for Gate 4 but some officla said it would be Gate 9. Then they announced Gate 3, so there was general chaos while they made up their mind which one it was going to be. Gate 3. So we then had to retrace our steps. However, we boarded and left on time. So far so good.

Just after we took off there was a loud bang on the left hand side of the plane. Nobody saida anything then, but after about 15 minutes it was announced that due to a technical problem we would be re turning to Santa Cruz. Then they told us that the technical problem was due to the cabin pressurization system. We turned around and went back to Santa Cruz.

At first they kept us on board and served drinks but after half an hour we had to disembark and we are currently (1.15p.m.) sitting in the departure lounge with no indication of when we are likely to continue our journey.

Then they served us lunch – usually a fair indication that the wait is going to be long. By then the Argentinian passengers had lost patience and were threatening to lynch the director of the company if he did not make an appearance. Apparently several of them had been on the same flight the previous week and the plane had to turn back, make an emergency landing with the fire brigade on standby and then they had to wait two days before being taken to Buenos Aires. Understandably they were not prepared to go through the same thing again.

Finally a flight came in from Salta in northern Argentina and once the passengers had disembarked and fuel had been loaded up, they put us on that plane and we finally reached Buenos Aires at 19.40 local time I.e. more than five hours late.

I lost no time in getting through immigration. Fortunately they did not hold my British passport against me and I was able to get a taxi into Buenos Aires!