Travel life is always full of surprises--some of them exciting and amazing, some them simply curious, and some of them not all that pleasant. On our way to El Colorado ski resort in Chile, I think we experienced all of them.
Since Uber doesn't exist in Argentina, and since all taxis in Mendoza are the exact same small size, we knew we needed to get two cabs to take us to the airport. What we didn't know was if we would find one available taxi, much less two. But to our delight, there were exactly two taxis waiting at the taxi stand near our house.
When we got to the airport and it was finally our turn in the check-in line, we found out there was some sort of computer glitch or problem that was preventing the airline from printing boarding passes and luggage tags. So, instead, the agent had to hand write each of our boarding passes and luggage tags, which was no fast process. It did serve as a good reminder to our kids of why we always plan to arrive at the airport so early, which they sometimes feel annoyed by.
Our long delay at check-in meant we didn't have to wait very long before they called for passengers of our flight to line up for boarding. But then we stood there for a good 30 minutes, long after our stated departure time, without any updates. Finally, we started boarding, though no other announcements were ever made. Whatever problem they were having also prevented them from scanning boarding passes (most of which had actually been printed), so they had to account for all of us on a manual roster. But eventually, we were all loaded up and made the one-hour flight, arriving at the exact time we left because of a time change.
Our first order of business was to load up on groceries to take out to the ski resort since we had heard there was only one little store on the mountain offering few choices at high prices. We called the largest Uber available, which stated it could comfortably seat six. But that apparently meant six smallish people without so much as a handbag. By the time we got our bags loaded, we were down to just five seats. We went ahead and crammed in for the short trip to the store, but then we had to figure out our next move for taking the hour-and-half drive up the mountain with our our newly purchased groceries added to our regular bags. Ultimately, we decided to just ride in two vehicles up the mountain.
When the first car arrived, the driver refused to take us up the mountain because he wasn't familiar with the road and didn't want to drive on it at night. So, we called a third car. But when the second vehicle arrived, it was a large minivan that could easily hold all of us, our groceries, and our bags. We cancelled the third car and headed up the mountain together.
Thirty minutes into our trip, the road was closed to ascending traffic and wouldn't reopen for a couple of hours. We had to head back to Santiago, and I was so thankful we had all ended up in the same vehicle because it would have been very difficult to coordinate so many moving parts in Spanish.
We weren't sure if we would be able to find another driver to take us up the mountain so late at night, and we thought we might have to stay in Santiago for the night and try again in the morning. But our sweet driver, who was himself a father of four (which is why he had the extra-large van), agreed to drop us off at a coffee shop and wait for us until time to go back up the mountain. He would only allow us to buy him a snack in compensation. He was such a lifesaver--just the right person at just the right time!
It was a wacky day with some crazy twists and turns, but we did finally make it to El Colorado, where Jeff and the kids will ski all week and I will entertain myself in whatever ways I can, which will likely include reading, writing, and warm beverages, since I was not cleared by my knee surgeon to ski on this trip. It is a beautiful place, and we are so glad to be here!
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| Flying in to Santiago |
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| Leaving Santiago on our first trip up the mountain |
