Chillan, Thursday

Thu 1512 At Budai restaurant, getting oriental rice with chicken and a pepsi zero.

Got up a bit after 11 but was getting on for 1 by time left airbnb. Walked quite a lot, couldn't find self-service laundrette and one place had a min 3kg charge which would have made it about six quid. Went to Fast Clean in end, a hair under CLP3k (not super cheap) and they actually itemised my laundry so less worry about socks getting lost but they wanted me to collect at 5pm tomorrow, though I suggested midday and they said yes. Not ideal but when no washer and no private bathroom can't be helped.

Woman couldn't understand me saying "puede lavar la ropa a temperatura baja?" , I had to write it down - not sure what I'm doing wrong here.

Went over to train station and booked a ticket for CLP6k (on Clarity card) for 1500 train Sat. Web had suggested (AFAICT on train co's own site) tkt would be hugely more (can't remember for sure, but maybe 20 quid or even 50 quid) which I wouldn't have paid, so glad I went over and asked.

Been keeping an eye out for somewhere to try to return the empty beer bottle am lugging around (have daypack with me due to laundry if nothing else) and claim my freebie but nowhere promising yet.

Had quick poke on airbnb re Talca earlier; seem to be at least broadly tolerable options. Will book something tonight. Bit dubious about ready access to tour agencies to help with nearby national park (there are some but web super unhelpful, some look quite boutique and lot of info is old) and the park is 1.5h or so by bus out of Talca and one of the day hikes is a 7hish job and I'd be super worried about missing last bus back etc. But let's just get to Talca, have 2-3 nights accom booked and see what it looks like once I'm there.

1535 Pretty good, though chef did it with beef by mistake - I said I didn't mind. Been offered coffee but had saved some of coke, may splurge on a coffee after coke. On terrace on UK 2nd floor, which is moderately nice.

1540 Yeah, getting coffee. No real plans for today, after this will prob walk home and hopefully find small off-licence kind of place nearish to airbnb to try to claim my free beer. Have seen a bit of city during today's perambulations, seems pleasant enough. Keep thinking I'm in Argentina - I think this means fuck all, but since the thought has crossed my mind several times I'll write it down.

Restaurant is on Aruaco near corner with Maipon.

1610 Mana's "Mariposa tracionera" playing. Finished coffee. Will get bill when waitress comes over, not in any rush.

1635 Mana "Clavado en un bar". Just lurking here til waitress comes over, pleasant enough sitting here but also keen-ish to go and try to sort out this free beer, which is a bit of a socio-linguistic challenge.

1741 Back at airbnb, went in and got bill in end, 8250 including 10 tip which isn't great starting from 4800 for the dish itself and according to blackboard saw while paying 1100 for the pepsi 350ml but not terrible and got to camp there a while. Managed to swap bottle+cap at Botilleria 911 no problem, new beer was cold but is in room fridge now. Hope I can get a glass and bottle opener from kitchen downstairs later. No way the host doesn't live on premises given how fancy and ornament-laden the place is; I had a recollection from super-hasty airbnb listing read this was a kind of house for visitors only with them living next door but I rather doubt it. Unless they've put me in a room in their own house for some reason contra strict listing. Listing does say kitchen+basic crockery available anyway.

Waitress asked me how long I had on holiday when I paid; I said 3 weeks (roughly how much time I have left in Chile) and as host did yday she said that wan't long. Maybe people get super long vacations in Chile? 3 weeks is not insane by any stretch of imagination but I'd hardly say it was "not long" in general terms. Not a problem, just found it interesting.

Someone has been in to room to make the bed anyway.

1833 Did occur to me earlier than since I think I can return this new beer bottle once empty for a refund of some amount, I have actually "stolen" the return value of the bottle from the restaurant where I got it - I handed that in with the winning top (which I half wish I'd thought to photograph but never mind), as per some outdated T&Cs I managed to find on web (otherwise I think I'd have had to pay a refundable deposit on the bottle when I got my free beer). Just possibly that's why the bill seems a touch high (if, as I seem to recall without checking blog, it did) as they charged me for it - don"t remember anything said about this but maybe I didn't understand.

