Oh, Bother

I was just about ready to rave abut how much nicer Chilean buses are than their Peruvian counterparts when I got a slap in the face today.

First of all, Chilean buses are much nicer than their Peruvian counterparts. The amount of leg room is unbelievable. They actually have heat. And provide pillows and blankets! It´s the simple things in life that make all the difference. On top of that, they give you food! On an all-nighter to San Pedro, they handed us a small boxed breakfast with juice. They´re also super concerned about safety, almost to a fault. At 3am on this particular all-nighter, we were made to get off the bus (and I was actually sleeping!) with our bags, so they could inspect them. They did a top notch job too.

Bag inspector (peering into my bag) : ¿Sola ropa?
Me: Si.

And I got back on the bus. Of course, then I couldn´t fall asleep again, and it didn´t help that the man next to me began snoring like a lawn mower. So I accidentally-on-purpose elbowed him while removing my scarf, which stopped it, but only temporarily.

Yesterday, I went to the bus station to buy a ticket to my next destination, Caldera, 12 hours away. Everything seemed to work out perfectly. I bought a ticket for Caldera, leaving San Pedro at 7:30 pm Thursday night, arriving Friday morning. Then this morning, I just happened to glance at the ticket- and realized it was for Wednesday. Uh-oh. I really, really don´t have a spare $34 dollars to spend on a second ticket.

As soon as my geyser tour returned to town, I high-tailed it to the bus station. I explained my situation to a very nice man, who then explained it to the woman who actually sold me the ticket. She took the ticket, told me to wait, then disappeared. When she returned, she asked me where I wanted to go and when. It wasn´t possible to leave tonight, so I said tomorrow would be fine if that was the best I could do. She disappeared again. I assumed she would just change the ticket, but I was shocked when she came back and started yelling at me. At first, I thought it just seemed like she was yelling because Chileans talk even faster than other Spanish speakers I´ve encountered, but she was really letting me have it. I couldn´t understand a word of it, but the guy next to me was giving me the raised eyebrows "what did you do?" look. I tried to explain to her that I couldn´t understand, and could she please so down, but I was getting pretty upset. So she started mocking me. Seriously.

It was pretty clear that I couldn´t deal with her anymore, so I went to look for my helpful guy. He explained (very calmly and politely) that since the date was passed, they couldn´t change the ticket, and that he was very, very sorry. (And he was.) It was one of those days where you just think "I just want to go home," (the same thing could very well happen at home, but there is not the added stress of a language barrier) but it´s nothing a hot shower and some ice cream can´t cure. Unfortunately, a hot shower in South America is nearly impossible, but tomorrow´s another day. It also didn´t help that I had a sleepless night, had to get up at 3:30am, and spent the morning freezing my tail off.

So I asked for another bus station, and left. Only problem was, the only other bus company doesn´t actually leave from San Pedro. It only leaves from Calama, about an hour away, so I would have to buy a ticket there from company #1 anyway. I swallowed my pride and headed back to bus company #1. The place had emptied out, and who was the only one working? That´s right, the evil witch. I calmly asked for a ticket to Caldera for tomorrow. She asked very slowly, and at least three times, where I wanted to go and when. Seriously, what is this woman´s problem? What did I do to deserve this treatment? She asked me for my old ticket. She took it, picked up the phone, then disappeared again. When she returned, she explained that she called someone to ask about an exchange, and for me to wait. Huh. Either she saw how upset she was making me and had a pang of sympathy, or she saw the angry letter I was composing to Tur-Bus in my head (and I was). A minute later, she told me the bus leaves at 8:50 and gave me my seat assignment. So I think, I think, I will be spending 12 hours on a bus tomorrow on my way to Caldera. Fingers crossed!