...all hell breaks loose as:
- receptionist says no credit cards and we have no cash; no ATM either this being a middle of nowhere mountain town; and yet he has a credit card machine but claims it is not working.
- Lanko people overcharge us for mules (we were supposed to have a round trip discount but they won't give it after all because we decided on the return mile service only after the expedition and not beforehand)
- Lanko people can't find the crampons and boot they lost and blame this on my bad packing. I tell them no way and emotions fly high as we argue.
- Lanko people decide to accept responsibility for lost stuff but say in that case they won't take it back to Mendoza to the rental company (like we had agreed). We tell them we won't take it because flight from chile tomorrow. They say rental will charge us in that case. Emotions fly high again.
- Lanko people cave in and promise to take the equipment back to Mendoza. They also agree to bail us out by making a cash advance on Piotr's credit card if needed. With a steep fee, far exceeding what they claim is the tax they'd be paying the bank.
- The receptionist at our hotel finally moves his fat ass and tries to turn on the card machine. Lo and behold: it f***ing works.
- We are sick, tired, exhausted and exasperated. No. More. Of. This. f***ing. Place.
...the bus tickets for noon sold out. Next bus at midnight. Are we still here???!!!
...we try to hitchhike and the best we manage is some people slow down to take photos of us. A...holes.
...we catch a tour bus going to the border (for a fee) full of local tourists with a girl guide spinning a narrative about local peaks etc.
...we get off at what seems like the beginning of a monster traffic jam towards the toll plaza and start walking. We get there and it seems the toll booth only operates in the direction of Argentina. Why? No one knows. It will resume in our direction in 1h. So we eat lunch and wait.
...we ask some people to take us and a young architect Ivan agrees. He's going to the beach and his girlfriend is waiting for him there (Chile) with friends.
...despite nice conversation we hit another jam - this time for migration. After waiting 1.5hours, sharing 2 beers we brought from base camp with Ivan and moving maybe 200m we decide it's time to walk again.
...we walk for 40 minutes and cars barely move. Poor Ivan is in for another 5-6 waiting.
...we handle formalities, which takes a while too, because we need a separate form if we cross on foot.
...we catch a car heading to Chile and have an interesting conversation with father Augusto and daughter Mikaela (18yrs); they take us to the town of Los Andes;
...from there we try to hitchhike but no one stops; in desperation we flag down a taxi and try to get him to take us to Santiago (around 90km); he says something that could only happen in Chile: "Why overpay? I'll take you to the bus station instead." :)))
...which he does and soon enough we buy tickets. I also witness a magnificent dog brawl between four stray dogs at the station - despite having travelled through this continent for so long never before have I experienced such racket!
...we get to Santiago and get stuck in traffic downtown at 11pm!!!
...we take metro to Sebastian's and pick up our stuff. We say bye to Victoria and go to a hotel.
...we arrive there only to be told booking.com sold us occupied rooms (site not updated) and they will need to find other rooms for us. We wait. Will this day never end???
...we end up in the same towers we spent our first nights in Santiago in, only on different floors hahaha. Sleeeep!