fri 16th feb 2007

i got up and it was raining, they said it never rains in santiago in the summer. - it was heavy, i didn't realize just how bad it was until i said my goodbyes and hit the street. they don't have a gutter system in place to handle this amount of water, i had to cautiously choose my steps and pay attention to on coming traffic as they would hit the flooded areas and shower the innocent caught in their wake. i got to one point where i had no other choice but to cross the street and there was no getting around it. i had to step off the curb into seven inches of road scum to reach the other-side.

i had a few things to check on my computer. as i left the shop the woman asked where i was going and when i told her she told me it was raining there also. this wasn't happy tidings as i was told i could sleep outside if i came to check it out. i made it to the bus station after one subway mishap that resulted in me exiting the station only to see i wasn't where i wanted to be (50 more cents off my bip) there was a bus leaving at 15:30 so i'd have a two hour wait. more confusion as there were several buses that all had pichilemu as destinations. the one that was supposed to leave at 15:30 didn't show up until 15:45.

three hours later i was in a really pretty place looking at pine trees and long stretches of coast. a few minutes later i was in town and walking back up to the base. i saw mitch who set me up with a sleeping bag and a place in there dts building, which is still under construction .

i went to there friday evening gathering. from there i went back to the room and tried to make a comfortable bed with the different mattresses. it was a chilly night but no rain.