15 October 2010

Despite it being a short week due to the long weekend and my trip to Argentina, I'm looking forward to the weekend. I'm off to the mountains again on Saturday with one of the work team, Victor, who has flown his wife (Claudia), Claudia's good friend (Andrea) and Andrea's daughter (Alma) to the north for a visit. This time, I'm playing tour guide, having been there before, while the rest of the gang haven't. We plan to visit the Salar Maricunga, Laguna Verde, then track back and head north to El Salvador, before driving out to the coast (Chanaral) and down to Bahia Inglesa, where we will stay for the night. Sunday sees us planning to head south down the coast to Huasco, checking out the flowers, which should be in full swing, lunching in Huasco, then returning to Bahia Inglesa for the night. The girls will fly back home on Monday morning, and then Victor and I will have to resume our normal work lives…

Because Saturday will be such a big day (around 700km, from memory), the girls have flown in this afternoon so that we can have an early start tomorrow. Dinner at the casino is a bit of a "welcome to Copiapo". We meet in front of the office, where there is a news van, complete with enormous extendable antenna set up on the footpath. Seems a bit much trouble to go to for my arrival…

Walter, our boss, is coming along as well, which makes for six into a five seat vehicle. Perfectly normal in Chile, but given my size, I decide that it just isn't going to work, so I catch a collectivo to the casino. For the life of me, I can't recall which number is the right one to get into, so I stand on the edge of the road trying to read the signs on their roofs as they whizz past, but alas, none of them say Casino. In the end, I take a punt and assume that there is a fair chance that one will go close enough for me to only have a short walk. I hail one, and climb in, 500 pesos in my hand, ready for the driver. I take up the final seat in the rear, and once settled, reach around the front seat to hand my money to the driver. Unfortunately for the very short lady in the front seat, I haven't been able to see her from my seat, and clip her around the ears, so which she doesn't respond. Deeply embarrassed, I apologise profusely (repeatedly, with my one word of apology that I know – I think I need to learn some more), although the other passengers in the rear seem to find it quite funny that I've belted another passenger in the head. Nice…

After handing over the cash and declaring my destination, it seems the collectivo isn't actually going to the casino. No problems, close enough is good enough. I settle back and commence making small talk with the two year old on the lap of the lady next to me. It's a bit embarrassing – he's better than me. I really do need to practice more. Nonetheless, we chat a bit, which he finds very interesting, and his parents find very amusing. As I exhaust my vocabulary, we arrive at a set of traffic lights right near the casino. Hmmph, we are going right past the casino after all. Either they were pulling my leg, or I misunderstood. Anyway, I unfold myself out of the seat and exit the car. It's only 200m to the casino, but I find myself checking for my wallet three times in that distance. I think I might have become a little paranoid.

My arrival at the casino coincides with the others paying their entry fee (I think I've mentioned this before – it seems crazy, but is apparently designed to keep the riff-raff out). We make our way to the tables, which are tucked up against the window, and two of the seats are impossible to access without walking on top of the chairs. It's very funny, and rather than force one of the girls to do it, I do – it's amazing what you get away with as a gringo (tee hee hee), and people just roll their eyes.

Walter (excellent English) and Victor (reasonable) choose to sit at the other end of the table, leaving me to the mercy of the girls. None of them initially admit to much English, although it turns out that both Claudia and Andrea understand sufficiently to help me out with my Spanglish as required, although they mercilessly don't volunteer too much until I desperately need help! Nonetheless, the evening passes well, and we spend a lot of time chatting, which is great. It is fabulous to speak to some "non-work" people. One small problem is that the menu has changed since my last visit, and the relatively vegetarian-friendly options have pretty much all disappeared (they did an excellent lasagne). The only thing left is a pizza, but here they are meant for multiple people and is too much for me. Fortunately Andrea comes to the rescue and offers to share a half and half pizza. Very kind, although ultimately, both of us were a bit disappointed in it. Bring back the lasagne, please!

It's an early start for tomorrow, so off to bed for some shut-eye. I'm looking forward to the day – should be fun, and how crazy is this, I'm the tour guide…