Hello everyone!
Finally I’ve found a moment to write about my flights and very first day arriving to the hostel in Chile!
So the flight schedule was truly brutal. I flew from San Francisco to Miami, Miami to Bogota, Colombia, and finally from Bogota to Santiago. Oh yeah and I had an 8 HOUR LAYOVER in Miami! I’m not going to lie. It was dreadful. Mel and I had originally planned on going outside of the airport to a little area called Little Havana, but once we had arrived we were so tired and decided it would be a big struggle and maybe not even worth the cab fare/hassle of going to calle 8. So we stayed in the airport during the entire layover. There was a lot of walking, some eating, a lot of talking, and some movie watching. All in all I was a bit surprised how quickly the time passed. We both had a little mini panic attack when we were finally on line to check in to our flight to Colombia because we were basically the only Americans and Spanish was surrounding us. Things were starting to get real. The flight from Miami to Bogota was probably one of the most pleasant I’ve ever had. Each seat had its own TV and plenty of leg room. At one point the flight attendant came by and asked if I wanted ice in my juice to which I gave him my deer in headlights look. He was speaking too fast and I was caught off guard. Thankfully the young girl seated next to me already knew that I spoke Spanish (I told her she could steal the blanket from the seat behind her when she realized she didn’t have one) so she clearly and slowly pronounced “Hie-lo” (ice) which I of course understood and said “no gracias.” I’m glad I was able to understand in the end and I’ll let it slide that I didn’t understand the flight attendant because lets face it I was a walking zombie , but what bothered me is what I did after. Instead of turning to the girl and thanking her for helping me and saying how hard it is to understand people when they speak quickly I simply gave a courtesy smile and kept my lips shut tight. I made absolutely no effort to use the Spanish I’ve worked so hard to learn. From that moment on I made a little promise to myself that I won’t beat myself up for not understanding, but I certainly won’t let myself remain quiet for fear of making a mistake, shyness, or whatever reason. Of course I’ve never been and probably will never be much of an attention whore, its just not who I am, but if I have something to say I will say it!
When we finally arrived to Santiago our energy was through the roof. Mel had forgotten some documents that we thought were important, but they let her through saying “don’t worry” the entire time. We didn’t have to pay a $100 fee we were told we’d have to pay upon entry. Also, our luggage was practically the first to come out which we promptly put on the free carts we were offered. Later, after a harmless run through customs we walked right up on the taxi stand we were hoping to find. I remember looking at Mel and saying, “I already love this country!” Things got a bit sour after the taxi driver dropped us off at the hostel around 7 AM. Check in wasn’t until 2 PM so we simply had to wait in the lobby area. We immediately decided to take a quick walk around the neighborhood (Bellas Artes) taking pictures and taking in an empty city being watched by the few men on the
street (especially Mel. Tall, blonde, blue eyes. Need I say more?) and then we were followed by a random pack of dogs which we were very happy to ditch when the effects of not sleeping for days had kicked in. We returned to the hostel to literally dip in and out of consciousness on the couch with a blanket until 2 PM. Never in my life had I wanted to shower or brush my teeth more. There must have been a layer of grime and dirt on every inch of my body. After my miraculous shower we took about a two hour power nap and decided to go get something to eat. First we stopped by a phone company tower called Entel PCs and I bought a new phone for $20 that came with $20 worth of credit making it practically free! Unfortunately even though I clearly asked the woman if she herself would activate my credit my phone didn’t work immediately. Somehow she hadn’t activated it. Later we went for dinner and after a delicious meal at La Patagonia we decided we deserved just one beer. Boy were we wrong when we thought we’d be having a simple night! I had read up about the food & beverages of Chile and knew that Escudo was one of the popular beers. Like the silly gringas that we are we awkwardly wandered into a pub called El Diablito (the little devil) and ordered two Escudo
s. The beer went quickly, but we had no intentions to stay out late or do any sort of carretear (partying), but our curiosity got the best of us so we asked about one of the country’s national drinks, Pisco. The problem was that we were supposed to order a Pisco Sour which to my knowledge is not necessarily a mean cocktail, but something for the ladies to drink. Again, being the silly gringas that we are we ordered Piscola (Pisco with Coca Cola). Basically Pisco is like a flavored liquor, which is fine of course, but in one shot! The bartender literally poured us a cup each of at least 3 shots of Pisco and room to put just the tiniest sip of Coca Cola. Needless to say we quickly realized which direction our night was going. We had a lot of fun and didn’t get too out of hand. Really we were just two gringa friends laughing and probably speaking really loud English. When we finally went to return to the hostel we ran into a group of some silly Chileans and swapped slang. Although we were muriéndonos de sueño (dying of tiredness) we had a wonderful first day and introduction to the country that I now call my home, Chile!
