When we were heading to bed around 1 am all of a sudden we heard jackhammering.  Apparently no time is inappropriate for road work in Chile. Maybe the workers took a break to watch soccer and had to make up their time?  Who knows.  Just one of the many idiosyncracies here in Chile.

When we awoke yesterday morning we found out that the nightbus we were supposed to take to San Pedro had its departure time changed so instead of leaving at 4pm and arriving in SP at 9am we would not be leaving until 10pm.  This gave us an extra full day in La Serena, which was unexpected but fun – we all ended up just chilling out.

I just waled around the neighbourhood on my own in the morning then met up with the group for lunch at the supermarket (cheap: tasty empanadas). We checked out the museum of archaeology and the artisan market. Toby nearly bought a very cool Indiana Jones hat but decided at the last minute it was impractical.  We watched a street artist make a really cool painting using only spray paint and some putty knive.  That was incredible – I don’t think people will believe me when I describe it.

We did some more walking through market stalls and Dawn, Lucy and I bought scarves for a good price.  We went to the post office and gof out stamps and mailed our cards, which was good timing.  At that we were pretty worn out and stopped for coffee on a patio.  Next we check out a department store and found some really great bags.  Dawn had seen them in Brazil for a lot more money and they were 40% off.  She and I both bought one – hers had butterflies and mine had those little Russion stacking dolls.  Very cute.

Our next stop was the ATM and a couple of us got out some more money to ensure that we’d have enough in case the ATM in SP was not working (apparently this happens a lot).  This is where I learned that Chilean ATMs work differently from those in Canada (and pretty much everywhere else).  In Canada (etc) ATMs give you back your card before they spit out the money and they usually beep at you if you’re not paying attention.  In Chile things work differently and the money comes out first, then the machine gives you the option for another transaction and THEN you get your card.  Well, I gues I was distracted and not paying close enough attention, so I took the money the machine spit out and just walked away, completely unaware that my card was still in the machine.  I didn’t realize until much later…

After hitting the back we went to get groceries for our bus ride and to stock up on wine for our time in San Pedro.  When paying I didn’t notice my missing card.  Then we dropped everything off at the hostel and I went to send some emails. Again, when paying (because I used small change) I didn’t notice my missing card.  We headed out to dinner as a big group for our pre-night bus supper at a place with a lovely courtyard that some of us had passed earlier.  I was only when we were showing differences between passports and drivers licenses that I noticed my card was missing.  I thought back to the bank and thought that I might have put it somewhere else in my bag but after taking everything out it was clear my card was gone.

With 1 1/2 hours until we got on the bus I really wanted to get everything sorted before something bad happened so Renata showed me where a phone was (across the street luckily!) and got in touch with TD to cancel the card and try to arrange for another to be sent.  Unfortunately because I’m moving cities so much there was no safe place to send the card so I am now without a debit card for the remainder of the trip.  Oh well – I’ll just pay the cash advance fees I guess.  Or maybe I can just put the group dinners on my credit card and get the cash from people. That actually might be a better strategy and I just came up with that!

Anyway, that dinner, after getting all the banking sorted, was my best in Chile so far.  It was  a really tasty cheeseburger with tomato and avocado.  With homemade chips on the side.  I was very happy as I ate (part of it was probably knowing that I wouldn’t have a proper meal for quite awhile – unless we have time for dinner after our tour tonight, which could happen).

Following dinner we headed to the bus station to get on the bus to San Pedro that we’ve now been sitting on for nearly 14 hours.  I’m really hoping tat the next couple of hours consist of some sleeping for me – didn’t get enough last night at all.  But I’m feeling fine.  Guess I just need to make sure to keep eating healthy and sleeping when I can.  We’ve got lots lined up for our day and a half in SP and then our 3 day desert crossing goes from there.  The next 5 days will be pretty special and I will hopefully get a chance to write soon.

Before I finish I should tell a bit about my travelling companions.  Of course there is Renata our tour leader from Brazil who is awesome.  Then there’s Darrel the other Canadian.  Toby & Katie & Lucy from England and Lyn from New Zealand.  We all joined the group in Santiago.  Dawn from England has been travelling on a series of toure with Renata since Rio.  David from Ireland, Philip from Australia, Steve from England, Julie from Cypress and Tom from Switzerland as well as Heath & Amy from Texas have all be travelling with Renata since Buenos Aires [ed: in fact all except Tom started in Rio].  Many of them are continuing on after La Paz to do the Inca Trail in Peru and some are continuing to Quito.  David is going to go through central America with Gap as well after Quito and then fly to San Francisco.

A lot of the others have already been travelling extensively.  Lucy has been gone for 9 months through India, SE Asia, Australia & NZ; Heath and Amy have been on the road since August I think and Steve & Julie since April.  Tom has been travelling for almost 2 years, including over a month on a cargo ship through the Pacific and Lyn has been all over the place – Egypt, Ethiopia, in many, many place.  I think she plans to return home to NZ after doing the Inca trail. Philip has also been travelling since February including 6 months in Japan and doesn’t really have a plan after his Inca trail trip ends.  Toby & Katie have been working on farms in Australia and they both seem to have been away from home for quite awhile.  All are extremely nice – well, a couple of the guys are kind of aloof – and I think its a really nice group.  Probably because so many have already been together for so long.

Ok, just over three hours left.  Hope I make it :)

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