This morning I woke up early and took a shower, my first all week! I feel like 5 days was enough of a record. I found a towel and felt gross enough to cave. Then we breakfasted and went out to meet the walking tour. I took some extra time beforehand to explore the Catedral. I don't know what it is about churches but I find them so enthralling, so peaceful. They are sancuaries yes, and I see people sitting in the pews silently and I wonder what brings them there. Need, guilt, fear, reverence, joy? But its a place where people come to humble themselves in the presence of something greater. Maybe its the architecture, or maybe its the music, or maybe its the little flames atop the candles. But there's a kind of peace in the air that draws the attention upward and outward and beyond the self.
The walking tour was awesome! Franco our guide isa struggling musician, which gave me some great day job ideas, and he was telling me how he just spent a year living in Madrid with his girlfriend who was studying art there. He would busk on the streets for 7 hours a day to make rent, and they furnished their shitty apartment with whatever they could find or collect. What a life! That just sounds like the ultimate bohemian romance to me! We saw the house of Pablo Neruda in the super artsy Bellavista district of town (I think I may have found my expatriate home!) and went up the fernicular to see the whole city, then I bought an ocarina from one ofthe artisan markets. Its a little egg-like flute that is hand painted and sounds like a bird/cricket chirping.
After that we headed back to the hostel to regroup and I went scouting for an ATM to back Kiri back for collecting my tab all day. Then I just took to wandering the area a little bit. It was nice to have a break from the group honestly. The museums had all closed but I browsed through the art work in the plaza for awhile until one man came up and tried to sell me some of his work. He was amazed that I spoke Spanish and said I had a very good accent! We talked about Santiago and about art and about his inspirations and a whole bunch of stuff! It made me wanna come back here so bad! 2 days was just not enough time in retrospect.
Hung out at the hostel barbeque with our German roommates and awkward Fred from Colorado! I also met the artist who's sculptures I've seen out on the balcony. He lives next door to the hostel and he's almost of all Mapuche decent. (Mapuche were the tribe of Native Americans that lived south of the Incas in Chile... there's much more of an indigenous cultural presence in Chile than Argentina). Even though I found his accent really hard to decipher, we talked for a long time and he made me a piscola, a typical Chilean drink with Coke and pisco. Then before you know it, my dysfuntional travel family has returned and I missed out on terremotos (another Chilean drink that includes pisco, white wine, and ice cream!) and heapload of girl drama! Then we're running downstairs and jumping in a taxi that takes us to an international club for free, where Jeff from Philadelphia, possibly the most interesting kid I've met so far in South America, proceeded to shock me with how much fun he was! He, Tom, this British guy who's name I can't remember, and I stayed till closing. Then we hung out and chatted in the Plaza de Armas, found a cold little perrito, and then retired to our hostel kitchen where we feasted on crackers and vegetable soup that had been left out, but apparently as Tom learned the next morning, someone had been saving.. oops! I turned in about 5:45am and was woken by Erica as 6:45am to pack, checkout, pay up, and get to the bus... all in a lovely early morning haze. I think I fell asleep standing in the elevator!
We arrived at the bus station only to be told that our bus was late (SHOCKER!) and to come back in an hour. We do so... only to be told the pass through the mountains is closed and they aren't sending buses out till 10:30. So we wait in the cold some more, and eventually our little soccer van arrives and we squish in. Now, I'm surviving on crackers and 40 minutes of sleep so I try to conk out in the back of most uncomfortable car ride of my life. But suddenly I wake up to the sounds of loud fast Spanish and the knowledge that our vehicle is no longer in motion. Border Patrol had stopped everyone because the pass was still closed due to the snow last night! After pulling off the road for a few frantic, exasperated minutes which involved calculating the cost of airfare, our bus driver decides to turn around and give it another shot.... VICTORY!
So right now I'm driving back through the twisty, turbulent road through the most majestic natural beauties I think my eyes have ever whitnessed. Its not like I haven't ever seen snow or mountains.... but seeing the Andes I feel like I've never known what a mountain really is! Today these gargantuous beasts are covered in powdered sugar, but they are not bothered by it because in their timeless existence the snow has drifted in and out every season, while they, these monstrous protusions of ancient earth have remained and will continue to remain peacfully in imposing awe for centuries.
Driving through them... rather dangerous though. I guess the icy roads, steep cliffs, winding turns, and lack of tire traction is enough to make even an Argentina driver slow down (and a lapsed Catholic make the sign of the cross). Right now we are sitting at the border of Chile and Argentina. It's 4:30, when we should be in Mendoza already touring the chocolate factory. It is freeeeeeeeeeeeezing outside! I bought a waterbottle to combat the lightheadedness that I can't tell if its from lack of sleep or altitude sickness, and as I stood outside to drink it, I literally watched it form ice crystals and begin to freeze in my hand! What does that mean my blood is doing right now??
As beautiful and thrilling as this transit adventure is... its frigid and harsh to the point of danger outside and clusterfuck after clusterfuck on the roads makes me just want to get back to my warm, friendly Argentine-peso-filled Buenos Aires apartment. My room and my shower and my kitchen and my bed seem so far away right now...
I HATE SOUTH AMERICAN TRANSPORTATION!
Needless to say we missed our connecting bus from Mendoza to Buenos Aires, and the bus company won't refund our tickets. Doesn't matter cuz the last bus to BA just left and we have to spend the night here anyway. It was like 10 pm when we got in and the stress and frustration finally got the better of al of us. Tempers are flaring and dogs are eating dogs right now. Luckily Savigliano Hostel is right next to the station and the people there are warm and hospitable and have room to take us frazzled and frozen travelers in for the night. We have to buy another $60 bus ticket for the 7am bus tomorrow, which doesn't put us back in BA until 11pm. I just wanna go home!!!!!!!! Where I have nothing to do but sip a hot cup of tea and skype my mom!
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