Drinking slug water - Santiago day 3
Rather hear it than read it? Check me out on YouTube: How to Drink Slug Water
Journal Entry 2/20: Santiago Day 3
February 20, 2016 @ 11pm | Aji Hostel
11:41pm
At this point, I’m extremely tired and don’t exactly feel like journaling but we will try. So here goes. Today was another day of exploring the capital of Chile, Santiago. Although I slept through breakfast again and didn’t leave the hostel until after 2pm, I still had a day full of new and exciting things.
The first thing that was on my to-do list for today was to buy a bus ticket for tomorrow’s trip to Vina del Mar. The trip itself is less than 2 hours, but buying the ticket was a hassle that took just about the same amount of time. I reached out to my host on Facebook to see if there was a way that we could buy the tickets online. I didn’t feel like bringing all of my luggage with me on the day of while trying to figure things out. If there are three things I hate most in this world, it’s being frustrated, confused, and/or hot. Traveling virtually alone has really shown me that I hate all of those things. Unfortunately, we were unable to purchase our bus tickets online, so I made the executive decision to head to the bus station ourselves and purchase the tickets in person. Great idea! It gave us the opportunity to see more of what Santiago has to offer and it allowed us to see where we’ll be heading tomorrow afternoon.
Since I hadn’t eaten breakfast, our first stop was to grab a bite to eat. We ended up finding a small restaurant whose name will not be disclosed. The food was good. I got a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with french fries and a horrid botella de agua (bottle of water). Horrid? How can water be horrid, you may ask? Well...story time it is my friend. So essentially, in Chile and a lot of other places outside of the United States, if you ask for a bottle of water, you will be served a glass bottle of some type of mineral water which will be poured over ice (if you’re lucky) in a nice glass. Cool. Nothing strange here. But today, when I took my first sip out of my vaso de agua (glass of water), I noticed a very interesting taste. Peanut butter. I thought to myself, oh, this water tastes a little strange but I didn’t think much of it. If anything, I thought that the glasses hadn’t been cleaned properly. Boo hoo, sad story, I’ll get over it. Right? Wrong. So once I finished the first glass of water, I decided, hey, let’s pour some more. Why not? It tastes funny, but I NEED WATER (it’s essential to life as a human being - duh). So as I pour the rest of the bottle into my glass, I noticed a particle of some substance falling into my glass. Immediately, I went into inspection mode. I took one glance at the bottle and noticed that there appeared to be a small, tan object in the bottle. After more inspection, my initial thoughts were that it was either a bean or some type of insect. And there was my answer. This is exactly why my water tasted strange. I handed the bottle to my travel companion and after her inspection, she informed me that I was in fact looking at an animal. A slug to be exact. And that was it. Right then and there I melted. I legit drank a bottle with my new friend, a mollusk whom we’ll name Harry for the sake of making this more bearable. Harry must’ve been wandering around the Vital factory and decided to make his home in a machine. And somehow he landed in a bottle of water. It wasn’t really his cup of tea, but he decided that it would be a suitable habitat for the time being. Anyway, back to my story. So I called the mesero (waiter) back to the table. I explained to him while pointing to the bottle, “disculpe señor, pero yo pienso que hay algo a dentro de la botella.” (Translation: Excuse me sir, but I think there is something inside the bottle.” At the sight of the bottle, he immediately took it away and showed it to some other workers. I’m not sure exactly what was said or done about the situation (I was facing the opposite direction), but according to my travel companion, they covered the bottle with tape, took a photo of it, and we both assumed that they would be sending Harry back to the manufacturer so he can return to his home again. Needless to say, yes, I was upset and disgusted by the sight of a slug in my water, but I didn’t feel the need to cause a scene or sue anyone for any amount of money. All I’m saying is, if you’re gonna drink the water, make sure ya check it. Slug water for two, please.
In other news, after paying for our food (minus the water), we made our way to the metro station where we bought two tickets and took our first ride on the metro. I’m glad that I finally understand how it works and I don’t think I’ll have any trouble using this system on my own with a little more practice. After buying our bus tickets for Vina, we decided to wander the new side of the city that we were on. The Pajaritos station was somewhere between 5-7 miles away from the hostel. It was our first time going in that direction of town, so it was truly exciting.
First of all, I got an amazing orange popsicle for 250 CLP. 250 CLP is literally 36 cents. I cannot think of anything that I can buy for 36 cents in the USA besides maybe a packet of kool-aid and Ramen noodles. Either way, the popsicle was great and it definitely cooled me off in the 93F Santiago weather.
While roaming the city, Sophia and I found a small park and took a seat on a bench to rest a bit. We talked for what seemed like an hour about just random things, boys, beauty, lifestyle habits, etc. It was refreshing and I feel like I finally found some things that we can relate on/agree about.
After a while, we decided to check out Santa Isabel, a grocery store and I was in awe of the types of snacks/beverages they had. I am definitely exciting about trying Chilean snacks and definitely the red soft drinks that look like cherry/strawberry Fanta (one of my favorite types of soda). I think being in Chile will definitely change my eating habits, hopefully for the better. One thing I was sad to see is that there was no pancake mix. I love pancakes. So if I want to eat some, I’ll have to make them from scratch. Boooo. Some things in life, you just want at the convenience of a red caja (box) with instructions that say “just add water.” It exists in a familiar but less exciting world, I supposed.
After picking up a few things, we made our way back on our voyage to the hostel and our map app took us through a neighborhood literally made me cry. If you’re reading this and you know me, you probably know that I’m a cry baby. I will cry when I’m happy, sad, laughing, or angry. It’s just what I do. Today I cried while cruising around Las Rejas because it was just so freaking perfect for me. We perused the streets of a small, but colorful neighborhood in which most of the houses had some type of greenery. In fact, one house literally looked like it had been taken over by all of the beautiful plants surrounding it. I love to see beautiful gardens and flowers so this was essentially my cup of tea. In addition to the beautiful collection of artwork that God, himself, put together, almost every house had at least 2 dogs. I’m pretty sure the maximum amount of dogs that I had seen in this neighborhood was about 5. Small dogs, big dogs, weird looking dogs, adorable dogs. Dogs. Dogs. Dogs. And I loved them all. They reminded me of my precious little Zoe who probably doesn’t even realize that she won’t see me for the next 4 months. Oh well, but on a more serious note, if you ever get a chance to travel, after you visit the more touristy parts of the city in which you’re visiting, take the time and choose the less beaten path. You might find a gem that warms your heart in ways you will never understand.
And that was what made my day.
Sincerely, Takira
12:52am
