Success and failure

After having a 'scraping the barrel' weekend without my card I ventured out on Monday again to try and obtain it. Google maps turned out to be a massive help with this as it not only gave me the location of the dhl depot, but also which public bus to take to this location! This depot was located 19km away from my hostel and it took me around 45min to traverse the city to that point. I located the depot, picked up my card and got on the same number 508 bus back home. The feeling of success and thankfulness has probably never felt as great as when I withdrew my first cash from the atm in 3 weeks! At this point I felt that it was only appropriate to celebrate with a tripple macdonals burger and chips.

My success story ended on that Monday as the whole of that week was spent trying to obtain my European Schengen Visa to no avail. To make a long story very short and condensed, the european countries don't issue visas to non-chilean citizens or permanent residents, because it is immensely difficult for them to prove that you have means of sustaining yourself financially once you arrive in the Schengen area. 

On Wednesday night a whole bunch of us were loaded into a couple of taxis (we were about 11 or 12 people) by the self appointed 'party head' of la Chimba hostel and taken out to a massive night club a ways away from the club. The bunch if us got there in happy hour which was from 10 to 12. Perfect timing. The whole of South America only starts going out at after one o clock so the place was pretty much dead until then and then it suddenly erupted! The club is an old open air theater that has been transformed (a roof has been put on it) into a great dancing hall. It was a great and very successful night!

Valporiso & Santiago round 2

The Monday morning of the 13th I ventured out to the Portuguese embassy to try and begin sorting out my European Schengen VISA application. Before I ventured there I bought myself a 'proper' charger for my iPad. This charger then proceeded to break immediately upon my return to the hostel. Needless to say I was fuming. The next morning I returned to the shop, but I have a genetic disadvantage when it comes to keeping important documents, point and case immediately losing the receipt for the charger. The manager therefore was powerless to give me a new one and feebly offered me a 10% discount on the next charger I bought. No thank you. I reckoned after 4 years of sweating blood at the Stellenbosch engineering faculty, I have come to far to simly 'replace' my broken merchandise. That is the coward's way. It is not the way of men. A simple splash of super glue fixed the problem. I of course was quick to wave my 10 times cheaper solution under the manager's nose.

On Wednesday Vic, Gustav and I left for Valporiso. A beautiful town built on hills, street art and bohemian culture. We spent 2 night in a hostel 'section' of the city. On the first day I bought a packet of beans and brewed some bean soup for our traveling trio - it turned out great. Although I had meant to sell it to the other hostel patrons, they weren't to keen on a concoction that would make you fart for the next 24hrs! 

I returned to Santiago on Friday, hoping to get locate and pick up my debit card from the predesignated dhl office (which had gotten stolen in Puerto Varas). Not only was my debit card not at the designated office - the office didn't exist! I looked around a bit and found the depot a little bit down the street. Unfortunately the depot was gaurded by solely spanish speaking gaurds, and I couldn't negotiate my way past them into the office builing yonder. I managed to divulge that I should go to another dhl office a while away - which being a half-cripple is no small feat. When I eventually hobbled over there, my package, unsurprisingly wasn't there either. After calling some people I found that my package was located at yet another address - 19km away from where I stayed... It is at this stage that I gave up and decided to pursue this rather essential task on Monday.

Santiago

Pucon

I left Valdivia on Wednesday at 11am to go to Pucon, about 200km away. The volcano there has been smoking the past week and I wanted to get in on that action. Arriving in Pucon I found myself being turned away from the first 3 hostals I enquired at. I finally managed to find a Vegetarian hostal for 10000 a night, but with no access to the kitchen and no breakfast in the morning. A hellish place where people who enjoy murdering plants congregate and you couldn't bring meat on the premises for aloof vegetarian reasons. I took a room as I thought that I would have no other place available. I was delighted to be proven wrong half an hour later when I found a hostel with a bed for me for 7000 a night, kitchen privileges AND breakfast! I promptly went back to the cabbage palace and canceled my stay and moved in at Lacustra hostel.

The next day I took a local bus to the cheapest thermal baths/pool spots. I was completly alone and had the whole complex to myself. The warm water was nothing less than heavenly and had quite a positive effect on my mangled leg. I went back to the hostel after my 3h bathing excursion, where the owner (Fernando) and I spent the rest of the day watching the first 4 episodes of the popular TV series, Vikings, on Netflix. I got on the bus to the capital, Santiago, at 10 o clock that evening.

