Surf´s Up!

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I got up early on Wednesday because I wanted to run before we left but I didn´t have time 😞 Christina´s host dad picked me up and took us to the bus station. We left for San Fernando at 10:40am from Concepcion. We knew we could take a bus from San Fernando or Rancagua to Pichilemu but that´s about all we knew. It took about 5 hours to get to San Fernando by bus. We hoped the bus would drop us off at a terminal but no such luck. We were literally dropped off by the side of the road. They told us that the bus station wasn´t too far and they told us where to walk so off we went. It was SO very HOT outside and walking was not fun. We were all over dressed and a bit crabby that we had to walk. The terminal wasn´t as close as we hoped but we made it. It took us a bit but we found where we needed to be and bought tickets to Pichilemu. We had a little bit of time so we got ice cream which put everyone in a better mood. The bus we took was small and pretty crappy. We thought Pichilemu was an hour or maybe two away but we were wrong. It felt like we were on the bus forever! I think it took at least 3 hours, if not more! We were extremely relieved to arrive in Pichilemu. On the page I printed from our hostel is said that they would pick us up from the bus station for free. We called but they said that no one was there who could come get us and that we should just take a taxi. Of course we didn´t want to pay a taxi and every taxi we asked didn´t quite know where we were talking about. One guy gave us directions and we started walking. We knew our hostel was right on the beach so it couldn´t be that hard to find.
We didn´t have to walk too far, maybe 10 or 15 minutes until we arrived at the beach. We could see our hostel and it wasn´t very far so we decided to just walk the beach until we got to it. It was a bit harder for the people who had suitcases with wheels but thankfully I just had my duffel bag. We got to the hostel and we had to ring the doorbell to get let in. From the first second it was obvious that the people there were your typical surfer type. The hostel is literally on the beach. I think it used to be a lighthouse but now just the base is left. We stayed in the downstairs part of it. It was kind of damp and musty but it was cheap and the people there were friendly.
After we got settled in we went to walk on the beach. Of course I dropped my camera in the sand running down a hill to get to the beach and it quit working again 😞 The sunset was beautiful. I will have to steal someone else´s pictures of it though. After walking along the beach for a long time we decided that we wanted to eat. There were only a few places open near our hostel and the supermarket had already closed. We finally found a place to eat. We ordered but then they didn´t have what we wanted so I ended up with just nachos with guacamole. It was good but I was hoping for something a little bit more tasty and satisfying. We made our way back to the hostel. I took apart my camera when we got back in hopes that it would work again and eventually it did! yay! We sat around upstairs talking with the other people that were staying in the hostel for a while and then we headed to bed. We were exhausted from traveling all day and we wanted to be rested for surfing in the morning.
We got up to get ready to go surfing on Thursday morning. We asked if there was a supermarket around that was open and then we walked to the supermarket. It was kind of far, about a 10 or 15 minute walk. We got food and headed back to the hostel. I was told that the surf lesson began at 1030am and we didn´t have a lot of time. I wanted to get there a little early because I knew that we would have to get fitted for wet suits also. We left the hostel around 1020. The surf place was just a couple minute walk down the beach from our hostel. There were a few other people taking lessons also. We had to fill out some papers and then we got ready.
Wet suits are not exactly easy to put on and they are also not very flattering we found out! I wanted this cool black and blue one that I had seen outside and lucky me, I got it! I didn´t even ask or say anything. The guy who worked there was laughing at us trying to put them on. I started putting mine on backwards. Nobody told me that the zipper was supposed to go in back! Luckily he told me right away but Hayley wasn´t so lucky. She put hers on completely backwards. I had to help her get it off and put it on again. She was convinced that the one she had was too small but she put it on again anyways. Then, she went down and got a different sized one so we had to wait quite awhile until she was ready to go. We also got water shoe things. Mine were shaped kind of like hooves with just two sections by the toes. They were really funny looking!
We finally headed out to the beach. We spent about 20 or 30 minutes getting instructions on the land. After that we grabbed our boards and headed out into the water. We were all pretty scared. The water was really cold on our hands because they weren´t protected. The water was also very salty and gross when it got splashed in your face and eyes. We finally made it out far enough and the guides started helping us catch waves. Finally it was my turn. I started to paddle and the guide gave me a push... I tried to stand but didn´t quite make it. haha. This is when we stopped being scared and realized that we were only in about 4 feet of water and we could touch the bottom! haha. I kept at it and finally stood up. It was a good feeling but then you think.. now what? The waves were really little though and didn´t last very long. It got pretty crowded out in the water with all of us trying to surf and be near the guides. I tried to catch waves without the guide but I could never get enough speed going.
We tried to spread out to have more room and not risk running into each other but then we were further from the guides. I kept trying. I caught a few little waves but they were all with the guide giving me a push. Towards the end I think we were all just really tired and it was a lot harder to stand up. I´m not sure exactly how long we surfed but it was a few hours. We were getting ready to come in and I had already swam in when a sea lion was just swimming around right by the beach. It was probably 20 feet from Christina but she never saw it. It was really cool that it was that close to us though. Everyone caught waves and had a lot of fun. We peeled off our wetsuits and headed back to the hostel. We were all hungry and tired.
