SANTIAGO DE CHILE 02.02.2023

The final change took place today, a 6-hour bus ride to Santiago. We sat punctually in the garden in front of the reception and waited for our taxi. At breakfast, by the way, divided into three time slots in this hotel, which we only followed once, we stocked up on our own bread but with toppings from the hotel. So now we were waiting for the taxi with all the emergency plans in mind in case it didn't come, and we looked down the street. But Manuo, the name of the taxi driver on his card, even arrived eight minutes before the time and off we went to the bus station. We reached it quite quickly, despite the heavy traffic, and went to the Expresso Norte counter to find out from which platform our bus was going to depart. I watched our luggage while Karin stood in front of a young employee with the tickets in her hand. She stood there for a long time, only to exclaim loudly, 'This can't be true!' She had just learned that our bus had been canceled due to technical problems. Now there was unrest and frustration among us! Through Google communication, it turned out that the company had called us twice, but no one had answered the phone. We had been ignoring all calls on the Chilean mobile phone that we couldn't clearly assign based on the number, because Chile constantly receives telemarketing calls. So we had heard it from Franziska and accepted the advice not to answer! What a mess! While Karin continued to negotiate with the lady, I went to a larger counter of the company 'turbus'. Here I asked my way to a young man who spoke English. Although he was currently with a customer, he apparently recognized from my face that I was in trouble. With the customer's consent, he pulled me aside. I actually just wanted to find out when the next bus to Santiago would actually leave, and he told me that the driver was standing five meters away from me, about to leave for the capital in three minutes. Eh, how is that possible? In the meantime, Karin had received our ticket money (46,000 pesos) back in cash and we bought two new tickets, showing our passports again, and even got a senior citizen discount (30,000 pesos). Then we were supposed to follow the driver to the bus, and one of the three attendants loaded our luggage (with a control section) and closed the door behind us. On the upper deck, we had two seats in the middle, unfortunately not at the front windshield, in the almost fully booked bus. And off we went! Somehow we managed to inform Franzi that everything was different. We were supposed to arrive at 6:30 p.m., but we couldn't say at which of the five major bus stations 'Tur Bus' had its location. She will figure that out herself, we reassured ourselves and were pleased that this problem was also solved. At some point, one of the three men (all dressed in neat company uniforms, incidentally) came by and collected the agreed ticket price from us. The bus bypassed Coquimbo and rushed past Ovalle on the Panamericaña. Occasionally, it stopped on the open road to let people in or out, or even pick up a saleswoman who offered food and drinks and then left the bus again at the next stop. So we arrived very punctually in Santiago and Franzi picked us up at the terminal. From there, we wanted to take a taxi together to her apartment in Providencia. But only licensed taxis have the right to pull up directly at the bus station, and we waited and waited. A Chilean duo of women had been sitting in front of us for 10 minutes and had also had no luck so far. Beyond the barrier fence, the many taxis formed a queue, but they would be much more expensive and have manipulated taximeters, as the women explained to us. At first, we resisted the taxi calls from the drivers, but when the waiting time became too long and the heat did not subside even in the evening, we took such a 'fraudulent vehicle'. Franzi said that the agreed fixed price of 20,000 pesos was completely excessive! We had saved 16,000 pesos through the involuntary bus change, so we didn't care!

A short time later, we were sitting on the balcony again with a Pisco or wine and once again couldn't get enough of the panorama of the evening city. We will also stay in one place for the next seven days, suitcase included!