Santiago

I arrived In Santiago at 7am the Saturday morning and got a taxi to the hostel that Vic Hiemstra indicated he was at. The neighborhood looked really dodgy, with all the apparent shops being boarded up and closed down. The hostel however, La Chimba was a great success. As I was sitting down to wait for Vic to wake up, hello and behold my suprise when Freddie Newton (One of the Brits brothers I had an excellent night with in Colonia, Urugauy at the fuel station) came up behind me and with tears of joy greeted me. He immediately suggested I go and jump on his brother Harry's bed, who after the initial shock of seeing me was, as is to be expected, quite ecstatic. They Introduced me to 3 Australian guys they teamed up with during their travels.

La Chimba hostel has an addictive atmosphere, undoubtedly the best hostel I have stayed in thus far. I can honestly say that I didn't want to go anywhere in Santiago because I was glued to the courtyard drinking wine and beer the whole day with all the great people you meet at this place.

I received quite a rude awakening the Sunday morning when one of the reception ladies came in at 10h30. Her words to me were "Albertus, checkout was 30min ago, you need to leave." I was so caught up in the place that I completely forgot to rebook my stay for that night! Never one to keen to abandon my friends I resolved to just 'be a guest' at the hostel until the next morning, when I'd be a legal resident, with and actual bed again. This daring and slightly immoral endeavor was achievable because the hostel has a lot of receptionists and rotate all the time. It is also huge, having the capacity to sleep a hundered people. It was quite easy to don the appearance of an actual guest and remain under the radar.

The hostel came to a standstill at 22h00 that evening to watch the premiere of Game of thrones. Not having a bed that night I watched Django until 03h30 in the morning, borrowed a couple of pillows of a couch and moved into the Brits brothers' room with their Aussie mates, where I spent the night on the floor. When the sun rose at 07h00 on Monday I was once more an legal resident of La Chimba.

Valdivia

On Monday I left my small Anne Frank room alocove and made my way (after breakfast of course) to the bus station to catch my bus at 12:50. I am still amazed every time at how good the public transportation in Chile is compared to back home and also at how cheap it is. The 3h bus drive cost me less than a R100 and we arrived within 10minutes of the estimated time. All along the road the bus would pick up anybody who signaled that he/she wanted to get on. We even picked up someone underneath a flyover overhang? My first thought was how did this man decide that this was the best possible place to wait for and hail a bus?

I arrived in the University city of Valdivia at 16h00 and made my way to Airesbuenos hostel - one of the best hostels I've stayed in since the start of my journey. The price is 9000Pesos (R175) per night in a dorm and includes a healthy breakfast, the use of a well stocked kitchen, wifi and as an added bonus - a duck to torment you. The duck and I crossed swords on the very first day as I ventured out to explore the garden area. The infernal bird fancied itself to be a little higher up the food chain than was natural or oppropriate... It kept waggling between my legs and as I turned around I nearly stumbled over the damned thing. It then promply (Supposedly because I failed to pay homage to it or offer it tribute/bread) began biting my exposed foot. Those who know me best will know that I have little patience for animals who assume themselves elevated above the natural order, or my boot, especially if they are within kickable size and range. I wasted precious little time on the 'to kick, or not to kick' issue. I sent the feathered fiend flying (and not out of its own accord or ability!), at leat 1.5m through the air - thus dispensing swift justice and revenge apon my foe. It didn't think of raising the superiority issue again.

The second day saw me hobbling off to town with my still injured left leg. It held up suprisingly well, even though I walked much further that day than all my days in Puerto Varas combined. My first stop was the submarine museum O'Brian - a near ecstatic experience for a Oorlog-bedonerde Bertus. One could pay 2000Pesos for a guided tour into the bowels of the sub. The tour was conducted exclusively in spanish, but I caught the following bits of information:

It is between 50 and 40 years old.
It had a crew of 40.
It had a captain.
It had a second officer.
It has 5 toilets, one which is exclusively for the officers.
It has 6 showers, one which is exclusively for the officers.
4 Forward torpedo tubes.
2 Reverse torpedo tubes (to intercept hostile incoming torpedos).

Continuing on, I bought myself a salmon steak. The price of salmon is rediculously inexpensive (less than R60 a kilo?!), yet I have yet to see subsequent sushi restaurants take advantage of the cheap seafood on offer... Perhaps a possible future business venture for those with the entrepreneurial fire burning in their hearts?