2040 Having my beer slightly uneasily on the lower patio of airbnb. Some singing in the distance sounds - probably just due to the distance and relative difficulty of hearing it - reminiscent of the "tribal" singing on Pink Floyd's "Obscured By Clouds" .

Someone - poss host - is in an adjacent room but they have shut the window looking out onto patio and didn't like to call out. If anyone comes onto patio - which seems to separate two "halves" of the property and is a weird but quite cool large tiled open-to-elements-on-one-wall kitcheny area - will offer them some beer but otherwise just sit here. Maybe this halvesy thing is what I think I read about in the "we live next door" bit of airbnb listing.

Started Agatha Christie's "Destination Unknown" this afternoon. Some of the romance of travel in it sort of rubbing off on me. I do feel a little bit like I'm not "doing" very much, but then again I did the lang exchance and met Cony in Santiago and I'm quietly enjoying myself and maybe there will be some activity in Talca and to some extent it's nice just to be drifting around Chile and puttering around the towns with no real goal and *not being at work* and it being warm/too warm instead of cold as it would be at home. It's also only three weeks tomorrow since I arrived on the continent. Which reminds me I did also have the excitement of that little run in with the scrotes my first day. And - sad or not - I still have fond memories of the steak and chips at that little place I stumbled on in BA.

Not for first time have thought that even pretty cool experiences like the Xela-Atitlan hike and Acatenango in Guatemala sort of fade. Is this normal? Probably. It sort of feels like I somehow didn't live them enough for them to really make an indelible impression on my memory. But whatever, I did enjoy them and I guess memories have a funny way of flaring back up unexpectedly; just because I can't metaphorically press the play button in my head and re-experience watching the sun rise of Lake Atitlan doesn't mean there aren't some intense memories in there which will be triggered at some point.

The passing mentions of "travelling allowance" in the novel - which I think refer to essentially a form of capital controls in force at the time - are depressing. Fingers crossed I don't end up trapped in the UK unable to move my assets out while the government steals them. But I shouldn't be so negative; it's unlikely, I just wish I didn't have to consider it borderline possible.

Oh, and in terms of "experiences experienced", I also genuinely enjoyed my meditative stares out by the marshes in BA and from Cerro San Cristobal in Santiago. It just feels a shame there's this kind of mixed-up mush of experiences but I guess that's how it is. It's as pretentious as hell a way to put it, but if someone asked me "but what did you *do*?" I guess I'd just have to say "I was *being there*" . Sure I want to do some "big ticket" (ish) things, just like the Acatenango trip, and those might provide a more socially convenient answer. But while I'm open to the possibility I'm really just wasting my time and money, it is also just nice to be here and be wandering around, even if I'm not having wild experiences and adventures or going out on the lash with fellow tourists. (Don't get me wrong, the opportunity here and there for any of these would be welcome, I do sometimes wonder if I'm being too "shy" in some way - though I'm not entirely sure how this manifests here, I don't *think* there's a big hostel scene round here - but I'm not too desperate yet.

It's getting darkish in here and I don't know how to turn lights on and am reluctant to do it anyway, but by same token it's mildly cool and I can obv read book on phone just fine and phone has torch for finding beer bottle on table and for washing up glass in kitchen if can't find light in there (as I couldn't when looking for bottle opener, tho it wasn't that dark then).

Did find myself remembering earlier today (off back of musings similar to above ramblings) the charm of unexpectedly discovering the clock in Vallenar which played "Piano Man" (AFAICT) exactly once a day at 8am. I still thank that (and its general pop music repertoire) more than amply repaid me for stopping a couple of nights even though it was super expensive and there's really no "official" reason for a tourist to ever go there. (As I recall, I merely picked it as a handy place to break a long bus journey. But I'm sure the truth is in the old blog posts.)

