I arrived LIM and darted off the plane (as did a few others) to the transit security (a quick breeze) and then off to the departure gate to see my 1:05 AM flight was delayed to 5:05 AM. I cannot express what my face must have looked like. (The plane was coming from LAX, so at least I knew it was en route.) A glum me went to the lounge (fortunately open 24 hours) as the last of the post-midnight bank of passengers was leaving. I used their internet terminals, had some water, used their computers some more, had more water, and then took a shower. Eventually the madrugada snacks were replaced with the breakfast fixins, the bartender left, the outside patio was closed and cleaned, the place was vacuumed, and I wandered and sat down, just trying to stay awake. Boarding commenced at about 5, and I think we departed at about 5:35 or so. Usually flight 601 serves breakfast right before SCL arrival, but the crew decided to serve it right after departure. I just put my seat fully flat and closed my eyes for 3 hours, but didn’t really snooze. This crew, a LA crew, despite their serious delay (same crew goes LAX/LIM/SCL) was delightful and cheery upon boarding and disembarking (although I didn’t witness the meal service). I’m sure the LAX-originating passengers had a delightful flight, despite their delay.

In all my LAN flights, this was the most serious delay, and I had never suffered a cancellation. Prior to this, the worst delay I had was 2 hours @ LAX, and when I checked in, there was an immediate apology, and a large voucher for a quite ample meal. Another delay was caused by fire smoke. Otherwise, I don’t know if I’ve ever been more than a half hour late flying LAN. But I felt (for some time) that when my streak ended, it would end in a big way.

The good news is that I figured my hotel room would be ready (although I anticipated that it already would have been for a very early arrival, as it often is). A slow wait for luggage, followed by a quick taxi ride on the Costanera Norte placed me at the San Cristobal Tower. I stay here between 1 and 3 times a year generally. Not many places you can go in the world (with so little frequency) that the staff greets you by name, and then wonders why you arrived too late “as we were expecting you much earlier.” My lovely platinum suite upgrade was awaiting me, and I tried to take a nap. I took a nap of sorts, then showered, took a walk, and called my friend. Within the prior week, his grandmother had died, and I knew he was in the south, and couldn’t confirm he’d be back before I arrived. Mind you, we were supposed to have dinner the 2 nights I was there. I called him to find out he was still in the south. I once met his grandmother, a crusty old Chilota from Castro, who I think liked to stir the pot, so to speak. My trip to her house, and the bizarre coffee she made us, which I pretended to like, is a memory I won’t forget. I particularly felt badly for his mother, whom I have met on a few occasions. I would later feel much worse. My friend was to be returning to Santiago about the time I was leaving. So, what does one do? Make pisco sours. I occupied my time, had my required lomito tomate palta, went out and about, and generally had a pleasant time. Days were lovely, nights were freezing. My Blackberry (Verizon) data wasn’t working at all, nor was my office remote access. The Blackberry problem it turns out was caused by Entel, and Verizon couldn’t do anything about it, and my remote office access, well, I still don’t know what the problem was. So, I resigned myself to not getting any work done (yay) and not having email access from the Blackberry (not a terrible thing, although when you expect it, you miss it).

Finally, it was time to return to SCL. A quick ride down the Costanera Norte, and I was back to the airport. This highway is once again functioning at 100%, and other than most of the false ceilings still missing in the airport, and a lot of portable A/C systems, one wouldn’t have imagined such a serious earthquake hit here such a short time ago. That, and a couple of the pedestrian ramps from the upper level roadway were still missing. (The hotel lobby bar was walled off and scheduled to reopen the following week, and was in a temporary location.)

LAN premium check-in SCL is in a separate room at the far end of the terminal, and provides for a quick check-in, followed by a premium no-line exit migration booth, followed by a quick no-line security station. I was then off to the LAN Neruda lounge.


Note the fresh fruit juices and the XO cognac and two kinds of pisco




The midday snacks aren’t as exciting as the evening ones, but they are ample.

And then, I was off, to EZE. Flight time was only about 1:25 that day, and they won’t commence service until after flying over the Cordillera. Then for a flight of this length, the typical snack arrived.



Lucky for me this day, Aerolineas Argentinas had a delay with the plane from JNB carrying the Argentine futbol team that had just recently taken a bath, because there were seemingly countless thousands of hinchas lining the highway and crowding everything near and about EZE. I got out of there just in time - the plane landed shortly after I was out of the airport. Traffic to the airport was a standstill for several KMs. I got to my place, spent a few low key days hanging out, spending two lovely dinners with my friend who takes care of my apartment, and that was about it for Buenos Aires. It was downright warm when I arrived (25 degrees, which is 23 degrees warmer than when I arrived in July a year ago), and while it cooled down a lot, was never particularly cold. My Blackberry worked generally fine, but my office remote access did not. Pisco Sours, remember?

And before I knew it, came the time to return to EZE. For the first time, I used the online ordering for Radio Taxi Premium and it didn’t function properly. (I reserved for “Now” and it confirmed “Now” but also put a time for an hour from “Now.” When I called when the car didn’t show up, she said I reserved for later. I looked at the confirmation which confirmed both the “Now” and the hour later time.) I went down to the street, got a taxi, set a price, and was on my way.

I was really looking forward to returning home on LAN as SFO would be my US point of entry. I could buy some duty free liquids @ LIM, no immigration/customs/security theater at another US point of entry, an easy LIM connection etc., and mostly, a flat bed seat for the final 9 hours of my journey. I arrived @ EZE to find out that this was not to be.