16 August 2010

Hello all,

Something good happened to me today at the hands of several of the local Chileno's. I have to admit that it came as quite a surprise, as I have been developing the idea that they are generally a quite rude bunch, particularly to strangers, and more so to foreigners. I think I wrote about the pushing in and gentle jostling that occurred when I braved the bus to Santiago. So, a random act of kindness was out of the blue, and has left me feeling a lot more positive about my 'hosts'!

Anyone who has been following my adventures/mishaps for the last week, rather than someone who has randomly selected this page to see what this is about, will know that my wallet went missing after my return from Santiago last Monday morning. After cancelling all of the cards and other important documents, reporting it to the police, and then a week having passed, I'd pretty much given up any hope of seeing it again, despite the positive outlook of a couple of the others in the office. Even for them, a week having passed, there was no chance of it turning up now. Well, surprise, surprise, surprise! Today, early in the afternoon, it was returned, courtesy of a supermarket a couple of kilometres from here. It seems that one of the employees found it somewhere in the shop and handed it in. Every single one of my documents, cards etc were present. Every single note of currency was gone (not surprising).

I had a very excited phone call on my mobile in Spanish and could barely follow any of it, so I had to enlist Alexis for help in decoding. After a minute or two, from which I suspected it might be about the wallet, he got off the phone and had a bit of a chuckle and announced that someone has it and we should go and get it pronto! So, off we went to the big UniMarc supermarket near the casino. It's a good few kilometres from where I'd lost it, so driving was a necessity. We eventually found the right person and he handed it over, beaming very proudly, which was great, along with much handshaking, and me beaming right back at him. In hindsight, I should've asked for a photo opportunity with him and the collection of other staff hanging around, but had completely forgotten to bring my camera (again).

I was feeling so positive about it all when we left their office that I thought I'd buy a celebratory ice cream (vanilla, of course) at the little dispensory of artisanal ice creams at the corner of the shop. My positiveness was short-lived, as they didn't have vanilla. What sort of ice cream shop doesn't stock truck-loads of vanilla ice cream!? Actually, it isn't all that uncommon - the local ice cream shop underneath my apartment also had to rummage through their stock one afternoon when the smiling gringo arrived and announced he wanted one! They eventually found one on that occasion, and the chica who works there now knows me by sight and (I think) asks me whether I'll be having my "usual". Anyway, today it wasn't to be.

Back to the office, I'm still quite excited about having it back, and jabber at Alexis all the way back in my mix of Spanish and English. I can't help but keep opening the wallet and going through all of the pockets and confirming everything is there, which it is (except the cash).

When I get back to the office, I take the time to explain everything to Lizette, then wander off to my desk, still feeling quite pleased with myself. Because I’ve had to cancel all of the cards and renew things, once we get back to the office, I begin cutting up those cancelled things, but at least I have the wallet itself, my motorbike papers, my drivers licences and my health care cards. All in all, a very big win.

And it all came on the day that I’ve had my first mini-migraine here in Chile!

At about this time, I went to get my new wallet and transfer all of the remaining bits and pieces over to it, however there is a very large problem - I can't find the damn thing! I go through the pockets of my jacket twice, beat my head against the office partition wall, and go through the jacket again. Definitely not there! After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, I went back to the car downstairs, but it wasn’t there. I went back to the last place I had it (the ice cream shop), but nothing. It was a 50m walk from there to the car, and I've lost the new wallet along the way. By this time, I'm having a major stress and screaming at myself for being such a peanut, and my headache is pounding.

"I'm a donkey on the edge!!" (for anyone who paid attention in Shrek).

At least I can see properly, which is an improvement on most of the morning! I tell myself to calm down or I'll have a stroke, and manage to reduce my blood pressure through some deep breathing.

I got back to the office, feeling rather dejected at my stupidity. Everyone was in the process of doing a runner for the afternoon – presumably they didn’t want to see me in a bad mood? Anyway, I walk back into the office, and there it is, sitting on Lizette’s desk. I had looked there when I walked out and didn't see it - I secretly think that she had hidden it on me to watch the fun...

Suddenly, I just feel tired...

With a few hours more to take it all in, I can at least smile at myself now!

Hope all of your days are not filled with so much drama as mine. I'm very much looking forward to some quiet and uneventful time ahead.

A