Well it’s been a
fairly eventful 36 hours. Most of it was pretty uninteresting though so I’ll
get you caught up point form:
Tuesday April 8:
4:10am – awoke
following a 3hr “sleep”. Wanting to get work done as well as enjoy an evening
with my wife AND get packed for a 2 week trip worked out to a later evening
than I expected.
5:40am –
following a drive through breakfast at Tim Hortons and an uneventful check in,
my first flight took off for Toronto.
10:54am – a
3.5hr nap later I landed in Toronto. I had an almost 4 hour layover so I was in
no rush when I grabbed a snack and found a spot to plug in my laptop and enjoy
some Netflix while I ate. After about an hour I packed up and headed to my gate
where the next leg of my journey to Miami would begin. My teammate Jen Saunders
met up with me about an hour before departure and we were able to chat a bit
before boarding.
2:45pm – The
plane departed for Miami and while I had hopes of visiting with Jen a bit on
the plane once we were in the air, I fell asleep immediately after takeoff and
didn’t awake again until just before we began our descent.
6:05pm – We
landed in Miami. Jen had been in this airport many times and more recently than
I, so she knew a good spot to grab a bite. Since we were both in the mood for a
burger, we made our way over to “The Counter”. For those unfamiliar, “The
Counter” is a fully customizable burger restaurant. You choose your bun, your
meat, your toppings, and your side(s). My order consisted of an all beef patty
with standard hamburger bun, lettuce, pickles, and peppers for toppings. I also
got a garlic aoli to go on top, with a side of fries and a milkshake to drink.
It was a great meal to start a great trip! After eating, we headed to our
departure gate where Cal Smith, Jack McBride, and Coby Iwasaa met up with us
shortly before our departure for Bolivia.
11:00pm – the
second last flight leg we had departed Miami for La Paz, Bolivia. This was a
red eye flight that would arrive the next morning so we received the benefit of
a meal and movie during the trip. I did eat the meal, although it was nothing
to write home about, and slept the rest of the flight.
Wednesday April
9:
5:35am – we arrived
in La Paz, Bolivia. Our flight would continue on to Santa Cruz in about an
hour, but we had to land and let off about half the passengers for whom La Paz
was their final destination. Once they had deplaned, the crew swept through the
plan quickly to prep for our next leg.
6:40am – we departed
La Paz for Santa Cruz. This last leg was the shortest and while I was excited
to be in Bolivia, that feeling was completely overshadowed by the overwhelming
exhaustion and stiffness that had by now permeated my entire body. I literally
wanted nothing more than a bed and some decent sleep.
8:00am – we
finally arrived in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, our final destination! Of course our
journey wasn’t quite over as we had to deplane, clear Bolivian customs, collect
our luggage and find the local group who would be transporting us to our hotel.
Luckily this process, while time-consuming, wasn’t especially difficult, and we
were boarded onto the bus and on our way to the hotel in about an hour.
10:00am – after arriving
at the hotel we were of course told that our rooms wouldn’t be ready until the
afternoon so we got luggage tags for our bags and went to test out the hotel
restaurant.
10:30am – after
walking around to two different eating establishments on the premises, we were
directed back to the first as the people who told us it was closed were
mistaken… ugh… we were finally able to sit down and order but having been up
since 5am it felt more like lunch than breakfast so I ordered a club sandwich.
What I was presented with vaguely resembled a club as it did have the requisite
3 slices of bread, but never before have I been presented with a sandwich
claiming to be a club with roast beef in it. I was too hungry to argue though,
so I quietly scarfed down the misfit sandwich without complaint.
12:00pm – after
we finished eating we decided, having no other options really, to head back to
the lobby and check on the status of our rooms. The rooms were still not ready
to go so we all found places to sit down in the lobby. As luck would have it I
found what must have been the most comfortable couch in all of Bolivia as I was
passed out on it within minutes. I awoke hours later to Coby poking my shoulder
and softly informing me that our rooms were finally ready.
3ish pm? – I’m
not entirely sure of the time here because we got into the room and unpacked
but were greeted by beds in each of the three rooms housed within so without
exaggerating too much I was again asleep within minutes.
6/7pm – I awoke
several hours later feeling moderately better. My body was still not happy with
the way I had treated it the last day and a half, but at least now that we had
what resembled a home I could settle in. Coby and I headed back down to the
SOHO restaurant, meeting up with Jen and Cal down there to grab some dinner
before retreating back to the room. I’m not completely sure how, but I did
manage to fall asleep before midnight and hoped that this meant my body
wouldn’t be feeling the effects too much the next day.
Thanks for
reading so far! I’ll update on the next couple of days tomorrow, including our
first practices on the court as well as a virtual tour of the villa we’re
staying in and pictures of the unfinished club! Opening ceremonies are tonight
and I’ll have a post about those in the next couple of days. Cheers for now!
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