This past Wednesday, my two afternoon tests were the main things on my mind. Every so often, I would think to myself, “Oh wait, I’m leaving for Argentina tonight.” Perhaps just returning from a trip to Pucon made it harder for me to imagine leaving for another trip, especially to another country. Well, perhaps inside I knew that I wouldn’t actually make it to Argentina that day…
I met Vero at the metro to take the train over to the bus stop. We got there pretty early so that we could find our bus, only to get a phone call from our friends saying that the path to Mendoza had been closed. My host mom had warned me to go to Mendoza early if I wanted to go, as the bus route from Santiago to Mendoza runs through the Andes and it often closes for snow. Well, perhaps I should have listened and gone earlier, because even though I looked up that it would be in the 70s in both Santiago and Mendoza, there was snow in the Andes and they closed the path. We were scheduled to leave Wednesday, but they closed it until Saturday at the earliest, meaning there was no way we would make it to Mendoza that weekend. Upset that we wasted so much money (the entrance fee for Argentina if your American is pretty pricey, sigh) we frantically looked around at bus stations to see if there was somewhere else in Chile that we could go. Unfortunately, it was Labor Day weekend in Chile, and everyone else had also planned a weekend getaway. We figured it would be best to now just book a bus to a random Chilean city when we had no way of knowing what was there or knowing where we could spend the night… So we took the metro back to the other side of town and told ourselves that we would make the most of the weekend in Santiago. I’d say we did a pretty good job of taking advantage of the time we had!
Well, not so true for Thursday, seeing as everything was closed for Labor Day. After spending the night at my friend’s, I walked home the next afternoon to see barren streets and empty storefronts. Definitely a weird sight for a Thursday in Santiago. I spent the day catching up on homework and my to-do list, so still a good day of aprovechando (taking advantage of the time).
Friday was full of more adventures! First stop: a coffee shop on the main street in Providencia. Since coming to Chile, I’ve learned just how terrible the coffee is… Most people drink instant coffee, and a good cup of regular coffee is pretty hard to come by. This espresso wasn’t too bad though – and at least it was pretty!
The next stop was the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos, a famous museum in Santiago dedicated to human rights. We couldn’t take pictures inside, but it has some pretty interesting photo exhibits and an entire section dedicated to the coup d’état in Chile in 1973. I’ve learned a little bit about the coup (“golpe de estado” as they say in Spanish) but it was really interesting to explore the artifacts and watch some videos from September 11th, 1973.
I met Vero at the metro to take the train over to the bus stop. We got there pretty early so that we could find our bus, only to get a phone call from our friends saying that the path to Mendoza had been closed. My host mom had warned me to go to Mendoza early if I wanted to go, as the bus route from Santiago to Mendoza runs through the Andes and it often closes for snow. Well, perhaps I should have listened and gone earlier, because even though I looked up that it would be in the 70s in both Santiago and Mendoza, there was snow in the Andes and they closed the path. We were scheduled to leave Wednesday, but they closed it until Saturday at the earliest, meaning there was no way we would make it to Mendoza that weekend. Upset that we wasted so much money (the entrance fee for Argentina if your American is pretty pricey, sigh) we frantically looked around at bus stations to see if there was somewhere else in Chile that we could go. Unfortunately, it was Labor Day weekend in Chile, and everyone else had also planned a weekend getaway. We figured it would be best to now just book a bus to a random Chilean city when we had no way of knowing what was there or knowing where we could spend the night… So we took the metro back to the other side of town and told ourselves that we would make the most of the weekend in Santiago. I’d say we did a pretty good job of taking advantage of the time we had!
Well, not so true for Thursday, seeing as everything was closed for Labor Day. After spending the night at my friend’s, I walked home the next afternoon to see barren streets and empty storefronts. Definitely a weird sight for a Thursday in Santiago. I spent the day catching up on homework and my to-do list, so still a good day of aprovechando (taking advantage of the time).
Friday was full of more adventures! First stop: a coffee shop on the main street in Providencia. Since coming to Chile, I’ve learned just how terrible the coffee is… Most people drink instant coffee, and a good cup of regular coffee is pretty hard to come by. This espresso wasn’t too bad though – and at least it was pretty!
The next stop was the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos, a famous museum in Santiago dedicated to human rights. We couldn’t take pictures inside, but it has some pretty interesting photo exhibits and an entire section dedicated to the coup d’état in Chile in 1973. I’ve learned a little bit about the coup (“golpe de estado” as they say in Spanish) but it was really interesting to explore the artifacts and watch some videos from September 11th, 1973.
Saturday morning, my friend Louisa and I set off for the market Bio Bio, a flea market in the southern part of Santiago. I had read a bit about the market in some other travel blogs, but I wasn’t sure what to expect. A couple metro rides later, we made our way to Bio Bio and found warehouse upon warehouse full of stuff. The shops closest to the metro stop are full of new goods – Ikea-esque furniture, tons of shoes and lots of clothing. We kept making our way through the maze, though, to stumble upon the real section, full of weird antiques and other things people were trying to get rid of. We found some old books, old furniture, old clothing, you name it. It was an exhausting experience since our eyes were constantly stimulated by new things to look at, but overall a really cool trip, especially since most tourists don’t make it down there.
Sunday was more of a homework day, but we decided to do some work at my friend Amy’s house, who only lives about 10 minutes walking from me. We thought it might be a good idea to try swimming in her pool, even though it was absolutely freezing. Vero and I managed to jump in for approximately 10 seconds before our bodies went numb – but hey, at least we can say we went swimming in Santiago in May when everyone thought the idea was crazy?
I’m still pretty bummed that we didn’t make it to Argentina as planned, but it still managed to be a great weekend in Santiago. Before leaving in Chile, I told myself I would try not to plan things out so much – I plan enough at school and I was here for some adventures. Perhaps it was better that things didn’t go as expected, since I learned that you can still have great experiences if you can just be a bit more spontaneous.
I’m still pretty bummed that we didn’t make it to Argentina as planned, but it still managed to be a great weekend in Santiago. Before leaving in Chile, I told myself I would try not to plan things out so much – I plan enough at school and I was here for some adventures. Perhaps it was better that things didn’t go as expected, since I learned that you can still have great experiences if you can just be a bit more spontaneous.