Parting Ways in La Serena

First, I had to part ways with my cap. The Roland Garros cap I bought when I went to see the French Open a few years ago. I ADORED that hat. But now it is gone. Disappeared into thin air. More likely into someone else's hands at the bus terminal. I must've dropped it or left it on the counter as I was inquiring about bus schedules to Santiago. My fault. Sob.

Well, at least it wasn't my wallet or passport. (Attempt at positive thinking)

Without a cap, but with a +18kg pack on my back, Nicole and I walked towards town to find a place for the night. Hot, hot, hot. Burning, burning, burning. I guess it just wasn't one of my good days - all the hostels on the street were full. Never imagined that La Serena would be so popular. Heck, I never even heard of the town until I got here!
As we backtracked down the street, a stranger came up to us offering accommodations. So we followed. And ended up at a friendly, colorful, family-run place. The owner even fed us some leftover salad and pasta from lunch. No complaints. I would've loved to have been able to stay here a little longer (especially since they were having a family & guest BBQ dinner the following night), but I need to get myself to Ecuador soon. Darn it.

Organizing this last-minute Galapagos thing was starting to become a huge pain in the rear-end. Actually, I think the cruise itself is already organized - I should have a seat on the boat. The only thing was deposit payment. But without that, no guarantees, right?!
The agency wouldn't take credit cards, unless in person.

Paypal was out. I managed to set up a working account, but the payments wouldn't go through no matter what! I later found out that it's because I was using an overseas (outside of US) internet connection.
The online transfer from my bank account doesn't permit overseas transfers to outside banks.

My last option was wire transfer. After lunch, I went to the nearest internet cafe/call center (yes, they still have those everywhere in South America!) to give my bank a call. To avoid international call rates, I managed to find a local toll-free number for the bank online. But those toll free numbers don't work on call center phones. Aiyaaaaaa! Why is this so difficult?! Frustrated, frustrated, frustrated. I went to several different call centers, but all with the same result. Then, a light bulb popped up in Waru's brain - why not try a mobile phone?!?!?! Strangely, you can opt to use a mobile phone at the call centers as well. And voila! I got thru to my bank!!! No jumping up and down in happiness though. I ended up NOT accomplishing what I wanted to because I couldn't answer all the security questions I'd set up before college, when I first opened the account. My bank sucks. Totally.

Since I got here, I’ve wasted sooooo much time, effort, and money on trying to get a simple task of paying a deposit. I had the money, but I couldn’t pay. Ridiculous. Very annoying. Oh well - not much else I can do now.
I’ve sent an email to the agency outlining my attempts and troubles. I hope they are understanding...

Later in the afternoon (post payment ordeal), Nicole and I hit the town. More like a few streets lined with a bunch of shops and restaurants. Not very interesting, but a handy place to find myself a new cap.

Got one for 900CHP ($1.50ish). No, I didn’t get the wacky, bright red one with skull patterns, although I did try it on. Kinda liked it : ) But the rational side of my brain told me that I would stand out too much wearing that thing. Better to stay inconspicuous while on the road!

With my new cap protecting me from the sun, we picked up a collectivo heading towards the beach. Starting with this lighthouse. Cheesy, yet fun in a way. Seemed like a couples’ hangout place.

La Serena has one of the longest stretches of beach I’ve ever seen. Goes on and on and on. We had planned to walk from one end to the other, but that didn’t happen. Too long and boring – not many people were out there after the sun started to set. It got pretty chilly.
Since this was going to be our last day traveling together, we decided to have a nice dinner by the beach. Hey, we’re by the shore! Might as well eat some seafood. At which point a couple of random Chilean guys joined our table to chat – had a few laughs, all good.The guy was heading to Santiago tomorrow and offered a ride. I politely declined in my sweet manner.

Now, I have to part ways with Nicole. She even came to the bus terminal with me to see me off. So nice!!!
It’s hard to believe that almost 3 weeks has passed since we first met. I had a great time traveling with her. We shared a lot of interests in common (especially travel, food, and TV), which is why I guess we didn’t kill each other all the way through Bolivia. Although she might’ve wanted to for talking her into going to Rurrenabaque...
She is heading to Easter Island, then back into Argentina. Hopefully we can catch up again in Buenos Aires! But for now...Adios mi grande Dutch amiga!