En route to Chile
Our visit to Patagonia flew by in the wink of an eye. We had imposed on our friend long enough and it was time to get back to Ecuador where our boat was moored. We boarded our bus just as snow began to fall. That was not a very good sign since we would be crossing the Andes en route to Valdivia (Chile) where we were to change buses for Santiago.
Chile straight ahead. This was the border crossing and our bus was not permitted to continue without putting chains on the tires. We saw no vehicles coming from the Chilean side the whole time we were stopped for passport control. Chains sounded like a good idea to us, but the driver and his helper weren’t too thrilled about it.
I bet the driver and his helper thought the chains were a good idea when we came across this bus. It lost control and crossed the oncoming traffic lane and then smashed against a retaining wall. All were fine, but the driver’s side of the bus was pretty messed up. They would be getting into Bariloche late.
Santiago at last! We spent 4 nights in a beautiful Marriott to rest up, be pampered and prepare our minds and butts for three days on a bus from Santiago, Chile to Guayaquil, Ecuador.
The bellhops were always curious when we checked into a Marriott with backpacks on our backs, overgrown hair, and the look as if we had spent the past few nights sleeping in our clothes. We probably didn’t smell great either. One of them always got the courage up to ask us what the deal was and we would tell them about our lifestyle and latest travels. We often spent half an hour or so chatting with them.
Once the bellhop left, we drew lots to see who got the shower room first. Check out this bathroom; his and hers sinks, bathtub, toilet room, shower room and behind the photographer were his and hers walk-in closets. Just a step up from our usual hostels huh?
We had a nice view of the Andes from our corner room.
Here is the view looking the other way.
In the evening we watched the lights of the traffic.
The traffic lights and the lights on this building under construction gave Pat some interesting photographic material….
… here is an example of some of the creative photos that Pat took out of our window. If you ask him nicely I bet he’d make a gallery of the traffic lights gone wild series. It was great to relax and play a bit in Santiago before a grueling 3 day trip to Ecuador. Don’t worry, our next update won’t be 3 days of bus photos!