We both slept well but the task ahead was daunting. Our vehicle was in a garage the other side of
town. The hire company was in Santiago and our Spanish is not great on the
phone. First we had breakfast to fortify
ourselves and then Joan tried to load WhatsApp on to her phone as the guy,
Patricio, from the hire company uses it.
But it required an SMS to verify our account but we have no coverage in
Chile! We were cobbling together info
about the garage and the hire company when the receptionist called to say there
was a man in the lobby for us.

It was Patricio who had driven with his colleague all the
way from Santiago to help us. He
explained that the company would pay for last night’s hotel, that he would get
Joan a SIM for her phone and most importantly that the vehicle would be fixed
by midday.

So we packed, decanted ourselves to the hotel lobby and
awaited Patricio who said he would be back at 12.

Luckily the hotel lobby had a hot desking area where we
could charge various pieces of kit and access WiFi.

Joan read the local paper and discovered BA cabin crew are
planning strike action in the coming weeks.
Guess who we are flying back with?
There is only so much internet surfing you can do before you go mad. Our
maps, guide books and novels were in the vehicle. It is a measure of how bored
Kevin was that he actually has worked out how to use his Smart phone and was
downloading apps, like translator and flashlight. He normally has no patience for such things.

Well, midday came and went.
So did one o’clock when the garage closed two hours for lunch. We didn’t want to leave in case Patricio
returned. Joan bought some Arabian-style
cakes from a stall opposite. Facebook statuses were posted.

Eventually we decamped to the pool. By now Kevin had worked out how to use the
map app on his phone and Joan had resorted to watching Take That videos on her
phone. 3 o’clock came, as did 4 and then 5.

By six o’clock we had realised that we were going nowhere
today. Patricio and his colleague reappeared
and seemed genuinely upset. The vehicle
had a complicated fault which they could not fix. A new but different type of motorhome was on
its way from Santiago and would be arriving overnight. They brought wine (dessert wine!!) and
chocolates. Kevin’s phone was fitted
with a SIM and WhatsApp and another night at the hotel was paid for.

They said we could have the vehicle early but we pointed out
that we were on holiday.

All sorted, we walked along the promenade to the restaurant
where we ate the night before. About 7.30 pm Joan had a Pisco Sour and Kevin
had a Patagonia Calafate beer to begin birthday celebration. We ate stuffed pancakesand a salad that even
Kevin could eat as it was made up off palmita, artichoke hearts, asparagus, French
beans, avocado and papaya….and no lettuce or tomato! A little wine was drunk.