As the old book went (if I'm not mistaken): "the best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley"?

I think it goes a long way to have a back up plan, especially for checked bags - I had the misfortune of lost baggage on a trip recently, on both the outbound and inbound. Luckily all that was lost were changes of clothing. Essentials - in this case it would probably include waterproofs and hiking boots - should always be carry on unless not permitted.

To be honest, many airports in the region, and I stress, airports, are known for being quite helpless with "customer service" - and there have been so many reports of that on this forum and elsewhere. I travelled HBO to the same place for a month last year for this very reason (of course also taking into account that communications and transport there weren't as convenient and that I spoke absolutely no Spanish).