Off to Balmaceda

It was the day to fly back to Santiago to fetch my new passport and some of the credit cards that Shuchi had couriered to the Swedish embassy in Santiago. The airport for Coyhaique is at Balmaceda some 60 kms away, right at the Argentina border. My flight was at 4 pm so I had booked a shared pickup at 11 am from the hostel. I had already checked out and left the big bag with Melinda who was continuing to stay there. After that, I went to the police station about a km away to see if I could get a copy of my case here itself. It was a bit hard communicating since none of them spoke English and my Spanish was quite basic. Eventually, I understood that since I was a foreigner, I could a copy only in Santiago and only in the center that was marked on the report slip. Now, for giving me just that useless information, the police guy wantrd some money. I just acted dumb and told them "no comprendo" and walked out back to the hostel.

I waited till 11:30 am. No bus showed up so I asked the girl at the reception to check. She called them a couple of times but no one picked up the phone. Then she called another agency that have an airport drop. They wanted me to come to a supermarket some 20 mts away in 10 min for the pickup. In the meantime the 1st agency called back on her number and informed that the bus would be there within 10 min. Finally, the van arrived at 12 pm and we were off to Balmaceda.
The route was very scenic with green rolling hills and lakes. There were some interesting rock formations as well. It was a lovely sunny day.Read more