February 4 began with a little tension, as we drove through snowdrifts and blowing snow to get me to the Winnipeg airport on time. And despite a long wait at security, I did get to the boarding gate just in time to hear that the flight would be delayed for 45 minutes so that the crew could “warm the plane up,” (that’s what I heard). Anyway, this is what it looked like as I was boarding the plane, around 9 AM.
Fortunately, I had lots of time to make my connection in Toronto, and at around 9 30PM, we landed in Bogota. Everything went smoothly at the airport, it turned out that Colombia even had a designated line for Canadians in the immigration section. I thought we were getting special treatment because of the close friendship Canada has with Colombia, but no, I learned from the immigration agent that Canada has very unfairly imposed a biometric data collection requirement on Colombian citizens, in addition to a visa requirement, and so, to reciprocate the “kindness”, Canadians must pay an $80 entry fee. And if we don’t like it, they say, we should take it up with our government. That was unexpected, but the agent was very patient and friendly as my new credit card PIN was refused three times. Fortunately my other credit card still worked.
So I moved on to the baggage carousel and my lime green knapsack just happened to be coming out as I arrived and I picked it up and moved along to the customs line, enjoying the friendly greetings of the Colombian agents. As I was walking along I thought my bag felt heavy, but maybe I was just tired from sitting in the plane all day.
I found a friendly Uber driver who was eager to take me into town, showing me points of interest along the way and talking about how much he likes Canadians. Then we came to my hostel where the reception was waiting for me, and I got into my room just before 11.
I felt tired and excited and I lay on the bed and reflected on how well everything had gone and wrote Angie an email to say exactly that. Then I got ready for bed. I went to open my knapsack and noticed there was a Canadian flag on it that I hadn’t seen before. I thought Air Canada must have put that on. Then I opened a side pouch to get something, and out came a padlock that I’d never seen before. I looked more closely at the Canadian flag tag and saw there was a name and address written on it, and it wasn’t my name or address. The name was Harnish and the address said Oshawa. Now I was feeling a little tense and I opened the knapsack and saw a pair of flatsoled little sandals and feminin toiletries that I didn’t think I had packed. I had picked up someone else’s bag.
Immediately my tiredness was gone, replaced by nervous energy. I was kicking myself for not being more careful, and wondering where I would start looking for my pack and estimating how much time and money it would take to buy decent sandals that wouldn’t hurt my feet to replace the nice old ones I had packed, and on and on and it took a while for the frenetic thoughts to subside so I could fall asleep. I woke up early, thinking I should get started but it was still dark and still and I wasn’t sure what to do anyway.
Anyway, to make a long story just a little shorter, here’s what I did. I used Skype to call the Oshawa phone number on the tag, and got a recorded message. Of course, if someone’s travelling they’re not going to be home to answer the phone.
So I went to the hostel reception and explained my predicament and a very kind young man took up my case. He called the airport information, called lost luggage, called Air Canada, and finally got to talk to someone, and was told to call back after 10. It was going to take a while. So I went for breakfast, and then, on a whim, I called the Oshawa number again. This time a man answered, and, rather suspiciously at first but then with increasing interest, told me his daughter had borrowed his bag to go travelling in Colombia and that she had contacted him last night to say she had arrived safely. He said he would send her a message and give her my email so she could contact me. Feeling a measure of relief, I went for a coffee and a walk in the park to celebrate.
About an hour later I got an email from the Katie Harnish, who was already at the airport looking for the lost luggage people, but they couldn’t help. She had asked for an Air Canada contact and was told to return at night when the next flight would arrive, so she was very happy to take a cab to my hostel and bring me my bag and get hers. An hour later she arrived, and both of us felt very lucky and relieved.
Here’s a picture of the two bags:
Katie said she had also taken the bag last night without a second thought, though she had noticed it felt light. It was only when she went to put it in the taxi and was looking for an item in the top pouch that she noticed a padlock that wasn’t hers. Then she wanted to return to the baggage carousel to see if hers was still there, but of course the customs people wouldn’t permit her back in. There was nothing for her to do but go to her hostel and have a restless night.
Anyway, we were both quite pleased with the parallels and with the way things turned out, and we went for lunch to celebrate. Then we spent the afternoon doing a walking tour of graffiti and street art in Bogota’s old city. Here’s a picture of us, feeling happy and relieved, and also some Bogota street art.
So that was day one. In the evening I went walking, had a drink with a British couple who live in Peru and we never even talked about Brexit once. Then I had a not very good supper of poor patacones in a mediocre restaurant. And then off to the hostel and now to bed. Tomorrow I’m off to Medellín.