A Day... or Two of Mishaps
Trip Start
Feb 13, 2010
1
15
109
Trip End
Apr 12, 2011
Where I stayed
Valdivia, Lake District, Chile
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
And for dinner we all got a HUGE meal and a small dessert of "guilty conscience." We decided to go out to dinner as it was quite late when we got in, so we went to a place that the hostel recommended, La Ultima Frontera. It was a cool vibe in this university town, but there were so many customers and only a couple of waiters so the wait was really long. We finally get our meals, the largest portion of a meal I've ever seen, and very tastey after waiting so long, but then it came time to wait for our bill. First of all, none of the waiters in South America will bring you the bill until you ask for it, this is a good thing to know if you travel here, because otherwise you'll be waiting a VERY long time. But we waited a long time to even ask about our bill and then they must have been running around for about 20 minutes after that and we still hadn't received anything. At this point, we'd already been there for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours and we were all falling asleep, so I, joking say "They probably wouldn't even notice if we were to just walk out"... Well, we talked about it for a long time and finally decide that we would add up our bill ourselves and just leave the amount we think it is and then walk away. Throughout the process of this, finding a menu, adding it up, and all five of us walking away, no one noticed, came to help, or (thankfully) chased after us... I just hope it was the correct amount and that no other customer decided to take all that money that was sitting on the table! It was also kind of amusing how they served us, it was completely backwards. We ordered some beers, an appetizer, and then our meal. The meal came first, I think our beers came next, and last the appetizer!
Come to think of it, the majority of Valdivia was a series of little mix-ups.
The next day our only excursion was going to be the boat ride and then we would leave that evening for Pucon. So we took the shorter boat ride and weren't able to see the fortresses. It was a nice ride but not truly amazing. We also watched the sea lions bask next to the fish market and bought some amazing blueberries and raspberries. We also got protected by a dog that barked the sea lions away as we took pictures close to them.
So it was our plan to leave that night but we hadn't considered the fact that it was Friday before Easter weekend and we hadn't bought our bus ticket yet. We go to the bus terminal and ask every window but there was nothing leaving that night to Pucon. After a lot of brainstorming and coordinating with the hostel to stay an extra night, we decide to leave the next day. We would go to "the last remaining untouched forest in Chile" the next day...
So, it was kind of nice that we stayed in the hostel another night because I made some new friends and we got to attend a costume party for the holiday.
...the next day we catch a bus at 10:30am to go to the forest. Our bus to Pucon leaves at 6:30pm so we have plenty of time. Dundundun (danger sounds) We've travelled half the distance to the forest to realize that the only buses returning to Valdivia are at Noon (exactly when we would get there) and 6:30pm (refer to Pucon bus schedule). So we make a very quick decision that we don't want to stay on the bus only to return, so we jump off and decide to catch it on it's way back. I think that was the best decision we could have made because we stopped along the beach, had lunch on a rock overlooking the ocean, and were able to chill out for a little while.
So finally, after a few mishaps (by the end it was just getting funny) and me starting to feel sick, we hop on the bus to Pucon.
Comments
Wonderful photos! Great framing and composition. Is your dad teaching you some of his professional photography tricks or maybe you already know them? Beautiful colors in the foods, too! Glad the mix-ups all had happy endings :)