El Alto International Airport

There are porters walking around the terminal, eager to assist you. They grab your luggage and ask you where you’d like to go, do you want a cab, what gate do you need to get to, etc. Then you realize they’re not really wearing any uniform, just street clothes. Then you realize they’re standing there waiting for payment for the job they just did of moving your bags that you didn’t really ask for or need in the first place. Then you finally realize that you were just scammed, son. And you need to work on your Spanish.

Landing in this airport was an amazing experience. I was feeling a bit sick and lying across 4 free seats, but when we started to land I had to look out the window.

This city is so amazingly high, that it’s like you are landing at almost the level the plane was flying at – it’s a city in the mountains in the clouds. Quite surreal.

When I got there, I accidentally walked across the customs barrier without knowing it (it was like the red rope they use in cinemas, and I wanted to sit down because I wasn’t feeling too well). Then when I actually went through customs, they were pretty intense, I didn’t speak the language and they licked my aspirin to see if it was some illegal drug.