Troubles with stomach, shipping and shitting
Trip Start
Nov 28, 2005
1
9
45
Trip End
May 05, 2006
Isla Chiloe, Chile
Monday, December 19, 2005
I was expecting a Christmas package from Emre to arrive in Bariloche before I left but unfortunately it did not come. Because the tracking said "undeliverable because person not home" (to a place with a 24 hour doorman) and the package appeared to not have moved from the incredibly vague "interior of Argentina" for several days, I emailed them. A brief 48 hours later I received a cryptic message saying they were just trying to deliver documents to say I had a package; the actual package was still at the international airport in Buenos Aires.
It is refreshing to know that you can spend US$342 mailing a package to an address 40 hours deep from the largest city and two weeks later they will deliver you a letter telling you they are holding your package 40 hours away, where you must show up in person to put pen to paper. Not only is this equal to half the annual salary of many people on this planet, this is akin to receiving a letter in Seattle telling you that your package is sitting in the international airport in New York and then expecting you to go to New York to pick it up. (I map-pointed it, so i know). Apparently the hold-up is that my package contains cosmetics, which can not be sent directly to addresses, and must be received at customs by the individual. Thus if my package had not contained several bars of beautiful Lush brand shampoo I could be blissfully enjoying my new ipod and stuffing hiking essentials into my new back pack. Or so they say. Maybe they just want to watch all the episodes of Lost that Emre downloaded on there and this is their excuse.
Ah the wonderful joys of bureaucracy!
Carson and I have been staying in the cute town of Ancud (population 40,000) right on the water. Today we caught a bus to the middle of the island to another costal town called Castro. We had wanted to go here to see the many houses built on stilts. Locals do this so they can avoid actually buying a piece of land. They just pay a small fee to the city for the stilts and are able to theoretically move their house if needed as well. Akin to houseboats but these are on the beach or on a mud flat. Which makes me wonder if Emre and I just were to put our house up on stilts if we could get a several hundred thousand dollar refund... I will have to remember to look into that.
However cute the town was, it was besieged with some of the most god awful smells known to man kind. the town was poor and avoided looking so because of all the garish paint and pretty roses which gave it a quaint, rather than desperate feel, but all the houses on stilts just dumped all the garbage beneath them creating the most disgusting beach i have ever stepped foot on. On top of that it was a fishing town (of which i had no desire to partake in seafood after seeing the beach) and generally dirty. It sounds horrible but it was rather cute. I spent the 20 minutes waiting for the bus with my hand over my mouth and my head between my knees trying not to hurl. Not the town for a pre-existing queasy stomach.
Carson and I plan to head to Pinguinera Piñihuil early tomorrow to see the Magellanic and Humbolt penguins.
My pics are out of order but I am too sick of the computer to change. So I think penguin pics are first and it should be last but other than that all is good.
Love you all!
