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.

I'm a US citizen again!

I went to the embassy and they processed my new passport in a matter hours. As soon as I get back to Santiago I will post pics of my last few days.

Stuck in Argentina.

I had to go to Mendoza, Argentina to renew my tourist visa. The plan was to take a long weekend and be back in Santiago Sunday night. I feel like I've been on a rollercoster. The trip from Santiago to Mendoza should only take 6 hours on a bus. Our trip took 13. I got into Mendoza later then expected so the hostel I had reservations at gave away my bed. I found another one that was way crapper...but what are you going to do at three in the morning. I slept in and awoke to explore the city. What I found blew me away. Imagine Fort Collins with a Latin/European flare. This city's downtown streets are lined with cafes and bars that are filled with live music and people enjoying the crisp fall morning.

I ended up drinking a coffee and watching a Latin Jazz band play. I have pictures but I'm using the computer at the Best Western Inn so I cant upload them. I had and best day browsing the city's shops, poking into book stores, waking and people watching in the city's plazas. On the way home I discovered a Casino and thought I would take my chance at some cards. I guess lady luck was by my side (for the time being) and I won around 225USD playing Texas Hold 'em poker. I went to bed on a high.

The next morning, still on a high, I woke up early to take advantage of the free breakfast offered by the hostel. Jumped out of bed at 8 in the morning and got my stuff to take a shower. I put some of my stuff on my bed....my wallet, camera and keys under my jacket. The rest of my stuff I left in my backpack. I took a quick shower and when I returned my pack was stolen. The staff at the hostel seemed pretty unsurprised and I defiantly think they had some part to play in it. Stunned, I had to walk to the police station to make a report of what was stolen. They took my iPod, clothes, a credit card, phone charger...and worst of all...my passport. I tried to enjoy the rest of my day in Mendoza...because there was nothing else I could do. I bought a backpack and a bus ticket to Buenos Aires, the capital, where the US Embassy is located. I'm now writing you all from the computer in the Best Western Inn in BA. The embassy doesn't open till tomorrow morning. Wish me luck.

I'll update more offten....I swear.

Hey everyone out there. Who is reading this? Am I updating this blog for anyone? Sorry its taken me so long to update. Heres whats been going on. I've been teaching English at Carrier, an American owned air conditioning company every day of the week. On top of that I have classes at an accounting firm and a private class that I'm teaching.

*NOTE* I have a new phone number! Its a local Colorado number and the calls are forwarded to my cell phone here in Santiago. I dont want to post the phone nubmer on the internet but email me and I'll send it your way. xJAMESAx@gmail.com

My camera has bit the dust and I'm looking at my options to replace it. The country of Chile taxes electronics so much that the same camera would cost 150% more here than it would in the U.S of A. I did, however, manage to grab the last bit of pictures that I took off of my computer.




I just found out that any picture on the blog can be clicked on to view it full size. The first picture is of a street dog here in the city. Click on it and look past the dog at the cool architecture in the city center. The next three pictures are of the same street looking in other directions.


The big white building is "La Moneda" or the Presidential palace here in Santiago. Pretty heavy security huh?



This is a mirror image of the Entel tour. Its a cell phone broadcasting tour but its used here in town as a landmark to give directions.



The last picture is taken "Uptown" which is also called "Sanhattan" or the Manhattan of Santiago. It has some of the coolest architecture that I've ever seen.

I have to jump on a bus and head to the closest bus outside of the country to renew my visa. So on April 30th I'll be going to Mendoza, Argentina, right across the Andy Mountains. If I have a camera by that time I'll post up pictures.

Time for a BIG update

This weekend my friend Teressa, who works at the hostel, and I were getting restless and jumped on a bus to the beach towns of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar. Vina is the nicer, more expensive sister city to Valparaiso. Before the Panama Canal, Valparaiso was one of the worlds largest ports. Below are pictures of the beach at Vina Del Mar, the huge casino in Vina and the city of Valparaiso.

They Say running a mile in Santiago is like smoking a pack of cigarettes

In one of my last posts I had mentioned how Santiago reminded me of Los Angeles. Yesterday two friends of mine and I took a gondola up a hill called Cerro San Cristobal which is right next to the city. It was about 75 degrees out and we could not see the end of the city because there was so much smog. The city has 6.4 million inhabitants that live in a valley.

Wow.

Its been a while since I've last posted and man has a lot gone down. I have started teaching English in town and the picture above is where my first class was located. On the 20th floor is Ernst & Young, an accounting firm.

I had interviews at 5 different institutes in town.

I have had offers from several companies that I interviewed and and am now teaching freelance for several. I'll post more pictures of the people that I'm teaching soon.

Here is a picture of Burford English Institute, one of the institutes that I teach for.

I have also been meeting some really cool friends in town. I don't have any pictures of them to post but a bunch of friends are coming over tonight so I'll take some pictures.