Past 48 Hours

The past 48 hours have been quite...interesting

Unable to leave Chile (we´ve tried to leave for the past 5 days but apparently in all of Chile--virtually half the length of S. America--there are only 3 border crossings, 2 of which were blocked because of a little snow) we decided to go skiing instead.

Got up at 7:30 and went to bus terminal with ticket, but were told pass was still closed. Took 2 metros and a bus to the outskirts of Santiago to catch a bus up to the mountain. Tried hitchhiking up the mountain for about an hour and a half. Bargained with several taxi drivers to take us up. Got to the hostel which was completely full. Not wanting to spend $300/person/night, we begged him to let us sleep on the floor. At 4, we snipped ski lift tickets from people who came in early and caught a few runs. Stealthily got onto lift, but Yoav didn´t know how to ride the T-bar. Halfway up the lift, got yelled at by about 5 people for about 5 minutes about how to ride the lift while the main T-bar lift was stopped. The whole trip we tried to find The Usual Suspects and while nowhere else in South America had it, this ski hostel had it on VHS. Tried to buy wine, but realized we didn´t have the funds. Went to another store to buy cheaper boxed wine, but that as well was out of price range. Woke up early the next morning and hitchhiked up to the mountain in the back of an truck full of eggs.

Next day, slope had perfect conditions sunny, powdery, and practically empty. Seeing our ridiculous ski outfit (jeans and no gloves), a random worker gave us his gloves for the day. 5 hours later, suddenly literally couldn´t see a thing. The last ones on the mountain, we tumbled down the last run because we couldn´t see where the slope was, or whether or not we were moving. At the base of the mountain, we try to hitchhike back to our hostel, and somehow go with the only guy going the wrong way. Luckily, he tells us we can ride back with him to Santiago, we feel our luck has changed. We end up spending 2 hours pushing his car out of the snow and make it down just in time to return our ski gear. The store owner tried to charge us double. We argued for a while, and then he calls the police because we aren´t willing to pay. We grabbed our stuff, ran, and bought a ticket out of the country. Midway to Argentina, Don realized he didn´t have an exit ticket--apparently a big deal in Argentina. The bus-driver informs us that we probably won´t make it out of Chile, again. As a reported thief and lacking an exit ticket, the odds of Don getting out looked glum. Luckily, as Don was handing the guard his passport, the woman next to him fainted. The guard forgot to look for the exit stamp, and didn´t scan his passport. Finally we´re in Argentina eating steak--thank God.

Don and Yoav