9 October 2010

It's Saturday, on a long weekend, and I'm working in the office, by myself. Long, deep sigh… Still, I can get a whole heap of work done over the next few days. It'll be good to get a few of those nagging little jobs out of the way with some clear time to get to them.

By the end of the day, I'm feeling quite pleased with the world again. I've had a good and productive day, got a whole bunch of administrivia out of the way, and the next few days are looking good. I walk back to the foyer of my apartment building and smile a hello (Hola!) to the security guard when he looks up. He moves up and out of his chair with lightning speed, which surprises the bejeebers out of me. He whips around, reaches into the mailboxes, and turns to me, beaming, with an envelope in his hand. Surely it can't be… But it is. The little white envelope has stamped on it words to the effect of "Australian Embassy". It's my passport…

It's about 7PM, Saturday night. What to do? Strictly speaking, I need to be out of the country on Tuesday, otherwise I'll be fined and who knows what else? Deported? How much will the fine be? No straight answers are possible at this time of the weekend. It is unlikely to be possible to get the motorbike organized in time to be able to leave on Tuesday, as it seems Lizette has lost her ID card, which is an essential part of the process in organizing the paperwork (rather similar to losing one's passport). I think about hiring a car, but Alexis suggests that even that might take a few days to get organized, given the extra day off on Monday. Organising a plane ticket on Tuesday might be a bit tricky as well. Not much else for it, I'm afraid. Looks like Tur Bus (or similar) is it.

I search the internet and find some hope in that there is a bus company that runs from La Serena to Mendoza, although I am unable to find out when it is actually travelling. Bummer. The next best option seems to be to get myself to Santiago, get on a bus to Mendoza, spend a night, then come back to Santiago and then on to Copiapo. It'll mean I miss working on Tuesday, but given I worked Saturday, that'll cancel itself out. Oh well, let's do it and see what happens. Another adventure, coming right up! It's 8.30PM now and the bus leaves at 10.30PM. Best I get a wriggle on, book a ticket, get packed, and get back to the bus station.

So much for my quiet weekend of working. Chaos and mayhem, again.

Bye.