Finally I’ve found a moment to write about my flights and very first day arriving to the hostel in Chile!
So the flight schedule was truly brutal. I flew from San Francisco to Miami, Miami to Bogota, Colombia, and finally from Bogota to Santiago. Oh yeah and I had an 8 HOUR LAYOVER in Miami! I’m not going to lie. It was dreadful. Mel and I had originally planned on going outside of the airport to a little area called Little Havana, but once we had arrived we were so tired and decided it would be a big struggle and maybe not even worth the cab fare/hassle of going to calle 8. So we stayed in the airport during the entire layover. There was a lot of walking, some eating, a lot of talking, and some movie watching. All in all I was a bit surprised how quickly the time passed. We both had a little mini panic attack when we were finally on line to check in to our flight to Colombia because we were basically the only Americans and Spanish was surrounding us. Things were starting to get real. The flight from Miami to Bogota was probably one of the most pleasant I’ve ever had. Each seat had its own TV and plenty of leg room. At one point the flight attendant came by and asked if I wanted ice in my juice to which I gave him my deer in headlights look. He was speaking too fast and I was caught off guard. Thankfully the young girl seated next to me already knew that I spoke Spanish (I told her she could steal the blanket from the seat behind her when she realized she didn’t have one) so she clearly and slowly pronounced “Hie-lo” (ice) which I of course understood and said “no gracias.” I’m glad I was able to understand in the end and I’ll let it slide that I didn’t understand the flight attendant because lets face it I was a walking zombie , but what bothered me is what I did after. Instead of turning to the girl and thanking her for helping me and saying how hard it is to understand people when they speak quickly I simply gave a courtesy smile and kept my lips shut tight. I made absolutely no effort to use the Spanish I’ve worked so hard to learn. From that moment on I made a little promise to myself that I won’t beat myself up for not understanding, but I certainly won’t let myself remain quiet for fear of making a mistake, shyness, or whatever reason. Of course I’ve never been and probably will never be much of an attention whore, its just not who I am, but if I have something to say I will say it!
When we finally arrived to Santiago our energy was through the roof. Mel had forgotten some documents that we thought were important, but they let her through saying “don’t worry” the entire time. We didn’t have to pay a $100 fee we were told we’d have to pay upon entry. Also, our luggage was practically the first to come out which we promptly put on the free carts we were offered. Later, after a harmless run through customs we walked right up on the taxi stand we were hoping to find. I remember looking at Mel and saying, “I already love this country!” Things got a bit sour after the taxi driver dropped us off at the hostel around 7 AM. Check in wasn’t until 2 PM so we simply had to wait in the lobby area. We immediately decided to take a quick walk around the neighborhood (Bellas Artes) taking pictures and taking in an empty city being watched by the few men on the
street (especially Mel. Tall, blonde, blue eyes. Need I say more?) and then we were followed by a random pack of dogs which we were very happy to ditch when the effects of not sleeping for days had kicked in. We returned to the hostel to literally dip in and out of consciousness on the couch with a blanket until 2 PM. Never in my life had I wanted to shower or brush my teeth more. There must have been a layer of grime and dirt on every inch of my body. After my miraculous shower we took about a two hour power nap and decided to go get something to eat. First we stopped by a phone company tower called Entel PCs and I bought a new phone for $20 that came with $20 worth of credit making it practically free! Unfortunately even though I clearly asked the woman if she herself would activate my credit my phone didn’t work immediately. Somehow she hadn’t activated it. Later we went for dinner and after a delicious meal at La Patagonia we decided we deserved just one beer. Boy were we wrong when we thought we’d be having a simple night! I had read up about the food & beverages of Chile and knew that Escudo was one of the popular beers. Like the silly gringas that we are we awkwardly wandered into a pub called El Diablito (the little devil) and ordered two Escudo
s. The beer went quickly, but we had no intentions to stay out late or do any sort of carretear (partying), but our curiosity got the best of us so we asked about one of the country’s national drinks, Pisco. The problem was that we were supposed to order a Pisco Sour which to my knowledge is not necessarily a mean cocktail, but something for the ladies to drink. Again, being the silly gringas that we are we ordered Piscola (Pisco with Coca Cola). Basically Pisco is like a flavored liquor, which is fine of course, but in one shot! The bartender literally poured us a cup each of at least 3 shots of Pisco and room to put just the tiniest sip of Coca Cola. Needless to say we quickly realized which direction our night was going. We had a lot of fun and didn’t get too out of hand. Really we were just two gringa friends laughing and probably speaking really loud English. When we finally went to return to the hostel we ran into a group of some silly Chileans and swapped slang. Although we were muriéndonos de sueño (dying of tiredness) we had a wonderful first day and introduction to the country that I now call my home, Chile! 
No comments:
Post a Comment