We have a week of free travel where we can choose to go basically anywhere we want to on the continent. So, having a lifelong dream of going to Chile, naturally, that is what I chose. After weeks of planning and arranging and getting buses and hostels booked, we set off last Thursday for Buenos Aires to catch our bus to Mendoza, Argentina, slightly on the Argentine side of the Andes, planning to cross to the coast, go up into the mountians and land back in Santiago for a couple of days before getting on our 27 hour bus back to Montevideo. We had 10 days to do it all, and we did, thanks only to the help of God.
Let's start out with a couple of details. Our group was 8 people, 3 guys and 5 girls. We had two intermediate level Spanish speakers and six beginners that did amazing. We had five locations to get to, four boarder crossings to complete one continent and three countries of the Southern Cone of South America. We had four bus tickets booked per person, and five hostels. Two different dialects of Spanish and finally, one stolen passport. That's right, it was going to be quite a ride.
We started out in BA, Argentina where we spent the night in an interesting hostel that was small but comfortable. We walked down calle florida the next day for a while and then went to Burger King. At that point, Ben´s backpack was stolen. We don´t know how because we were all sitting right there. It is obvious that we had been being watched and were specifically targeted. Then the race against the clock came. I am the best speaker and understander of spanish on this trip, so it fell to me to do all of the investigation. No one at burger king spoke any english, so that was really hard. Then we went back to our hostel and called the embassy. Our bus was at three in the afternoon and it was already one by the time we got back to the hostel. They said that we had to come between 2:30 and 3 to be able to get the new passport and that we needed 100 us dollars and two passport photos with exact measurements. SO, we sent 4 of our group onto the bus station to try to arrange the tickets for later or see what the deal was going to be there. We went to the Citi bank to see if they could help us cancel his card, but they didn´t...So we went to the photo place that the guy at our hostel told us about but it was closed. Then we miraculously found another photo place and miraculously, the guy knew the exact measurements we needed. We hopped in a cab and got to the embassy about 2:45 or so. They took our only cell phone from us at that point to go into the embassy, so we were out of connection with the group that was supposed to call us about the bus. about an hour later, we had the passport and were sent to the police station because he needed a stamp from them on a report to let him out of argentina. We walked to not one, not two but three police stations that were scattered all around the city. Everywhere from the Zoo to the Plaza de Mayo, to the Obelisk to Florida street (long ways). Then they told us we had like 5 poeple in front of us and it could easily be an hour. At that point, we recieved a text telling us that our new bus was at 8PM that night. So we went to the hostel to pick up our luggage and ben called the credit card company. Then we went back to the police station and at about 6:25 we sat down with an officer that spoke no english whatsoever and didn´t really feel like focusing. Finally, about 6:45 we got out of there with the stamp and headed to find a taxi. Because of our luggage, no taxi would pick us up. Finally we walked another mile with our bags and found a guy that charged us a crazy amount but got us there about 7:10. We had been told to get there no later than 7 to switch the tickets. We went to one desk and she told us that we since we missed our bus that was just bad luck for us and we had to figure something else out. Then she called the other desk and said they had 3 tickets waiting on us. We needed 4. So we ran down to the other desk and picked up our miraculously exchanged tickets. Finally at 7:55, we boarded our bus.
The next morning at 10:00AM when we disembarked, we found out that the person who took our tickets had taken the paper that we wrote the address of our next hostel on. So we guessed at the street and walked a couple of miles across another unfamiliar city. Finally we found our hostel and the other part of our group. That day, we were in Mendoza and took it easy. We bought ben some shoes and shorts and really relaxed. Note for the reader: I was still not sleeping at this point.
The next day we went white water rafting and did this like zip line canopy tour up in the mountains! I can't put it into words; it was amazing!
The next day we took a bus into Chile. When we got to the border, it was snowing! None of us had jackets on us! Hurray! Fun pictures to come. That bus took about 3 hours too long to get to Vina del Mar in Chile but we finally made it. We had some good food and went down to the beach. It was sooo good to see my South Pacific again!
The next day we shopped and chilled and went to the beach. It was finally warm!! But our bus was about 35 minutes behind my schedule in my head, but miraculously, we were taken to the wrong bus terminal which happened to connect with the exact metro line we needed. We met this sketchy guy in this sketchy green van and he took us way up into the mountains. It was cold again!
