craz,
Thanks for the good wishes. I'm really enjoying Buenos Aires. I've already forgotten my cliffhanger experience waiting for my tickets to arrive (with no days to spare)! I'm glad you had a good trip to Ecuador. I look forward to going back and spending more time. I think I have to go to the Galapogos.

My trip down on Avianca was great. Very comfortable and excellent service. The flight to Bogota was pretty full in First but the flight to BA was only about half full. They served full meals on both flights. If I'd eaten both I would have burst! It was quite good but I skipped the second meal and slept most of the way. The connection in BOG was much easier than I remembered from my LP run. You can bypass immigration, customs and security and go straight to your connecting gate.

By the way, I was hit with the same extra taxes and fees in MIA. They gave me a receipt that details all of the fees. I have to say they sound reasonable to me. I can't believe LP thinks we don't have to pay them. I don't remember exactly but about $35 is for the new security fees. If they don't charge the traveler who would absorb these fees?