I wanted to shower right away but the showers were occupied. I made a chicken patty that I bought and ate first. Finally it was my turn to shower. The shower was hot but it didn´t have a lot of pressure. After getting cleaned up, it was nap time! I was really tired. I slept for an hour or two. It was so hard to get up but I didn´t want to waste the whole day. Catie wasn´t tired and had went out to the beach while most of us were napping. She accidentally dropped her i-pod in the water and it didn´t work anymore. I told her to buy some rice at the store and try to dry it out but that didn´t work 😞 Poor Catie´s i-pod. After napping Christina and I walked Hayley to the bus station. The rest of us were staying the night and going to Santiago the next day but Hayley didn´t want to go with us. We dropped her off and then went to explore the town a little bit. We just kept walking and walking. Christina wanted to find internet. We eventually found a little internet cafe in the downtown area. We spent an hour there. After that we just walked the downtown streets shopping and looking at restaurants. This is where most the restaurants were, too bad we didn´t know that the night we got to Pichilemu but the downtown wasn´t very close to our hostel. Christina and I both bought little surfboard keychains. We called the others and had them come meet us for supper. We chose a little restaurant that looked nice. We figure we might as well eat good, cheap seafood before we go back to the U.S.! I got a white fish and rice. It was yummy. After eating we went back to our hostel. We spent the rest of the night playing games and talking with the other people in the hostel. We went down to the beach later on and of course, I dropped my camera again and it quit working. I really have to stop doing that...
The next morning we got up and got packed up. We wanted to catch a bus to Santiago around 11:15. We always take a long time to get ready and we had to rush to get to the bus station. We made it in time with a few minutes to spare and we were on our way to Santiago. We wanted to go to Isla Negra but there was no way to get there from Pichilemu and it would take a very long time to go to Santiago and then back track to Isla Negra. The ride to Santiago was pretty long, about 4 hours. When we arrived at the bus station Catie helped us take the subway to Plaza de Armas where our hostel was. I forgot how easy and cheap riding the subway is. We got to our hostel and got settled in.
I hadn´t showered yet so I did that right away. All 6 of us were in one room with a french Canadian couple. After a while we went walking to find Starbucks for Christina. It wasn´t too far from our hostel. After getting Starbucks we walked to find somewhere to eat. Burger King sounded like a good idea so we ate there. I had a chicken sandwich but it wasn´t the greatest. After eating we went back to our hostel to rest and get ready for the pub crawl. Our roommates showed up after awhile and we talked with them. They seemed nice. I was kind of worried that they would be mad if we woke them up when we came back from the pub crawl but it turned out fine. We left our hostel and took a taxi to the bar to begin the pub crawl around 9:30. We ended up being the first ones there. The Santiago pub crawl just started about 3 weeks ago so it is still growing. Eventually more people showed up.
We sat around talking, listening to music and eating free food until it was time to go to the first bar. We went to three bars and then a discotheque. We all had a lot of fun. Catie wasn´t feeling good so Christina, Catie and I took a taxi back to the hostel. While we were driving away from the discotheque a car backed right into the taxi but thankfully no damage was done and we just kept on our way. When we arrived I was very surprised to find that our french roommates were not in the room. They hostel had a bbq that night so they were still outside on the patio drinking wine. Catie went to bed and Christina and I went out to the patio for awhile. We made popcorn and danced for awhile. The boys came back eventually and then Christina and I went to bed.
In the morning we got up and got ready to leave. It seriously took us about 2 hours to check out because the girl at the front desk was not smart. I booked the hostel online so I had paid a 10% deposit on my credit card. I wanted the deposit for all 6 rooms taken off just mine but she didn´t get it so she just took my 10% of mine but then she was charging everyone else the full price, 10% of which I had already paid. I tried to explain to her that I had already paid part but she tried to guilt me by saying she had already done the receipts and everything. I told her that was not my problem, it was just a misunderstanding but I was not about to lose my money that I had already paid. She took like 15 minutes to calculate what she should take off, which I could do in my head in about 5 seconds. She did it wrong but it was close enough so I just had her take it off Lucas´s bill and had Lucas give me 3.000 pesos later. It was a giant pain in the butt. They she had the nerve to ask for a tip later. I wasn´t around or I would have just laughed in her face but Evin gave her one. I know it was just a misunderstanding and I wasn´t mad about it but she was just plain rude to me and trying to cheat me out of my money.
We finally left the hostel and went to eat. We chose a little place just downstairs from the hostel. I had a chicken wrap. It was really good. We sat in the Plaza de Armas for a little bit and then went to the subway to go back to the bus station. Catie thought we should get off one stop earlier at the Central Station.. which none of us gave a second thought. We ended up in the wrong place and we tried to walk to the bus station. We weren´t really sure how to get there and it was so hot outside. We walked and walked for about 20 minutes. Finally we gave up and got a taxi to take us there. We got a bus for 6.000 pesos back to Concepcion. I couldn´t sleep much on the way but they played good movies so I just watched those. My host parents couldn´t pick me up from the bus station and neither could Christina´s so we shared a taxi home. It was kind of expensive, 7.600 pesos ($15) but we didn´t really have a choice. After I got home I showered and spent the rest of the night just going through my things and packing a little. I would have went on the computer but my charger still isn´t working and my host dad was using his.
Sunday (today) is the presidential election day. I slept in and haven´t really done anything all day. Nothing is open because of the elections and there isn´t a lot of public transportation running either. I can´t believe the trip is almost over but I am really excited to go home! This might be my last entry but I´ll probably write on later about the trip home and the rest of the week here. Chao!

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Photos

Photo 2
Pichilemu

Photo 3
Sunset

Photo 5
Surf School

Photo 7
Hola

Photo 8
Post Surfing

Photo 11
pretty flower

Photo 12
surf school again

Photo 13
our hostel

Photo 14
plaza

Photo 15
Playing dominoes with jenga blocks