There are many scenarios which I could never see myself in. This was one of them. We finally left Arica, a place I could have stayed for only one day but stayed an extra day for Kasia. Our plan: go to Salta. However, trying to save money, we decided to take 2 separate buses with a transfer in between. We spoke to a few people who all said this was a good idea and that it would be easy to manage. So, we hopped on our first bus from Arica to Calama at 10:30PM and arrived at 7:30AM. Well, you can’t always believe what people say. We arrived to find that there was not one bus terminal that allowed you to see the different buses, their schedules and prices. Instead, every bys had its own terminal spread throughout the town. Not to mention, the town was quite sleepy and bus stations didn’t open until 9AM. So, the wait began. What we soon found out after walking a hefty distance to one bus terminal (because we also had no Chilean pesos left and there were no ATMs around or money exchange places) is that because its summer and because every South American is traveling now, the buses from Calama to Salta are jam packed and the first one doesn’t leave for another few days with the second one leaving on February 18th. That day was February 1st. That was NOT ok with me.
Calama was shit, so at 9AM we bought a ticket to San Pedro. I wasn’t sure what this place was but this was the only place where there were tickets to, and tickets were for every hour and a half. Our ticket was for 10:30AM and we had nothing to do but sit and wait. However, after 15 minutes, the driver of the bus approached me and asked me if I want to ride on his bus, at 9:30 instead, since he had extra seats. His bus was much nicer and more expensive but he took our tickets and changed them for free. We jumped on the opportunity and were also invited to sit in front. Passengers NEVER sit in front with the drivers because these are serious drivers. They drive for hours and days at a time (there are always 2 of them) and they have a cama and everything else. It was awesome. Front seats, more comfortable and only had to deal with a little creepy looks every once in a while!
As we are driving in that hour, we pass through nothing but desert for miles around us. It was actually quite beautiful. Then, out of nowhere there is this massive patch of grass, an oasis in the middle of nothingness. It was full of amazing trees and flowers and was only about 10 blocks b y 30 blocks. And then, once again, nothingness for hours and hours. We decided to walk around this little place for a few hours looking for buses and found again, there was NOTHING. And then, with no choice left, realized we had to hitch hike. Everyone told us it was safe to hitch hike only in Chile and Argentina and being in the middle of the desert in what really looked like an Old Western town, only dust and sun and people in big hats, I thought this was the best option.
So the first time we tried we found an amazingly nice man who was willing to take us. He was almost like a father and told us to meet him that evening. This was perfect, a few hours walking around and I would be set to go. That night, around 8PM we hopped in his massive truck and started on our way. An hour into the drive there was a cop on the side of the road that told us and everyone else that we had to turn around. Supposedly there was snow up ahead and conditions were extremely dangerous. (this is summertime, I cannot even imagine conditions in winter) We went back and he told us he was going to leave around 10 in the morning. I wasn’t sure of this and told Kasia I wanted to get there at 5 or 6 in the morning because I wanted out. She decided it would be better to sleep in and because the driver said he would no leave so early she was confident in this. I was not. We got there and of course, he had left. So we walked around this trucking area (all trucks going from Chile to Argentina and vice versa have to stop at this oasis because this is where they collect their stamps to enter and leave the country. So, as it turns out, we are SUPER lucky we didn’t make it the other day because we never thought about that and never got our stamp which meant.. if we would have driven 4 hours to the Argentinian border, we would have had to turn around and go back to get our stamp out of the Chilean border. Well, we found another driver who said that conditions were still pretty bad and he was going to wait until 12 to leave. We told him we would come back around 11 (it was now 8) to make sure he was still planning to leave at this time. Once again I told Kasia I wanted to go back in an hour to check on our ride because he wasn’t going to wait for us if he had passage. She told me she didn’t think it was a good idea to just go and sit and that we told him 10 and therefore, should wait until 10. And yet again, there was no one there when we arrived. By the way, we weren’t the only ones hitching.. there were many of us who wanted out of this place. It was cute for a day, not more then that. So at 10, once again, nothing. And this time I put my foot down and said, we are getting the bags, we are coming here and we are waiting until we find someone and until he is ready to leave. She told me she doesn’t think it’s a good idea since it was already 10 AM and we probably wouldn’t leave until 12 and then we would be stuck in the middle of nowhere in the evening. This time I wasn’t budging. She obviously got it wrong the first few times and I wasn’t ready to spend an extra night there because she didn’t feel like waiting. We already missed 2 opportunities. She tried to argue her point and usually I don’t really care what we are doing but I was done and ready to get out of Chile. We missed 3 opportunities (the first being if we spent the extra 10 dollars and went straight to Salta) and I wasn’t ready to accept this anymore. We got our passports stamped and she (she speaks much better Spanish then me, its really amazing!) found a guy who was traveling with 2 companion trucks. Each truck had 2 to 4 people in it and we all left together.
Our driver, Oscar, was so chill. He was from a small town in Argentina and he is 32 years old, had a 15 year old daughter and is no longer with his wife. He was very sad about this and constantly pondering what he should do with his life. Both Kasia and I liked him instantly and we took shifts talking with him and sleeping. After about 4.5 hours we arrived at the Argentinean border where we had to wait a few hours for cargo to be checked in the truck. So me, Kasia and 2 of the other hitch hikers, also Argentinean, went to the only little shop around for miles. We had some grub and began talking to them (my Spanish is improving!!) and became pretty friendly with them. 3 hours later, around 7:30PM Oscar pulled around with his massive truck followed bus the other 2 guys and we all stocked up and prepared for a 7 hour ride, again taking shifts talking to Oscar to keep him awake. We arrived at 2:30 as planned and Oscar had mentioned that he was going all the way to Rosario the next morning, 11 hours, which was where we wanted to go. He told us he would give us a ride and we agreed if we couldn’t find a bus there. We told him we would call him in the morning and said our good-byes. The boys, Gabi and Nancho, were waiting for us and we all took a taxi to the bus station to check out options. They were buying tickets to a place called Tucuma and when they saw that we had no options and didn’t exactly want to sit in the truck again for a full day, they offered to take us to where they were going and give us accommodation in Gabi’s aunt’s house. We agreed and spent the next 4 hours waiting in the bus terminal for our bus.
Now we are here, we showered, washed our clothes and relaxed and did LOTS of yoga since my back was killing me. And, the best part, when I arrived, I went to an internet café and had 3 messages and lots of pictures from Victor. Yay. I also told Beto about my travels (he is a few days ahead of me) and he “yelled” at me via internet. I will see him soon either in Rosario, where we go now, or in Buenos Aires where we will most likely be on Monday!
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