Might regard this free beer from yday as compensation from the universe for the inconvenience with the airbnb. Silly perhaps but perhaps not a bad thing to believe. ;-) Still not written that up, will do in near future if not nec today.

2137 Car seems to be coming in to enclosed garagey-drive area. V little beer left but obv will chat if anyone turns up.

Bloke, presumably host's husband, just introduced himself but didn't hang around. Not really awkward.

2206 Back in room. Bloke came and asked if I wanted/objected (not clear) to him turning lights on, he did so but didn't really hang around. Not a problem. Don't feel pissed - suspect was bit dehydrated yday despite having drunk water during airbnb-imposed delay - but let's just continue reading an hour or so with some water (bought some - v cheap, 590 for 1.6l - at Botilleria 911) and then book Tasca accom. Want to try to get *some* response from host before I leave here Sat morning, ideally before tomorrow night.

2258 Bugger. My tin of vaseline seems to have gone astray. Gut feeling is it probably fell out of pocket - thanks to laundry am wearing Rohan trousers without fully zipped pockets - and just maybe this was down on patio and will find it tomorrow. I have a spare but this is annoying.

2328 Amazing. The airbnb app is worse than the website. It still doesn't allow sorting by price. It's actually slower somehow. Most of all, it shows *only* the bullshit "price per night" and not the actual price for the whole stay which includes the extra fees. And yes, I've cross checked and the "price per night" in the app is the same bullshit price shown on website, not a true price per night - the app simply doesn't show the price per night.

2349 OK, booked 3 nights in a central-ish B&B for £49; booking.com has the same place for £67 but maybe it's not like-for-like, who knows? Bit pricey but tolerable. I may - if, and I'm a bit dubious right now, trekking is a feasible option - stay longer in Talca and region, but don't want to book too much now as eg if I end up on a 3 day trek don't want to be paying for accommodation while I'm on it. 3 nights should give me time to get a feel for what, if anything, is feasible and I can always extend in a day or two.

As prob already said, an advantage (paradoxically?) of airbnb is they take payment on credit card in advance - this allows me to use my stoozing credit card. booking.com often/usually offer (insist on) no pmt in advance, pay in cash at the property - which means I incur foreign transaction fees at the local ATMs adding a few percent to the effective cost. It's hard to be sure - I found a spirited thread of web but it terminated a few months ago IIRC - but even if airbnb are creaming off foreign transaction fees by insisting I pay in pounds while my Chilean hosts prob want CLP or USD, instead of letting me pay with my no-foreign-fee credit card directly in appropriate currency, while this is annoying I ultimately care about the actual final price (but they are also scummy with their bullshit per night price, of course) and any foreign currency crap is rolled up and hidden behind the total price airbnb show me (on website at least, not in shitty app) and so it's a like-for-like comparison with the GBP-approximate-will-pay-host-in-CLP prices shown on booking.com. stoozing credit card is not foreign txn fee free, but since airbnb won't let me pay in local currency this is essentially a non-issue (tho if they *did* let me pay in local currency and it was cheaper I'd use non-stooze Clarity card with no fee instead, probably).

I suppose maybe booking.com properties would sometimes accept cards when I arrive, not sure. In any case at least in this case airbnb appears much cheaper, but I am still working to get over my "don't use credit card, risk of fraud" historical position and I should at least be open to the possibility of paying for a booking.com booking on card when I check in and therefore not having a hidden couple of percent cash withdrawal fee on top.

(This is prob mostly unclear, but whatever. Think already said this, but foreign wd fee is *not* imposed by my card issuer - I ensured I have cards for travelling which don't charge this - but by the local bank. At least if MSE is picking good cards to recommend, no UK bank is offering a card which refunds foreign bank fees, or if any bank does it fucks you over some other way and thus MSE isn't recommending it.)