22 hours on a bus

I'm home. Writing from the comfort of my room. Check out the map above (You can click on it to make it bigger). I just crossed the lower part of the continent of South America on a bus. Here is how it all went down.

I was enjoying the city of Mendoza, Argentina a ton. Like I posted earlier the city is filled with street that are lined with little shops, cafes and bookstores. Check it out. Here are some pictures of the city's plazas and streets.


I grabbed a coffee and watched Jazz outside. I was seriously on a high. I couldn't have enjoyed myself any more then I was. I found a casino on the way back to my hostel and won some money playing poker. This is the front of the Park Hyatt Hotel and Casino. The good thing about the weekend is I won enough money to pay for most of my trip.



I went to bed and had a good nights sleep at The Alamo Hostel a few blocks away from the Casino. Here is a picture of my room looking out to the patio. Here is where everything turned.



Do you see the glass door going out to the patio? I left my backpack next to that door while I went to brush my teeth and when I came back it was gone...along with my iPod, passport and the rest of my clothes. There were two people sleeping in the room while I was gone. I went frantic when I noticed everything was gone. I started looking in other peoples rooms and started warning people. The receptionist at the front desk wasn't surprised and I think was in on the whole thing. She told me that she was busy helping people in the hostel and didn't see anyone come or go. I locked up what I still had, a borrowed camera, my toiletries, and my sweatshirt, and ran to the police station.

I filed a report and went straight to the bus station to jump on a bus to Buenos Aires. I paid for my bus trip and my hotel room with the earnings from the casino. I showed up first thing on Monday morning to the Embassy. While I was describing what happened the lady at the embassy says that they see it happen every day and that there is an organized crime ring there in the town that pays off the police and the judges in the town to look the other way. Within two hours I had my "Emergency Passport" which is good for one year.

I went downtown bought a new set of clothes...cause I hadn't changed in two days. I dont think my dad's turn your underwear and socks inside out trick was going to work for me this time...they were pretty smelly. After 22 hours on a bus I was back in Santiago de Chile. The pictures at the end of the post are of the Andes Mountain Range and the signs coming into Chile. I start work tomorrow evening. Looking back on the whole thing...it was stressfully but at least I have the story and the lesson I learned from the whole thing. Lesson learned: traveling is a lot easier when you when big at a casino.