The fickle nature of TurBus, and other stories

This weekend I went to La Serena. I will post on this soon, but the wireless connection is down at work and I'd prefer to wait until I can add pictures (from my own computer, of course). So for now I'll just share an anecdote, or two.

The first spins off of my last post, in parts. La Serena is about 7.5 hours away from Valpo by bus. Elisa and I went by TurBus, the company that I've used most often while in Chile. In general they've been quite good. They turn off the lights at night, they don't play music, the reading lights work, they usually give you a little sandwich or something on the long trips, and the semi-cama (half-bed, a.k.a. normal reclining bus seat with a little foot rest) is somewhat possible to sleep in. For some reason, one of the jobs of the auxillary driver is to shut and open your curtains for you at pre-determined times, which I find annoying, but if you protest he'll leave you be.

On the way there, all was as it should be. But on the way back, there were some issues. It was a very early bus, leaving at 6:15am. So after getting on board and eating some fruit, I went to sleep for 3 hours or so. When I woke up, it was to the sounds of.....a blasting music video medley! As noted in my previous posting, tastes here tend towards the nostalgic, so I was treated to hits from such artists as the Spice Girls, Coolio, Ace of Base, and Natalie Imbruglia. However, being a medley, only about 15 seconds of each song were played. I don't think I've touched on the popularity of the medley here, but it is kind of an issue. Imagine those little commercials they play on radio stations where you hear bits of songs you like before heading into a full length version of some other random song. Or the equivalent with music videos. Teasers, in their most common usage, designed to keep you listening or watching with the hope that they will eventually play the whole song that they have now gotten stuck in your head. Well, apparently someone afflicted with ADHD had the opposite reaction to those teasers one day. Instead of thinking, how annoying, I wish I could hear that song, he or she thought, "This is great! Why don't they do this all of the time? Why bother spending 2 and a half minutes listening to a musical progression when you can just hardline the catchy refrain and move on?"

And so the extended medley was born, or so I imagine it. And now it is not uncommon to spend 45 minutes at a club without hearing one song in its entirety, or even moeity. I cannot say if this is a Chilean invention or not, but it is new to me. Apparently, the same logic has been applied to music videos, and TurBus thought, what a nice way to wake up in the morning. Frenetic music clips at full volume.

And then they fed me a cookie for breakfast.

The rest of the trip was given over to an exceptionally obnoxious sounding comedian performing, again, at full volume. It was perhaps the first time in this country where I've thought to myself, "thank god I can't understand what this guy is saying."

Now, I've heard plenty of stories that top this. One person reported passing a 24 hour bus ride under the glow (and sounds) of a back-to-back Steven Segal marathon. So I'm certainly not claiming to have endured much. However, after yesterday, I'm going to have to conclude that there's just no predicting or preventing it. It certainly doesn't depend on the company. Call it the Chilean bus lottery (paired with the traditional bus lottery, which is who-will-be-sharing-my-armrest-and-oxygen-supply-for-eight-hours-today).

The second story involves an irritating ex-pat. This is exciting, because as you may have noticed, this blog is almost entirely devoid of characters. That is a pretty fair reflection of my life. When your language skills stop at the practical, it is rare to have any interactions that warrant writing down.

In any event, I took a tour of the Capel pisco distillery in Vicuña. Elisa and I were there, as well as three American study abroad students (who are taking a full university course load in Spanish), and assorted other gringos. One woman approached me and the other four girls and asked where we were from. We went through that spiel, and then she wasted no time in telling us that while she and her husband are from Arizona, they now live in Santiago, where they have two apartments in two of the ritziest neighborhoods. She made a big show of trying to figure out how to explain this to us, given the intense difficulties of translating "comuna" and stating that the rich folk live next to the cordillera ("oh, the mountains, I mean, the Andes"). Now, I may be a Chile newbie, but this woman managed to irritate me within the first three minutes, which is not easy to do. I only spent a month in Santiago, but I'm pretty sure that even the most clueless traveler could figure out the basic vocab in that time.

In general, I have issues with passive-agressive bragging. It is one thing to forget a word in English. It is quite another to put a great deal of effort into making it clear that you speak Spanish so well that you simply cannot remember how to communicate in English! I would much rather have had her say: "We've been living in Santiago for x amount of time, and I've become fluent in Spanish, which I'm rather proud of." That's fair. Directness, please. I will happily congratulate you on your accomplishments if you acknowledge them, but there is nothing more annoying than someone who is obviously trying to elicit a specific reaction from you....while being condescending.

Anyway, so then she turns to the students and asked them at a tortoise's pace how their Spanish is coming. She was speaking at a rate that I would find overly slow, and meanwhile these girls are taking courses in engineering in a foreign language. Then, the guide begins talking, and Ms. International turns to me and says, "Let's see if you can understand!"

Oh my. If you know me, you know my teeth were grinding. And so I tensely told her that I understand quite a lot, and given that I am self-taught and only 3 months along, I'm perfectly happy with that, thankyouverymuch.

But, this is not the point of the story--the rant, that is. The point, of course, is my glorious victory!

After the initial talk, we started off on our tour. Ms. International comes running over to some of the other gringos squealing, "Translation, please! I know! Don't worry, I'll explain what she said." So she went over the basics and then, erroneously, told them they could not take photographs inside. They were confused, and said they thought the guide had said the opposite. Oh, no no, the woman assured them, no photographs.

And so, walking alongside, I was able to lean over and say with a smile, "actually, she said there were absolutely no restrictions on photos as long as you stay with the group."

No better cure for passive-agressive bragging than passive-agressive one-upmanship, says I.

In any event, there is actually a larger reason I wanted to tell this story. Everywhere that I have travelled, I've encountered this problem: there is a certain type of person who simply cannot rest until he or she has proven that they are The Best Global Citizen In The Country And/Or World. Depending on who this person is and what their situation is, the form of the bravado can vary, but it is a very common problem. The fact of the matter is, everyone's experience in a foreign country is different. We all travel or live abroad for different reasons. It's apples and oranges.

If living globally is very important to you, as it is to me, it can be hard to resist getting into these little boxing matches about travel philosophy. So, ok, I was only half successful in this case....I took a jab and ran away. But, well, she started it!