(Part 4 of a summary from my trip to South America in late July 2015)

We woke early for our flight to Santiago, Chile. When we arrived at the airport in Cusco, the airline representative told us we would have to pay for a visa in La Paz, Bolivia. We stated our stay in Bolivia was merely a layover and should not have to pay.  He insisted and we countered by telling him we’d figure it out in Bolivia.  Our flight to Bolivia was uneventful but when we landed, our day became interesting.

We disembarked the plane in La Paz and waited in the hallway outside the gate getting our bearings. A Peruvian Airlines rep, that appeared to be in a hurry, approached and motioned for us to grab our bags and follow him and we took off after him down the hallway.  He took us around security lines and under roped boundaries to a different gate in the airport.  He asked for each of our passports and disappeared down a flight of stairs. He told us he’d soon return with our boarding passes.  He returned with immigration and customs forms for us to complete and disappeared again.  As far as we knew we had a couple hours until our flight departed so we got a bite to eat and put our feet up to relax while waiting for him to return.

As we sat there catching our breath, the flight departing from that gate finished boarding and I just happened to look at the board to read the flight info and destination. The destination was Santiago (our destination) and the flight number looked familiar but it couldn’t be our flight because we had over an hour until it was to depart. As I was pulled our flight confirmation out of my pocket a different airline rep came up the jet way yelling our names and insisting that we needed to board immediately.  We quickly picked up our things, shoved a last few bites of food in our mouths and walked towards the gate.

I was first to approach the rep and gave her my name. She looked at me with a puzzled look and I looked in her hands and saw only four boarding passes. Mine was missing.  My four friends refused to board without me but the rep insisted I’d get on and they should proceed down the jet way. I handed over my passport once again and watched as my only connections to America walked towards the plane with me standing in the doorway unable to continue.  It was at this point that I realized I might return to America with a wild story of getting stranded in Bolivia.  It wasn’t meant to be as the rep reappeared moments later with my boarding pass. I walked onto the plane as the last passenger and found my seat in Row 1 seat B.  I was shocked that as the last person on the plane I would be sitting in Row 1 with all that legroom.  It was truly a shocking surprise.