I kinda sorta allowed myself to sleep in this morning, I did not get out of bed until like almost 9am, it was well past 8 hours of sleep, since I went to bed at 11pm last night. I peeped out the windows, it was raining, so I was planning to just take it easy today, maybe I would ease myself into the traveling mode. There was a french press in the airbnb but there was no coffee here. And I needed it bad, so I put on some clothes and the raincoat, and ventured out to locate a cafe or something, I could also eat some pastry or desayuno (breakfast) too. In a town I don't speak the language, like the first time I went to gay bar when I was 19 years old, I checked out the front of this cafe like 5 times before I walked inside. I gave the lady a Buenos Dias, and signaled that I would sit down here, table 6 by the window. I have been reading the menus from the QR code for 5 minutes, technically only a minute, the other 4 minutes I was reading the menus before I went in. Anyway, another 5 minutes later, there was still no movement, I was like, is that one of those you need to order at the bar first? I don't know. Some other folks definitely walked to the bar to pay. So, I just walked up and declared that I wanted to order. She was still working on a bunch of receipts and ignored me for a moment. Finally she took my order and was probably thinking where this one came from. I think she was going to come to take my order at some point, but my asian pace just outpaced her. I went back to my seat waiting for my breakfast. Feed me now, feed me now...
The breakfast was good, some egg dish with ham and cheese and toast, also orange juice and coffee. Finished my breakfast, and I just happened to catch her eyes, so I said "la quinta por favor", then she brought me the bill and I paid at my table. I had absolutely no idea what their system was. Next on my agenda was to find some tours for the next 2 days. From the weather forecast, both Monday and Wednesday are going to be rainy, so tomorrow is my only chance to see the volcano and waterfall if I am lucky, one never knows, the volcano can hide inside the clouds even on a good day like yesterday. I walked into this tour agency, hablar ingles, ok? Si. Awesome! I confirmed to join their volcano/waterfall tour for Tuesday, but they had nothing for Monday and Wednesday. As I was walking back to the airbnb, I ran into another travel agency which was actually recommended by my airbnb host, but I stopped by like 3 times since yesterday, they were never there. Still no sight when I was walking back to the airbnb. Almost 11:30am, they finally texted me back on Whatsapp, and asked if I could come to them. So, I did. This woman, however, hablas no igles, so it was me speaking with my single spanish words + google translate, and repeating the same questions time again. They seem to have a tour to Chiloe Islands on Wednesday. So, I decided to go for that, after I confirmed like 3 times that the guide speaks english.
Bueno! Two tours down. Now, I just needed to find something to do on my own today. The first travel agent who spoke english recommended me to either go to Frutillar (a small town nearby) for which I can get to by bus on my own, or go to a local museum given it is raining. After I rested a little in the airbnb and had my lunch around 2pm, a very salty cheese burger! I decided to try to go to Frutillar with the local bus. I google mapped it, worst case I can always uber back if I am lost, I thought. I found my bus stop, a guy asked me where I was going, I said Fruit-tiller (as if it was an english word). Not a clue what I was saying, so I showed him the google map, it's Fruit-ti-ye-ra! I said Si. I am certain, it is still not the correct pronunciation, but I think they understood. Waited and got on the bus, confirmed with the driver, that is where I was going. Gave him 2000 pesos and got 400 back. There were two seats left, but one was next to a very big woman, and there was no way she would be able to let me pass. The other one was way in the back, between two sleeping men, and their things were on the chair. So, I was standing holding on to the bar on top for a while.
A moment later, when I looked back, one of the guys was awakened, so I signaled him to move his stuff, "permiso". He did, but there was still a bag of bananas belonging to the other sleeping fella. I determined that I would sit down, and moved his bananas on his lap, whooops I woke up. I said "pardon" with my miniature asian bow gesture. He took his bananas and went back to his la la land. In this crowded bus, I was suddenly reminded why I liked to travel alone, it was these kind of small moments, I was a total outsider intruding on these local people's daily routine, I was just observing people, I had absolutely no idea what everyone was talking about, nor did it really matter to me. Just looking at how people interact. Finally some people got off, we had more rooms, the guy next to me smiled and asked if I was going to Frut-ti-ye-ra, I said Si, (and bow). He opened his backpack, and showed me two pieces of salmon,and made this dollar sign motion with his fingers. I was like, ah no gracias. I just found it funny, he just pulled out some salmon and wanted to make a business with this out of place asian man.
Got to Frutillar, a cute little town by the lake looking over at the volcano, which is still under the clouds. I wonder how many days a year the volano actually showed its face. I walked along the lakeside for a while, got a cup of coffee, and chatted with Shelby for a little bit. About a hour or so, I walked back to the bus stop to find my bus back. At the terminal, I think it is a terminal. There was my bus but it was not moving yet. The driver confirmed it is the right bus for "Puerto Varas", but said "A las cinco diaz", I think that is what I heard. I was not sure what the diaz part was. Maybe it was 5:10pm, but google said 5 o'clock. Well whatever, I was just standing there waiting. I got on the bus, gave him 1600 pesos, like a pro. Sat down and soon we started moving. The bus kept picking up people. I think there were 15-16 seats on the bus, but there were probably double the number of people. Many people were standing, a woman and her two young girls were standing, I felt really guilty, I would have let her kids have the seat. But then I am just like a cripple here, that I don't understand anything anyone says, so it is hard for me to stand up in an already sardine packed bus and give up my seat. In the end, we all survived. Tomorrow is another day!
Oh, I have forgotten to mention one thing, in Frutillar, there were musical symbols literally everywhere, I am wondering if the word "Frutillar" has anything to do with music. Something for me to look up tonight.
