Vale la Pena: A long story, for an even longer morning

This about 10 hours after it happened to not forget the crazy details, because I am sure I will block this morning for my memory. So I will say that I expected the trip to Santiago to be a little stressful arriving at 2:55 a.m. and knowing that I would have to wait in the airport for a few hours before the bus schedule started.  I had pulled up Google Maps beforehand and felt pretty confident about the bus schedules and where I was headed.  After going through customs I planned to get myself a coffee, and try to clean up a little bit before meeting my new Chilean family (hoping to make somewhat of a nice first impression after a night no sleep in the airport). I took my sweet time with a coffee, journaled a little bit, and made myself the warmest and best looking that I could for an airport. The plan was to wait for the sun to rise, which due to the lack of free internet, and the winter time here, I had no clue when it would happen. I asked the waitress at the cafe where I was sitting and she told me that she works night shift, goes home at 6:30 a.m., and never sees the sun. I knew then that it would really be a long morning.

At about 7:20 it seemed light enough out to get on the bus. I showed the bus driver my directions and he was so kind to help me and not only let me know that they weren't quite right, but take the time to write out the correct ones for me. I rode to the metro station where I would take two different metros and arrive about 8:30 a.m.. I thought to my  myself, "Wonderful! I am really doing this."

The bus driver indicated to me when it was time to get off and head to the Metro. I remembered reading online that I needed to buy a BIP card for the metro here in Santiago. I went to the cashier and explained to her where I was headed and asked her what I would need. During this time a beggar, who was selling pens (maybe I should call him an "entrepreneur"?) came up to me and was saying, "Oh beautiful Spanish girl.  How are you?".  Now normally I don't seem to give much attention to beggars, but two things were going on here: 1) I actually took what he said as a compliment because he mistook me for being from Spain (great compliment to my Spanish); and 2) I had to get out my wallet in order to pay the fare for the metro and he was extremely close to me.  I asked him nicely to give me some space, so did the woman behind the window and her co-worker.  He didn't seem to want to do that. About 5 seconds later enters a huge police officer. Now I have done some reading that the Chilean police officers are the kind of people who pride themselves on moral character and really providing a service to the people.  After about 2 minutes of this officer asking him to leave and give me some space, he didn't seem very willing.

So here I am, having not slept, and I now have a police officer, a heckler, and two metro employees all causing a little bit of a scene.  I just want to buy my ticket and get to my destination. Eventually the scene seemed to clear up and I thanked police officer and the workers. Of course I was a bit frazzled, but managed to make my way to the metro and towards my destination.

It hasn't been mentioned it yet, but it was really cold.  Cold is not something I naturally respond well to anyway, but in this scenario it just added to my stressful moment.  I eventually arrived at La Cisterna, the metro stop where I would be staying. I asked the metro worker for directions and he took time to Google it on his phone for me. Chileans have officially made it to the list of most helpful people ever, at least in my mind. I headed out in the cold and got a cab. I must say, in this moment I thought to myself that Jessie was kinda right, Santiago wasn't the more modern metropolitan city I had imagined.  What I actually thought was,"holy shit, I am staying in the ghetto".  Honestly, I was okay with the ghetto if it meant I would find myself in a bed within the next hour. We headed down the street and both looked for the house number. In this neighborhood it seems that they all just pick their favorite number and put it on the house. There was no 139, which was extremely discouraging to me at that moment.  The cab driver was friendly, but didn't seem to know the address at all. He asked me if I had a phone number, which I did but I told him I had no cell phone to call.  This extremely kind man offered to call for me. I didn't understand the whole conversation, but what I did understand was that he was going to take me BACK to the metro station.  In my mind I thought "NO, NO, NO,NO!!".  Of course, I thanked him so very much for calling for me after he got off the phone and told me that I was in the wrong providence altogether!

OMG.  How did this happen?  Well, there are two El Sur Bosque in Santiago.  Well no, there is El Bosque Sur and El Sur Bosque.  Of course, I was about forty minutes from where I wanted to be and it was already almost 10a.m..  With everything in me, I listened to the cab driver's directions and just trusted he would get me there.  I thanked him a million times over and in the most kind way told him I hoped we didn't see each other again.  :)

This time I was determined I would get to a bed, even if that meant giving up and getting a hotel.  I once again got on the metro and headed right back to where I came from in hopes of arriving before noon.  I feel bad for the people of Santiago on the metro this morning who had to look at my face, so grumpy and communicating, "don't mess with me, I will freak out on you."  I followed the signs, made the transfers, and got off at my stop.

I walked up the stairs and all of the craziness seemed to fade and a rush of excitement came over me as I saw the most beautiful mountain range!  Now this was better than anything I could have imagined. A beautiful city surrounded by mountains like I've never seen, and can I just say I've seen some mountains (Alaska, New Zealand, Colorado). In that moment it didn't matter if I was lost; the quaint tree covered streets, with the impressive architecture, (and did I mention the mountains?), made everything okay. Fortunately, I was only about a five minute walk from where I was headed.  I was so pleasantly surprised when I did see 139 El Bosque Sur. I stopped to take a photo and then headed inside where I was greeted by a door man. He let me know I was in the right place and to head up to the 7th floor.  There I was happily met by Gabriel and Carmen.  Both they and their home made me feel like I have won the lottery.  Honestly this journey has already taught me so much about Chile and the amazing people here.  I am so happy today is now over, but couldn't feel any more grateful to have arrived safely to what seems like paradise.