The drive up the long grade to the airport in El Alto was devoid of the usual traffic frenzy due to the pre-dawn hour.

Pedro grabbed a carrito for my very heavy bags and stayed with me through check-in.  To my amazement, the overbaggage charge was only $80 even though my bags weighed 101 kg (~ 220lbs).  I paid the airport tax ($25) and then spent about 100 B’s on a T-shirt and coca tea.

The flight took off about 15 minutes late so the Altiplano and Eastern Cordillera were illuminated in a low-angle sunlight as we flew southeastward to Santa Cruz de la Sierra.  My ears popped constantly as we descended to the lowland (savanna) city.  We were on the ground for about half an hour before taking off and heading NNW toward Miami.  I watched the fascinating patterns of the meandering rivers as they wound through the Bolivian and Brazilian rain forest.  Cloud cover above the forest increased to the north, completely obscurring the ground before we got to the Amazon. 

I closed the shade and watched “Antitrust”.  It was pretty good.  The weather was hazy across the Caribbean so I dozed off and on until we landed in Miami.  My bags were very slow coming off the plane but customs was a breeze.  I didn’t even stop to talk with an agent.  I checked the bags on and checked in for my Atlanta flight.

Thank God for BBG’s (big black guys).  I knew that getting the samples from baggage claim to the Avis shuttle would be the biggest problem in today’s escapade but three different Avis BBG’s helped me through these hurdles and made it easy. I had no problem giving them good tips.

Once in the car, I drove straight to Webster, with oldies blasting on the radio, arriving at 12:40 A.M.  Elise was not yet home from work so I just crawled into bed and fell asleep.  She awoke me at 1:30.  She was happy to see her daddy and I was happy to see her.

Another successful trip completed!