Chile, in my inexperienced opinion, is a much better travel destination than Argentina. So far the experiences (barring my stollen wallet and being hate-eyed by the woman in Hornopiren for using her kitchen) have been much better and more enjoyable. It's cheaper - most notably the bus services, the supermarkets are bigger and much better stocked and the people are friendlier and more eager to help (not that the Argentines are unfriendly, they're just a bit more aloof). Finally Chile must be a very health conscience country. That or it is subject to devastating plagues every 6 days, for pharmacies in each Chilean town outnumber the number of auto repair/ pannel beating/ custom 4x4 shops in Parrow and Voortrekkerweg 4 to 1. There must be at least 2.5 pharmasists for each Chilean citizen, including those Chileans who are themselves pharmasists. Completely illogical and impossible, but the philosophies of logic and and possibilities do not govern the pharmacy-inigma of Chile.

I have received some complaints regarding my erreneous and lack of punctuation. I hope that this post will alleviate some of those grievances.

Special Edition #2

Hornopiren & Puerto Varas

After disembarkment on the Monday morning in Puerto Montt, Darren, Ben And I set out to find a car we could rent so the lot of us could travel up to Santiago together. That idea soon turned out to be a pipe dream, as the cost of the car more or less boiled down to US$160 per person between the 5 of us. We shared a lunch and then said our goodbyes. I retired to my hostel - Casa Perla, a really nice place for 10000Pesos a night.

Hornopiren

The Morning I ventured out and bought myself a knee brace and a Movistar simcard, before boarding the bus for Hornopiren, a town out on the Austral of Chile closely hugging the the mighty Andes mountain range. The roughly 160km journey took just over 4hrs to complete. With the bus having to board a ferry to cross one of the large fjords and breaking down 3 times due to a water problem enroute to the town. When I arrived I booked into a double room, which I had to myself, in a guesthouse called Residencial Austal. The owners did not speak english, but this was a minor inconvenience for the solemn and cheap 10000Pesos I had to pay per night. Hornopiren is a small town, but the surrounding views are indeed majestic. In stark contrast to the Argentinian side maybe less than 200km away across the mountains, Hornopiren is surrounded by Rainforest. There are some areas of the Austral that receive 7000mm of rain each year, but my time in the town was marked by remarkable clear weather.

I made the mistake of buying groceries at the local supermarket with the throught of cooking it on my own. If you ever stay here, do not make that mistake. The friendly hostess' eyes turned positively hostile when I showed up to the door with my groceries and asked if I could cook.. I quickly realized that the kitchen was actually off-bounds and I received cold stares each time I asked for a pot, a plate and even cutlery. I was so anxious to get out of there that I took almost ate the pasta half-cooked.

The next day I enquired about the local hot spring about 15km out of town. It was my plan to take the bus back to Puerto Montt, get off at the hot springs, chill for about 4hours and then get back on the sam bus traveling in the opposite direction back to Hornopiren. A plan perfect in theory, it's just a shame that the hot springs were closed on a Wednesday... I had to accept that I had come all this way to just to receive the stink eye from my hostess for 2days. I would not be visiting any hot springs in Hornopiren.

Puerto Varas

On Thursday I took the bus back to Puerto Natales, the central transportation hub of the area and got on the bus to Puerto Varas. A mere 20km away. I ended up staying on the bus one stop to far, so at the next stop I got up, lifted my huge bag and smaller backpack in the confined space of the minibus and shuffled out. I walked to the office side of the road and hailed another bus. As I got on and wanted to pay the driver, I realized that my wallet was gone. It got picked out of my raincoat pocket as I was clumsily shuffleing past the the other passengers. The sudden realization of how dependent you are on these pieces of paper really knotted my stomach. Even worse was the fact that I had no way of paying the driver for 2-3km of transport. Luckily I found a 50 Argintine peso (R70 - R75) note in my jean pocket and offered it to the driver who accepted it. Luckily for me I still had my reserve dollars on me and I used that to pay for my lodging at the Ellenhaus hostel. This nice hostel, or rather Guesthouse has a lot of double and single rooms, with a single, 'Anne Frank' kind of room costing only 10000Pesos, but this time I had kitchen privileges 😄.



My room at Ellenhuas. Nice and cosy!

My activities over the next few days included reading a lot, hanging around in the well-stocked supermarcados and searching, in vain, for a pub or bar that had affordable beers on tap. I wasn't to disheartened by the last failed quest, as a litre of red wine in the supermarcado cost me only 1300Pesos which is roughly R26, a bargain no matter where you go. As an added benefit, the 'Carbenet Sauvignon' wine was even drinkable! My biggest personal victory thus far on my trip happened when I successfully explained to an utter non-english Pharmacist that I wanted to buy data for my cellphone. It took some time (20-30 minutes) and a lot of improvised hand gestures, but at the end of the day I got what I needed, and the cellphone credits actually worked