San Fernando: The City Where Random Blog Posts Are Born

So I am currently cooling my heels in the much-chillier-than-Valpo, VI region city of San Fernando. I am in an internet cafe rocking out to 99 Red Balloons (English, not German, version). Why am I doing this? (are you impressed by my ability to read your thoughts, imaginary blog reader?)

I am doing this because this weekend I had a mandatory meeting in Pichilemu. I was placed in my Trabajo Numero Uno by a US-based NGO. I am actually a volunteer in said Trabajo, so this was my Mid-Service....Meeting. Generally I talked way too much about teaching, culture, and Chile, and I bitched and moaned a bunch....so, it was a lot like this blog. I also, though, was able to eat burritos and walk on the beach with 17 people to whom I clung like Glad Wrap during the terrifying days of February in Santiago (otherwise known as "What-Am-I-Doing-Here? Month"). So it was a pleasant, if somewhat odd, experience. Former Only Friend Elisa (former applying to the "only" bit, not the "friend" bit) is currently being visited by her parents so I was the sole Valpo representative. Which meant that most of what I said was tangential to the main points of the conversation. In that way it was also somewhat like this blog, and like me in general.

Pichilemu is a really pleasant town on the water. It's famous for surfing at Punto de Lobos, and as such it has a very interesting vibe. Small town Chile meets surfer-world, with which I am more than a little acquainted (by proxy). So basically Rip Curl and Dakine stickers all over places with names like "Donde Jhonny" and "El Tio de los Empanadas." Also, surf-widow mini-skirts in display windows alongside your average small-store-with-an-unpredictable-assortment-of-food-items-booze-and-small-electronics. A group of us tried to walk out to Punto de Lobos, but we didn't have enough time. The rest of the beach was still gorgeous, though.

Only problem (well, biggest problem): there are no buses that go from Valparaíso to Pichilemu. A transfer is necessary, but, this being Chile, it is randomly Not Possible to purchase both of these tickets in Valpo. It is also, conveniently, Not Possible to buy return tickets in Valpo. And this is a three day weekend, which means the entire country is getting on buses to go somewhere or other.

On Friday, then, I headed off to Santiago in a pouring monsoon of a rainstorm, plastic bags around all of my possesions and borrowed boots on my feet. Yes, I strand people in rainstorms without their rainboots because I am too disorganized to have bought my own. Moving along. I was rather irritable about this, because I had no way of knowing whether I would in fact be able to get a seat on a bus to Pichilemu, or whether I was taking a random puddle-jump to Santiago and back. Luckily, there was a bus. Unluckily, there are two routes: the 3 hour route, and the 5 hour route. Guess which one our poor Spanish speaker chanced onto?

I arrived in Pichilemu after everything was closed, so I was unable to buy a return ticket. The next day, I learned that the only buses going back to Santiago that had seats available would most likely get me there too late to get back to Valpo. And I have 5 classes tomorrow.

Enter Awesome New Friend Kacy and Not-Yet-Met-But-Undoubtedly-Awesome Boyfriend of Kacy. These folks made a major trek down to Pucon this weekend (many many hours south of Valpo, nine or ten I believe). They agreed to pick me up en route, something for which I am extremely grateful. So I bought a ticket from Pichilemu to San Fernando, a town which sits conveniently along the highway.

Thanks to a bus ticket vendor who has most likely never made the trip to the big SF, I ended up here 3 hours early. So, here I am. It being dark out, I can't comment on the town. The bus station is cold and boring, as they tend to be, but equipped with an internet cafe, a major blessing.

And that, dear reader, is why this post exists. Call it a meta-post.

More on Pichilemu some other time.