Safe and sound

The bar didn't get any busier and the sign outside says they shut at 11pm, although that may refer to the restaurant aspect. When I left at about 10:30-ish there was me, an obviously local guy (with a laptop) and a girl who looked about 16 (but probably a bit older, and who I might guess was staying at the associated hostel) also sat there with a netbook, both on their own. I asked the guy to call me a taxi, he did but the line was busy, so he pointed me at the mini-market across the street and said Jose already knew about me. I walked in and found about five people having a chat round the till, but I said I wanted to go to the Lakutaia hotel and one guy said sure, just a minute. I bought some coke while I was there and then he and another guy took me outside to a minibus and drove me over here.

They said as we were walking to the bus it was dangerous to walk, while we were in the bus I asked again (the first conversation got cut off just as I said "really?", due to them opening doors and stuff) and they said it wasn't. So who knows. But I must say the road looked pretty desolate even from inside the minibus with the headlights on. Regardless of any considerations of walking it, if I'd been driven through that area I'd have though "wow, this is desolate". They only charged me CLP2,000 and I didn't give them a tip (I had no change, I apologised and they said not to worry). The hotel bar was open with maybe 5-10 people in when I got back so I quickly nipped up to the room to drop off my bottle of coke and back to the bar. They served me - I didn't pay there and then, it's on my bill so no doubt it will be insanely expensive - but as I anticipated it was not very pleasant in there, extremely soulless although less dead than El Resto del Sur in the purely numerical sense that there were more people. I just had the one beer in there, it was more to see what it was like than because I desperately wanted one.

The guys in the bar were pretty middle aged and a lot had laptops. I still don't think I fit in here - don't get me wrong, this is a pretty big hotel, very spacious and quite a lot of rooms, it's not like not fitting in at some backpacker hostel full of 18 years olds with a raucous communal area which I'm terrified to set foot in because I'm just not that social and twice everyone else's age combined - but at least I don't fit in because of my lifestyle rather than my age. :-)

I am eating the remains of my lunch pizza as I write this, which comes as no surprise to me and probably not to anyone else who might read this. I am also smearing grease on the netbook keyboard, but I hope not too badly.

Plans for tomorrow are still as outlined earlier, depending on when I get up - see if I can hire a bike, otherwise will try the first hour or two of that walk. I may or may not bother to go into town again tomorrow, although if I do fancy a beer I think that El Resto del Sur (or maybe some other bar in town if I find one, I note there is a museum somewhere in town which I will visit at some point and finding that may expand my knowledge of the town a bit) will be the venue of choice rather than the hotel bar. No point drinking if it's not fun and to be honest at the hotel bar it isn't. I'd do better from a health and fun perspective having a quiet night in with some internet porn. :-)