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Back to Cochrane!!
Chasing after the bus (with my bag on it!)
I can't believe it. I am heading North. Back up to Cochran on the bus with the same bus driver. Back across the river on the same ferry. 7 hours stoopid journey for nothing!! One perk though was while I was on the ferry sitting with all the other passengers, I was tapped on the shoulder. It was the chef telling me to come with him! I followed him downstairs to his kitchen where he sat me down in the warm room and gave me coffee and bread again! Lovely.
So remember I said I was running out of cash? Well the hostel owner was happy with dollars but I only had a 50 or a 20 and it was 30. (dinned included). She had no change so accepted the 20 saying don't worry about the rest. I felt really bad and was not at all happy. I took her bank details in the hope of somehow managing to get the money to her when I got online. I didn't like my chances though as I stood waiting for the bus. I'd managed to get quite chatty with the bus driver on the way here so I decided I would ask him to lend me the money and I would pay him in Cochrane where I know there is an ATM.
This is what I was able to say to him in Spanish (very important for the next bit), "I have a problem. I have no money. I need to pay hostel. Please give me 10000 (pesos. about a tenner). And then when Cochrane? " He gave me the money with no hesitation. I then said, "thank you. 2 minutes" and ran off. Now this is the important bit. There are things I could have done differently. One was know the word "wait". That would have helped a lot. So my hostel was one block away. I ran as fast as my legs would go. The block seemed much longer than it was the other way. I ran into the hostel and almost threw the money at the owner. She said it was too much. But I said no problem and ran out again back to the bus. As I was running, I started thinking, s***. Does he completely understand what I'm doing? Does he know I'm not actually ON the bus? Sure enough I turned the corner and he was gone!!! There were a couple of people around and by my body language and noises I was making, it was pretty clear to them what had happened. They started telling me something. One of them made a circular motion with his hand giving me the impression he was saying don't worry he's turning round. With hope I ran to the end of the road and he must have already turned round cos he was heading off towards Cochrane!!! I ran after him. By now I couldn't breathe. This was a life or death situation. Not my usual workout at the gym where I slow down if it's too much for me. There's not another bus until Wednesday. 3 days later and all I had was my small bag with my water and kindle! Well I guess I had my emergency money and my book. What more do I need to chill out for 3 days lol! Anyway I digress. The bus stopped. But only to pick someone else up! The driver had gone into their house to get them and I jumped on wheezing and coughing. My chest felt like it was on fire!
5 mins later the bus driver very kindly stopped at the hostel he THOUGHT I was staying in, 6 blocks away, looked behind him to me and motioned for me to get off to pay my hostel none the wiser.
I checked back into the lovely hostel in Cochrane, caught up with internet stuff, slept, posted some blogs and am now waiting for the stoopid bus at 230 to Chile Chico again. Humph.
- comments
Anne Thank goodness you got your bag back.
Mum You will need to learn the local Spanish Susan says ! I hope the bus driver got his money back !!
Lesley You are very funny and are making me laugh out very loud. I can just imagine ya.... xx