fiasco continued

i woke up this morning in the middle bunk of a triple bunk bed. i had no idea where i was.

i peeked down to the lower bunk and saw a snoring, hispanic guy. i looked above and saw a male arm hanging over the side. across the room was another bunk full of sleeping guys. then i remembered that i took the cheapest room at the amastel hostel, which was apparently a dormitorio costing exactly $8 USD a night. i see why now.

i managed to slip out of bed, grab my stuff and go down to the lobby to check out. i set my pack and my purple laptop bag down for a second to figure out my next move. suddenly, this tall skinny guy walks up to me and says "hello. good day" in broken english. i responded, but was still distracted by my attempt to figure out what to do next. i checked my email and saw (YES!) that nicole had emailed me her apartment number. as i was emailing her back to tell her i would be there in half an hour, the guy kept trying to talk to me. "i am from peru. my name is blah blah blah" i felt bad, but i was more concerned with making sure i had a place to sleep the next night! finally, i grabbed my laptop and purse to go and ask the front desk about checking out. i asked the peruvian guy to watch my pack and my purple bag. at the front desk, i checked out and got my deposit. at one point, i looked in the guy's direction and he seemed to be examining my the clothes or something. whatever. i waved goodbye to the peruvian and hailed a cab.

i arrived back outside nicole's apartment. i easily got in this time and happily greeted my long lost SPU friends and told them all about my dramatic entrance to the southern hemisphere. we decided to get out my camera to snap a "finally-all-is-okay" photo of all of us. i grabbed my purple bag, looked inside and my stomach dropped. my camera was gone. i looked everywhere. then i realized that the peruvian was not looking in my pack at my clothes, he was shuffling around my purple bag where my camara was. well. that's that.

to get my brain off my ongoing bad luck, the three of us girls went to the park. it was soooo beautiful! we strolled among the botanical gardens and saw the lovely geese. we also saw the old "makeout statue," which nicole and i discovered last time i was here. after our stroll, the three of us went to havanna cafe for alfahors (amazing little cookies with dulce de leche!) and coffee. finally convinced that all was good now, i stopped by the bank to withdraw some more money. opening my wallet, i looked for my debit card. and that's when i realized that i left my debit card in an ATM machine in retiro the night before.

i honestly don't know if anything more could happen in twenty-four hours. i have now been stranded, lost, without an apartment, without a hostel, without a cell phone, robbed and now my debit card (my sole source of cash) had been lost and possibly stolen. susie, leana and i rushed to an internet cafe so i could check my account. i held my breath, preparing to see an empty bank account.

but there were no withdrawals. it was oddly fine. we rushed home, and i called my bank over skype and shouted at them over the bad connection to "cancel my debit card IMMEDIATELY!" they then told me that my new card would take 7-10 days to arrive at my seattle apartment, and who knows how long to arrive in argentina. ahh.

its all going to be okay i think. i emailed my mom, who answered in a panic, and asked her to deposit money in nicole's bank account. i will then withdraw money and voila! all good.

whew. anyways, tomorrow: san carlos de bariloche! susie, leana and i are taking a coach bus, which should be an adventure. and yes, you had better believe that MASH is going to be involved.

so, here's to tomorrow being way better!

words / concepts of the day:

ten cuidado: "be careful" - what you yell when you and a friend are casually crossing the street and a big truck comes hurtling at you, honking and speeding up as he approaches. oh and by the way, there is no word for pedestrian in spanish.
agua con gas: "carbonated mineral water" aka fancy water
voy a pagar: what susie says repeatedly, as she listens to her spanish language podcast.