The journey began as we walked, with full packs loaded to the main square in Valpo to catch a trolley to a bus to another bus to the airport in Santiago. This all went smoothly. Unfortunately, GOL airline proved to be late, again (as it was late on our way from Brazil to Santiago a few days earlier), by two hours. So, by the time the plane took off, it was nearing dark. . But we were still excited, as we hoped to see the Andes in the fading light.
But the curse of Friday the 13th and GOL airlines would foil these plans, as from the window all that we saw was:
But, we were STILL not to be put down. We were, afterall, on our way back to sunny skies and warm beaches, so our spirits were bright!
(Aren't you impressed with our self-portrait abilities? We think they are improving enormously...)
...and our curiosity was peaked as the man across the aisle entertained us (unknowingly) by reading through what must be the Chilean equivalent of the National Enquirer. We saw pictures of aliens and enormous falluses carved from stone that were perhaps related to some kind of pagan ritual- we couldn't quite make out the spanish...
Our ticket on the way back said Santiago-Rio, no stopovers, no change in flight numbers, and only one boarding pass (which they took). however, as we began to land in Sao Paulo, we realized we would once again be getting off the plane, to reboard another aircraft, with the same flight number, that would then take us to Rio.
having gone through this once before, we were not too worried.
However, this time, it turns out the delay meant we missed the connection to Rio, and there were no other flights that night. Lucky for us, we heard the familiar tones of an English accent ring out above the crowd, and found our way into the warm, friendly presence of Javier, his husband Peter, and their new friend and convenient translator, Nacho. These men would be our angels over the next 15 hours, guiding us through the chaos.
To make a long story short, well,shorter, the airline paid for a cab to a hotel (30 minutes from the airport...why???!) and then got us on the first flight to Rio in the morning, at 7:30 am. By the time we got luggage (which actually arrived) and to the hotel and checked in, it was 1 am. We headed for the reaturant, ate a strange combination of mashed potatoes and vegetables, and shared copious amounts of wine from the selection Nacho had bought from Duty free. Not a bad way to end a long day.
We collapsed into bed at 2 am to wake up at 5.
We finally get to the airport and find the flight is delayed until 8:30. Now who is surprised??? Not us!!
This means it lands at 9:30. But our flight to Natal (and the sunshine, the beaches, the peace and quiet of the north!) was at 9:30 with a different airline. The situation did not look good. GOL promised that if we missed that flight, they would put us on their 12:30 flight. So, we finally boarded at 8:45 and basically gave up hope of catching our 9:30 flight.
We made the best of it on the plane, sitting with nacho who is a musician and literally composed a song while we sat there- very cool.
OK, now we will sum up the last stretch of the journey. We miss the 9:30, our angels had to leave us, and it was a sad farewell as we watched our angels depart. We went to GOL to get them to put us on their flight at 12:30. But, without our "I will fix all" translator, Nacho, we were lost. After 3 hours of trying to talk to people running back and forth between airlines, the original airline TAM with the 9:30 flight arranged to put us on their next available flight- at 8 :40 pm. So, we killed 7 hours in the airport by writing, catching up with journaling, and reading. At 8 we go to board, only to see that there is no gate information because there is no plane for our flight. Nice. We are told that "maybe perhaps there will be a plane soon".
At 10pm we take off, arrive in natal at 12:30 am. 12 hours later than the original plan.
SO, long sotry short, don't fly on Friday the 13th, don't use GOL airlines, and try to learn some portuguese for goodness' sake.
After all that adventure, we have decided that GOL deserves to be recognized along with other famous airline carriers such as Delta: Doesn't Ever Leave The Airport
and have decided to call it
GOL: Gauranteed Overnight Layover.
Sheesh, what a day.
Natal is beautiful, the hostel owner speaks English, and the beaches are fab. More to come on that soon!!!!!!
1 comment:
Aaaaaah airlines in Latin America. I remember as a child we would fly LACSA back and forth to Costa Rica all the time. I thought that all flights came with a 4 hour delay. But you can't stress about it really, no mas hay que chilear;)
Hi Marah! Miss you guys and hope to see you soon. Brazil like weather here in NYC. Take care, be careful and we will see you soon I hope.
Wayne (and Myra)
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