The 19th starts up like most every other day on the trip, get dressed and packed, and enjoy the traditional Chilean breakfast of Nescafe (instant coffee), with toast/rolls and butter and jelly. We all split up to take care of various tasks, with Jule being in charge of taking care of Bryce. In the course of the task, she takes him down to the McDonalds down the street to play in the playground and have some lunch. Evidently they got into a small argument while waiting in line, which provided some local thief a prime opportunity to bump into her and grab her wallet out of her purse in the process. Please keep in mind that today was John and Jule's 42nd wedding anniversary.
We find this out when everyone comes back from their various tasks, and everything becomes chaotic as we realize that her wallet contained her passport, the copy of her passport, her glasses, her money, and all of her credit cards. John begins calling to cancel of their credit cards, as the stolen cards all duplicates of the ones in his wallet. Carrie gets the front desk to call the American Embassy for her and learns that the only way to get a new passport will be to go apply for one in Santiago and that Jule will not be able to leave the country until a passport is obtained. Since we all rented a house in Argentina for Chirstmas, a new passport ASAP is required. So, Carrie begins booking flights to Santiago and Santiago hotel rooms for John and Jule, while Betsy goes to get money and clear a credit card for her parents to travel with. Rich goes to take care of something else, and Dave plays with Byrce away from the nerve center so that everyone else can concentrate at the work at hand. Eventually, we get everything done and pile in the cars for the drive to the airport in the hopes that John and Jule can catch the 3:00 flight to Santiago.
At the airport, we all are treated to some bureaucracy that astonishes even the most cynical among us. It turns out that one of the airlines has two $78 tickets for the 3:30 flight (the other airline was $500), but they didn´t have lunches for them. We said, no problem, they can do without. The dude behind the counter, replied that, "no, that is a big problem, as they have a strict rule that each person must be served a meal." Despite much pleading on the girls part (and they are both quite adept at getting their way) about how we had an emergency, and that her parents had to make this flight, and that it was their anniversary, the best the dude could say that was we had to wait until they began boarding the flight to ask the stewardess if they could find two more meals. We all anxiously waited 20 more minutes until they said they could accommodate us. Thankfully, we loaded John and Jule on the plane with $800 cash from our ATM cards and Betsy's credit card and said "good luck, and happy anniversary!"
The five of us then headed down south for the island of Chiloe (pronounced Chill-away), which is generally described as a misty, verdant, sleepy land that was allowed to develop independently of the rest of Chile due to its island nature. We arrived in the southern port of Pargua and drove onto a ferry that almost immediately disembarked (as we hoped we had got on the right ferry). We had, and we got out and enjoyed the 30 minute ride over to Chiloe.
We find this out when everyone comes back from their various tasks, and everything becomes chaotic as we realize that her wallet contained her passport, the copy of her passport, her glasses, her money, and all of her credit cards. John begins calling to cancel of their credit cards, as the stolen cards all duplicates of the ones in his wallet. Carrie gets the front desk to call the American Embassy for her and learns that the only way to get a new passport will be to go apply for one in Santiago and that Jule will not be able to leave the country until a passport is obtained. Since we all rented a house in Argentina for Chirstmas, a new passport ASAP is required. So, Carrie begins booking flights to Santiago and Santiago hotel rooms for John and Jule, while Betsy goes to get money and clear a credit card for her parents to travel with. Rich goes to take care of something else, and Dave plays with Byrce away from the nerve center so that everyone else can concentrate at the work at hand. Eventually, we get everything done and pile in the cars for the drive to the airport in the hopes that John and Jule can catch the 3:00 flight to Santiago.
At the airport, we all are treated to some bureaucracy that astonishes even the most cynical among us. It turns out that one of the airlines has two $78 tickets for the 3:30 flight (the other airline was $500), but they didn´t have lunches for them. We said, no problem, they can do without. The dude behind the counter, replied that, "no, that is a big problem, as they have a strict rule that each person must be served a meal." Despite much pleading on the girls part (and they are both quite adept at getting their way) about how we had an emergency, and that her parents had to make this flight, and that it was their anniversary, the best the dude could say that was we had to wait until they began boarding the flight to ask the stewardess if they could find two more meals. We all anxiously waited 20 more minutes until they said they could accommodate us. Thankfully, we loaded John and Jule on the plane with $800 cash from our ATM cards and Betsy's credit card and said "good luck, and happy anniversary!"
The five of us then headed down south for the island of Chiloe (pronounced Chill-away), which is generally described as a misty, verdant, sleepy land that was allowed to develop independently of the rest of Chile due to its island nature. We arrived in the southern port of Pargua and drove onto a ferry that almost immediately disembarked (as we hoped we had got on the right ferry). We had, and we got out and enjoyed the 30 minute ride over to Chiloe.
We unloaded on the other side and took off for our cabin in Ancud, which we had booked only because we couldn´t get a room booked in Castro from the U.S. (the town our guide book raved about). Upon arriving in Ancud, however, the operator of the "cabin" told us that our nicer cabin wouldn´t be available for another day, but that he had a crappier cabin to offer us for tonight. We respectfully declined, and bid a hasty retreat for Castro. 
The drive to Castro was a bit long, considering we left Puerto Montt about 5 hours later than we intended, but it was extremely beautiful, with lush and verdant hills stretching in every direction. We finally made it to town only to find our first four choices booked solid (on a Tuesday , no less). We eventually found lodging at the Hostal Casita Espanola, a small but cute hostel a couple of blocks from
the action. We gratefully unloaded our stuff and walked into the center of town to a pizzeria. After dinner, we had several drinks at the Anos Luz, and very cool pub that featured a bar made out of an old fishing boat. After several cervazas, we walked back to our hotel and called it a night.
3 comments:
It sounds like you two are having quite an adventure. To be honest, it makes reality sound very boring. I wish you both the best and will continue looking forward to reading about your trip!!! I must say that i am very excited for when you travel to Asia. Have fun!!!
Keeping you in prayer,
Mike Medlock
wow! that is crazy...I hope all the credit cards got cancelled in time so they don't have to deal with more problems later. Glad everyone got it figured out. Have a safe and Merry Christmas!
Wow, that airplane food down there must really be something!
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