Our coach journey to Curico, back towards Santiago, was meant to be long, but not as long as it eventually was. We were barely even halfway when all the traffic on our side of the motorway came to a halt. After a while people got out of their cars to try and start looking to see what the hold up was, and why emergency vehicles were screaming past sirens blaring. Eventually word reached us that there had been a fuel spill on the motorway, and if we looked we could actually see the tanker. We weren't going anywhere so all got out and ended up having a massive game of touch rugby on the opposite carriageway which was empty. Not many people can say they've done that on a Chilean motorway.
We were held up there for 4 hours, so we made some interviews for the tour DVD, and generally relaxed on the motorway and by the time we set off we didn't have time for the day's activities which was meant to be a "traditional Chilean day." I dont think a huge traffic jam was a true reflection of that, and neither did the teachers so it was rearranged.
When the coach got going again we went straight to our new hosts, Orchard College and had the same host-guest introduction. I was in with Pete Morrison, a good friend from school staying at a guy called Christober's house. As soon as i met him i knew straight away he wasn't as good as Alejandro. He seemed really unsure of himself, not really self confident, and wasn't a good English speaker. He lived like 40 minutes away, but despite the long journey we hardly got a word out of him. His mum spoke no English either and didn't even try! When we got to his house we saw he had like 5 dogs, all par one who were either dangerous (so we had to stay away) or crazy (would bark at you then if you went towards them they'd run off) or just didn't like us (the horrible poodle!)The one friendly dog was ill so was locked away in a cage and smelled so they weren't really any fun. His house was massive, much bigger than Alejandro's but it was all wooden and old fashioned so not as fun. We met Christober's dad at dinner (extremely formal) and he was a likable guy who again didn't speak much English but at least made the effort, but he was like 60 which was a bit unnerving. That night we watched Braveheart.
The next day we had some local sightseeing. In Curico there is not very much at all, so we had a 40 minute journey to a local vineyard. We got a tour and saw how it all works, the bottling, preserving etc. and packaging before being exported to England. It was half interesting.. but mainly not. After that we then had another journey before we got to an apple factory. Now i know apples aren't made in factories, but here was where the apples were selected, cleaned, selected again before finally being put into packages to again be sent to England. In short, the most boring place I have ever been. It was 3 rooms but our guide just went on and on about the apples... WHO CARES??!!! I dont know why we went, its not exactly a tourist attraction is it? The apple factory became a joke of the tour purely because it was so poor. If hosts asked where we wanted to go in the evening, from that day on we would always say The Apple Factory. Even if we weren't even in Chile.
That afternoon was our matches against Orchard.. two more wins, and a 100% record in Chile! Woo!
That night everyone went to a local youth hangout, a fast food restaurant that served beer, and it was a class night, hosts and guests alike all enjoying themselves, or so I'm told. Our guy Christober told us nothing was going on, so while he was doing his homework (a very serious practice in Chile) me and Pete went to bed and slept from about 8pm to the following morning. Great night!
Next day was meant to be our only training session of the tour, but instead that was cancelled and we had our "typical Chilean day" which we had missed earlier due to the fuel spill. This meant a trip to a rodeo ranch to see horses, ride them, watch a 10 year old doing rodeo tricks on a tiny horse, seeing grown men do the same, some horse and people dancing traditional style, and then a huge South American BBQ. It was a great day, everyone enjoyed it, and i would have done even more had I not been allergic to horses and having a terrible reaction!
South American barbecues are class by the way, they have real chorizo style sausages which are really thick and nice, every part of a chicken with meat on it, HUGE steaks and black pudding but it was horrible so i didn't really have any of that.
That night we all went out to Curico's bars. Me, Pete and Christober arrived at the first one to find we were the only ones there. While we had our first drinks (Piscola once again) it emerged that Christober had been told the wrong place.. on purpose! Me and Pete couldn't stop laughing, we were stuck with a nerdy host who the Chileans didn't like in a dingy little bar full of old men and with a Chilean rock band up on stage. It was crazy. Eventually Christober decided he'd get a lift off mum and dad and we'd all go to where everyone else was. We got there for about 1ish, and there were Chileans being sick outside, a few of our team had already had to go home, and everyone else was about to do the same so we only stayed about an hour before we left again. At least we made it out this time.
The next day we got back on our coach and headed back to Santiago for the airport.. next stop.. Buenos Aires!!! I didn't really feel sad leaving Christober and to be honest was glad to be getting away because everyone else had had such good hosts me and Pete were gutted and just wanted to get to Argentina. All the Chileans had been talking about was how much nicer the girls were in Argentina so we were all really looking forward to it.
I had let my teachers know about the camera, and they were calling up the last hotel to see if it was there but no-one was answering each time.. it wasnt looking good!!
