Bus Ramblings, Israeli Adam Sandler
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2007
1
87
221
Trip End
Ongoing
Rio Gallegos,
Argentina
Thursday, March 6, 2008
On our last day in Puerto Natales waiting for a bus out we decided to try to be like true blue travel on a shoestring backpackers and carry our own snacks and attempt to cook in the utensil-less land of communal hostel kitchens. We cooked roast vegetables. Also, i´m now the proud owner of multiple ziplock bags filled with porridge, sugar and powdered milk (can´t risk the bacteria in the real M´Coy) and we both bought whole orchard amounts of dried fruit salad from a guy called ¨The Dried Fruit Man¨. We said good-bye to Paula, a short Chilean mum who runs the hostel ¨Nikos 11¨. Paula treated us as though we were her daughters. When you walked in the door of the house she would put down her tapestry and ask you how your day was and was very tolerant of our mediocre Spanish skills. At one point Nadine walked into the family kitchen only to find a dining table full of merry Chilean people (eating together is a very big deal for families) having a complete dinner party whilst all our laundry was hanging up around their heads and strung up at every nook and cranny hanging space in the room, drying above the gas stove that was turned up full flame. The electricity had gone out mid-afternoon and the washing we had given Paula in the morning was only half way through it´s cycle of wash. So, Paula removed it and did the rest by hand, the entire contents of our backpacks. Chilean hospitality is wonderful, even if they don´t like you. Nadine spent the day downing coffees next to a fireplace at the English language book exchange and bought some books. I devoured one of the books ¨My Invented Country¨ by Chilean author Isabel Allende on the first bus leg and now am wishing for a book other than the Lonely Planet bible to read on the long journeys.
Puerto Natales has gone to the dogs. The streets were full of dogs and not the usual mangy, skinny, hungry looking street tramps you find in other Latin American countries. These dogs are lovable, attractive and cute, the kind you would turn up with on your mum´s doorstep, tell her it followed you home from school and beg her to let you keep them. They are operating in organized gangs and they seem to get food and right of way on the roads. We are told that half of them are street dogs and the other half have owners who let them roam the streets with their pals and breed like mad.
Chile is an elongated country and the southern part of it is about as far south as you can go without falling of the planet. The roads are a little strange too and access is limited or slow to some parts. So, we had to go back into southern Argentina to get into northern Chile, another border cross.Whilst waiting for the Fernandez Bus that would take us to Rio Gallegos, we noticed a tough looking mechanic guy complete with biker beard and dressed in blue work overalls lounging against a wall, chewing pink bubble-gum. We found great amusement in watching the Hubba Bubba king carefully create perfect pink bubbles, giggle when they popped then draw the gum back into his mouth and start again. Some things are funnier on the road than they seem to be when i write them down. I had the perfect photo shoot opportunity of him but missed it when the whole scene changed quickly. You´ve got to be quick on the camera.
Nothing tastes like it appears in Chile making for weird feelings when you bite into something. There is impostor candy in Latin America too, the trend is everywhere but very much noticeable in Chile. There are chocolate balls that pose as ¨Maltesers¨ yet taste like 20cent specials from Crazy Clarks and the lollies taste like they came out of last years Christmas candy stocking. I miss Australian Allen's lollies.
The Fernandez bus entertainment section blasted the special presentation of a DVD featuring Chile´s largest and loudest female opera singer who had gone a little overboard on her stage outfits with the Danoez Direct be-dazzler and sew-a-sequin machine. Horrendous choice. We met a sweet, Israeli Adam Sandler (in appearance) named Chen who was to come all the way to El Bolson with us, another Israeli hot spot we are told. How do they all know where each other is? They seem to like hippie areas, nature and pot. Israelis both individuals and in the large groups have become fascinating to us and we can´t seem to stop observing them and asking them questions and we are even considering going to Israel to take a look for ourselves, we have met so many. The young adventurers seem to dream of freedom for the whole time they are doing their compulsory military duty then as soon as they are out, they fly. There are lots of Israeli run venues for food and accommodations. Chen was a friendly boy who kept asking me if i would like to listen to his MP3. The three hour bus took five and meant we all missed connecting buses heading north.
We had to stay overnight in a dumpy hostel in Rio Gallegos and then in the morning caught another bus company to Comodaria Something then on to El Bolson. The landscape was back to the pampas scrub or nothing-ness desert and woop woop random towns for the rest of the bus trip. We passed many shrines on the side of the road, there is a particular fondness for worship done by red flag decorating. Monkey was having a ball with the bus attendants (snooty male ones again) by leaving banana skins on his seat, cheeky little monkey. We expected food on the bus and there was none. The first bus drivers stopped at derelict road houses that served passengers junk food whilst they ate quality for free at each and every one. We bought some yerba mate tea in a pre-packaged bag, designed for tourists we guess or maybe for use in emergency by Argentinean folk who surely wouldn´t live without it for any amount of time. Most people carry it everywhere with them. I love the taste of the wholesome grass clippings and water but am not prepared to carry around the required thermos, metal straw and gourd cup as well as the pair of strappy evening shoes i still have from Rio, Brazil. We hear the gourds are confiscated at the border anyway....organico buddy! Oh and by the way, on the Chile to Argentina border cross we took all the porridge gear and the orchards of dried fruit through customs, they were doing a full luggage check and didn´t get our goodies. Nice one. Anyone wanting to do a deal on a pet llama or perhaps an important archaeological artifact? We could probably get them through for you. We must admit, mono loco monkey is a good border decoy (he is even wearing a contraband wild boar tooth around his neck and hasn´t been caught) and we´re thinking of making him his own miniature passport to see if border patrol will stamp it.
We are at point with the Spanish language where we can get ourselves around well but have been lazy to pick up our lesson books again and study. Slowly, we are gaining more vocabulary but that´s it.
Hubba Bubba Bubble Gum!
