Hooray, I had made it to LA for my 5-hour layover! The moment of joy was quickly shot down as I realized the task that lay ahead; finding anything. I asked seven different employees, receiving seven different (or nondescript) replies. Eventually, a nice lady from the Air Canada ticket booth pointed me towards the longest line, and after a rather specific security check, I was through!
The next task was to call mom. Plenty of payphones, a phonecard, everything I needed was in the waiting room. Except mum and dad's phone number. Oh how did I not memorize that! So I spent roughly half an hour speaking with 411, operators, long-distance providers, and after finding no way to get a Canadian number, I resigned back to my seat to knit, make a hemp anklet, and study Spanish for the next few hours. Soon, though, my eyelids began to feel heavy, and I yawned. I glanced at the clock. 10:55. Well thank God I only had to be awake for...16 more hours? Suddenly my plan of not-being-able-or-wanting-to-sleep-on-the-plane seemed daunting, if not impossible. I had another three hours left of my layover here, a 5-hour flight to San Jose, Costa Rica, and another 2-hour wait there before my last 3-hour flight. Then I had to get a cab, get to the hostel, check in, and get my ass to bed around 3 in the afternoon.
If I can give one piece of advice to backpackers (all travelers, actually), let it be this; take up a craft/art/language specifically for your trip. I, aside from being totally tired, was 100% occupied with my Spanish phrasebook, knitting, hemp, and mp3 player.
By the time we arrived in Costa Rica, I was drifting in and out of consiousness. Finally, in the VERY hot, VERY humid airport, I downed my couple of ounces of "energy shot". It did it's job for a while, though it did not remove the disgusting I've-been-awake-for-24-hours feeling I've learned to loathe, and it made me fill ill. I was tempted to distract myself by wandering into the gift shop, loaded with carvings and necklaces and other goodies, though stood my ground and stayed out, realizing how overpriced airports are (my US$3 half-liter of water reminded me of that pretty quick).
But I made it to Ecuador!! Landed in Quito and hopped in a cab outside the airport. The cabbie spoke no English, but it was really fun trying to converse with him in Spanish! I never realized how limited mine was until now. In any case, he was nice and kept me awake with talking, and I fortunately understood what he was saying when he began to ask if I had a boyfriend and offered me his number and...the name of a hotel? Yikes.
Half an hour and $7 later, we arrived at the Chicago hostel. There was a moment of panic when the receptionist informed me the entire hostel was booked, but luckily for me one of the backpackers that was actually on my flights from LA (a guy from Australia who had been backpacking the Western US) was just leaving, and he led me to The Secret Garden. Lovely place with a breathtaking view of the expansive city from their rooftop restaurant/bar. Anywho, I'm off to try my first attempt at afternoon sleeping and will go out to explore my new surroundings in the morning. Much love!
