Another lazy day

Day 2: I set my alarm to get up early this morning and walk by the lake. The alarm went off and I stayed in bed. I slept some more, got up, took a shower, and organized my things. I chatted with the owner of the hospedaje and the woman who works there, paid the $10 (what a deal!), then headed into town without much of a plan. I stopped by the internet cafe to try to straighten out my flight from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires, which I'd booked online but couldn't pay for. To my dismay, the online payment system was rejecting my reservation code again. Boooo.

I tried calling the airlines from my cell phone, but apparently you can't call Chilean 800 numbers from Chilean cell phones. Sigh. On a whim, I went into a phone booth for the first time in God knows when, and called the number without putting in any money. There was a delay and then an automated voice came on the line. I was expecting to be told to pay, but it was the airline recording system asking me to pick a language. Sweet. I talked to one guy who just about completed my payment -- and then was cut off. Undaunted at this point, I called back, went through the system, and finished giving the information to another guy. I was so relieved to have that finished because I'd already bought the ticket from Buenos Aires to Santiago, so I needed to get up there somehow!

It was looking like I might have to pay a lot to do it because the cheaper tickets were sold out. But, in the end, and with surprisingly little trouble, I was able to pay for the cheap ticket I'd reserved and -- woo hoo -- I'm heading to Buenos Aires on January 4th. Which means I'll probably be in Ushuaia for New Year's Eve. Still don't know where I'll be for Christmas but raise your hand if you think I'm worried about it.

After that success, I was flying high and heading out of town. My sense of direction has improved dramatically and, after a day in town, easily found my way to an out-bound bus stop without using a map. Go me! I made it back to Puerto Montt without incident and bought a ticket to Castro, the capital of Chiloé, leaving in 15 minutes. What luck!

Since Chiloe is an island, we had to take a ferry. I love ferries. While most people stayed on the bus, I got out and walked around. The ferry wasn't big so it wasn't a long walk! I made friends with one of the crew members after he told me to take the airline tag off my bag so people didn't get the idea I had money. He waved to me from the "cockpit" of the boat as I stood at the bow and let the wind blast me. I was looking across the water when -- WOW -- I saw penguins swimming, jumping, and diving in the choppy water. It was so amazing!! I felt overwhelmingly happy to be on that ferry, on my way to Chiloé, on the second day of my fantastic journey.

When I got off the bus in Castro, I started looking for a hostel. It turns out, there are no hostels on the island. Instead, there are millions (okay, not literally) of hospedajes, which are family houses that rent rooms. I started knocking on doors and asking about prices, amenities, etc. I was disappointed that there were no hostels because I'm ready to make some friends, and the prices for a single are higher than I wanted to pay (all of $12!). In the end, I chose a place with a room on the tippy top floor with a big bed, shared bathroom, and an amazing view. Plus, it seems like the family is huge, so there are people around, even if there's no hostel vibe.

Internet is included, which is nice, even though it turns out that the connection is the slowest I've had in Chile. Hmmm, maybe I should've gone for the place with breakfast included instead. Then again, it would be Chilean breakfast, which is basically toast and coffee. You'd think after almost a year in Chile that I'd stop getting excited when someone mentions breakfast, but I'm still a few beats behind in realizing that they're not speaking my language.

So, today I made it to Chiloé. I might go wander around town and take some photos, but that will be about it for today. I hope you don't judge me for being a bum, but I'm just too damn happy with my life right now to care very much.