Chile: This isn't "see you later," this is more like goodbye

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This blog is being written almost two weeks after our last day in Santiago. A lot has happened since then, and our next blog on The Match and The Move will bring you up to date. But first, we need to say goodbye to Chile.

Too Little Too Late
We wake up at the usual hour and breakfast is hearty and delicious because of our grocery shopping yesterday afternoon. Meli immediately begins packing and Leroy follows suit. Our flight is at 11:30pm, but we are planning on leaving at 6pm to check in early and take advantage of the Admiral’s Club. That, and we really don’t have anything else we want to do in Chile. I suppose we could go back to Bellavista and enjoy the cafés and lovely desserts. But I think we both are ready to leave, though not necessarily to return to the madness that awaits us in Palo Alto. We count our money and decide we have just enough for the cab ride to the airport, a visit to the internet café to check email and update the blog, and maybe a bottle of Pisco to bring back as a gift for the Flygare family (Leroy’s college Ochem prof and his family have been very kind and wonderful to us). At the internet café, I receive emails from my friend Jon-David who lived in Chile for a bit. It seems he’s been following the blog and in a kind act to save our trip, he has sent us a series of emails and contact information for his friends in Chile. His friend also writes me, and she seems like the kind of person who could have really showed us the town and some Chilean hospitality. Anthea also wrote Leroy with a contact in Chile. Our friends love/pity us. But it’s too late, really, since we leave tonight. We thank them for their efforts and wish for better luck next time.

Our errands only take a half hour, and it is early afternoon. Our bags are packed and our money is spent. We wait for 6 o’clock to come.

A Calm Ride to the Airport
Our cabbie has been called by the doorman, and it turns out he owns an apartment in the building. He’s a very nice man, and we negotiate a price and head off. He tells us the details of the recent theft in the building. We had noticed signs in the elevator calling all tenants to a meeting to discuss security measures. It seems that on Monday between 4 and 6pm, someone went to the garage and stole the side mirrors from about 25 cars and some radios. A couple of apartments on the second floor were broken into as well. It’s too bad - all those people at reception and no one noticed a thing! He tells me this story because he wants me to put another lock on my apartment door - of course, it’s not my apartment. At the airport, we get into the business class line, where there are at least five American businessmen ahead of us. There are two agents helping us, but for some reason, the line moves slowly. When it’s our turn, we learn why. Once again, we are hit for a hidden airport tax, just like TAM in São Paulo on our way to Salvador. But this time, instead of being a mere R$20 each (U$10), it is U$30 each. This is the last straw for Leroy. We resolve not to use Orbitz again since they never informed us of airport taxes that were not included. Furthermore, the idea that we paid U$200 for “reciprocity” and U$60 in airport taxes on exit for an unimpressive week in Chile… well, let’s just say that we’d rather have stayed in Buenos Aires or Brasil for another week. But, that’s the way travel is. Stuff happens and you won’t always like what happens to you. Granted, being medical students with scarce money, every little thing you put on your credit card hurts a bit.

We Love Admirals
We head straight to the Admirals’ Club after check-in. Unfortunately, since we are flying direct to Dallas, we are now subject to TSA rules, and the anti-liquid process begins. I down my bottle of water as fast as I can and wonder how this is really helping the safety of our country, but whatever. At the Admiral’s Club, we are happy. We snack on crackers, turkey, and cheese as well as fruit cups. There is an open bar, and enjoy our last glasses of Chilean reds. Of course, Leroy boots up the laptop and gets me to play Risk. We checked in five hour before our flight, so we have a few hours to kill relaxing in the lounge. We make friends with some other patrons, with one who was clearly smashed (he spilled two glasses of red wine!) telling us, “We’re gonna sleep great on this flight!” I try to spend our last pesos in the terminal, but come back with the driest cake in the world. No, really, it was Sahara, Gobi, Death Valley. Finally, our flight boards—why does Leroy always get stopped for further security screening… “have you ever heard of a Black terrorist” is one of Leroy’s popular airport quotes—and we fall asleep quickly. We slept most of the time and it was (thankfully) uneventful. At Customs, we crack up at a lady who picks up every black suitcase and unzips the upper, outer pocket to figure out if it’s hers (hmm, I guess checking the name tag wasn’t enough). What was ridiculous was that she would pick up small ones and large ones. Does she really have no idea what her luggage looks like? Goodness, we are such travel snobs. In Dallas, we check our cell voice mail, eat McDonald’s for breakfast (with Leroy surprisingly being unable to finish his breakfast) and hang out in the Admiral’s Club again. We really can’t wait to go home.

Back in the Bay
Bettina picks us up at SFO and we have a lovely breakfast at Joanie’s on California Ave. We really don’t have to tell her about our travels as she has been closely following the blog (she may be the only one). The rest of the week starts to weigh on us. It is the morning of March 10th and our flight to Melbourne, Australia leaves on March 19th from Los Angeles. That means we have nine days to take care of academic loose ends, get caught up on research for Meli, pack up our respective apartments, deal with The Scramble if we don’t match, celebrate The Match ceremony and dinner if we do match, put our stuff in public storage either in the Bay area or in L.A., and drive our cars to L.A. In planning our trip, we knew it would be tight, but there was no other availability for the Melbourne flight. We figured packing up in nine days was definitely possible, which it is. The problem is that Match Day is on March 15th, which means we’ll really only have three days during which we will know where we will be for the next five years. Well, it’s all worth it. This trip is a dream, and we are willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen.

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Comments

[Denise]

I'm in!!!!
Great, now I feel in the loop. How is Australia? The only blogs I received were from South America. Is that right or did I miss something?? I'm excited you guys are going to live in LA!!!!:)

[Juanito "the cuban" Pla]

Hello
Hi guys.. too busy to read all that you guys have to say, however I want to let you know how happy I am that you guys will be in LA. Looking forward to seeing you guys soon. Rosie, Marisa, Sebastian and Aidan say HI and be safe.