The andes are amazing! It was like a dream. We were in the fort davis of the Andes at this like wooden cabin with no electricity execpt from a generator at night! It was super exciting. We tried to hike 11 km like 7 miles uphill to these hot springs, but I didn´t have enough energy at that point. I walked back down with two of my friends and we spent the day hiking around there, singing, and I got some much needed alone time. I can´t wait to show you pictures of this place. I got a picture with Flat Lucy too!
Thursday, we got to Santiago and spent the rest of the day shopping and exploring. Friday, we got up and went to the big metropolitan park, but didn't go in yet because there were about a million little Chilean kids. So we walked about a mile to a little park and took some great pictures. We had lunch at KFC (super exciting) and then went to the Park. We rode these elevator things up to the top of the hill and took more great pictures. It was a great way to conclude our trip. We returned to our hostel and watched X-men 2 in Spanish and it was interesting. Sadly enough, that afternoon I was attacked by a migraine and was unable to go to dinner. I took my Replax and went to sleep for about an hour. After I woke up and took a long shower, the headache subsided enough to be able to eat something. I went downstairs and found Ben. We went to a little pizza place that was sketchy. There were a lot of drunk Chileans and they tried to talk to us. I didn't really feel like eating, but we got some pizza with pepperoni and black olives...and then I asked Ben what he wanted on it and he said pineapple so we went with it. It was disgusting. We poured our fries on top of it, picked things off and choked it down. Super memorable experience though.
The next morning at 10:00AM when we disembarked, we found out that the person who took our tickets had taken the paper that we wrote the address of our next hostel on. So we guessed at the street and walked a couple of miles across another unfamiliar city. Finally we found our hostel and the other part of our group. That day, we were in Mendoza and took it easy. We bought ben some shoes and shorts and really relaxed. Note for the reader: I was still not sleeping at this point.
The next day we went white water rafting and did this like zip line canopy tour up in the mountains! I can't put it into words; it was amazing!
The next day we took a bus into Chile. When we got to the border, it was snowing! None of us had jackets on us! Hurray! Fun pictures to come. That bus took about 3 hours too long to get to Vina del Mar in Chile but we finally made it. We had some good food and went down to the beach. It was sooo good to see my South Pacific again!
The next day we shopped and chilled and went to the beach. It was finally warm!! But our bus was about 35 minutes behind my schedule in my head, but miraculously, we were taken to the wrong bus terminal which happened to connect with the exact metro line we needed. We met this sketchy guy in this sketchy green van and he took us way up into the mountains. It was cold again!
The andes are amazing! It was like a dream. We were in the fort davis of the Andes at this like wooden cabin with no electricity execpt from a generator at night! It was super exciting. We tried to hike 11 km like 7 miles uphill to these hot springs, but I didn´t have enough energy at that point. I walked back down with two of my friends and we spent the day hiking around there, singing, and I got some much needed alone time. I can´t wait to show you pictures of this place. I got a picture with Flat Lucy too!
Thursday, we got to Santiago and spent the rest of the day shopping and exploring. Friday, we got up and went to the big metropolitan park, but didn't go in yet because there were about a million little Chilean kids. So we walked about a mile to a little park and took some great pictures. We had lunch at KFC (super exciting) and then went to the Park. We rode these elevator things up to the top of the hill and took more great pictures. It was a great way to conclude our trip. We returned to our hostel and watched X-men 2 in Spanish and it was interesting. Sadly enough, that afternoon I was attacked by a migraine and was unable to go to dinner. I took my Replax and went to sleep for about an hour. After I woke up and took a long shower, the headache subsided enough to be able to eat something. I went downstairs and found Ben. We went to a little pizza place that was sketchy. There were a lot of drunk Chileans and they tried to talk to us. I didn't really feel like eating, but we got some pizza with pepperoni and black olives...and then I asked Ben what he wanted on it and he said pineapple so we went with it. It was disgusting. We poured our fries on top of it, picked things off and choked it down. Super memorable experience though.
The next morning we set out for the bus at about 7:15. Santiago has about 3 million bus stations so there was a lot of confusion and a near break down, but we got on the bus and it was all good. We stayed on the bus from 8:30 Saturday to about 1:00PM Sunday. We were glad to get off and get back to Casa.
What a great adventure it was. I wouldn't take back anything except obviously that Ben's backpack was stolen. That was horrible. But God got us through. We had a blast and all got super close. We saw new sides of everyone and most of them were good. For sure it was the trip of my LIFETIME!
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