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Briana just went back home after visiting me for 3 weeks. I'm sad that she's gone, but we had an awesome time together!
The first week, we stayed in Vina and Valpo. We wandered around the hills taking in the sights and giving change to the college freshman (who are hazed by having their shoes stolen from them, and they have to buy them back by begging for money on the streets. Their clothes are ripped, their hair is cut funny, and they are covered in mustard, eggs, mayo, manjar, anything the upperclassmen want. When they get enough money, they get their shoes back and the money is used to throw a big party for them later. it's a funny sight). We also rode some Micros (buses), which was quite the terrifying experience for Briana, since they are completely hectic and insane.
On Wednesday after my Folkloric Dance class, Briana and I left for the airport in Santiago. Our flight was early thursday morning, so we decided that we would sleep in the airport rather than try to stay in a hotel (because most of them are almost an hour away from the airport). We thought the buses to Santiago ran all night, but when we got there at about 10:10, we discovered that the last bus had left at 10. Briana was trying to tell me we would have to rent a car and I would have to drive to Santiago...that didn't sound like a good idea to me. My host mom was calling around for us trying to find us the best deal on a Taxi when we heard a collectivo (like a taxi but for multiple people) driver asking if anyone was going to Santiago. I talked to him and figured it was our best option. I called my host mom and she said it was a good deal and seemed to think it was OK, so Briana and I left in the Collectivo. A few minutes later, Manola (my host mom) called my phone. She asked me if there were other passengers? yes. Who are they? I don't know..two men. This made her nervous and she asked to speak to the driver. "Excuse me...my chilean mom would like to speak with you..?" and so I gave him the phone and we could tell that she was kind of yelling at him. He gave me the phone back and she told us that he was going to charge us to get to Santiago, and then the same amount to go to the airport, which would be double what we thought we had to pay. But, she said, she convinced him to charge a lot less. A little while later, he pulled over so he could look at his tag number and I had to call Manola back so he could tell her. Manola called me at intervals to ask where we were and if we were ok. A while later, an unknown number called me, and it turns out it was a policeman. He asked me the same things as Manola. Manola also had the police checking our progress at every tollbooth we passed (there are a lot) to make sure we were passing the ones we should. At this point Briana and I were a little stressed out thinking that since other people were so worried, maybe we actually were in danger. But we made it to the airport just fine, much to our relief, the policeman's, and Manola's. And probably the driver too...Manola is not a person you want yelling at you.
Now that we were at the airport, we wanted to try to sleep a little bit. However it was too cold, so we opted for some nutella coffee and a big piece of pie instead. After that, I stole Briana's jacket and managed to sleep a little bit, but good 'ol big sis didn't sleep much, as she was freezing and making sure we didn't miss our flight!
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monse Gran aventura!!! Manola queria cuidarte por eso la amo...es la mejor mamá!! un besoo!!