On Da Bus!

This last weekend I went to Pichilemu, the unofficial surf capital of Chile and if you were to ask them the world. It's about five to six hours north of Concepción and their is no direct bus to Pichilemu so if you plan to travel there you´ll have to transfer eventually. Two buses, half day of travel that is all it should take. No big deal right?

Well two buses quickly turned into FIVE when my friend and I decided to spend our weekend on the waves. That´s right FIVE BUSES! FIVE! The only place to start this story is at the very beginning and let the story unroll like all of the bus tires rollin' down the road.

It started on Friday, we were at the bus station ready to take our first of  "two" buses. We loaded on our bus and were headed to Talca, at which we planned to take our next bus to Pichilemu. It was only about a 3 and a half hour bus ride to Talca and we arrived at about 6:30 pm.

*Now it is very important that you understand that there is no way to look at the schedule or purchase tickets online.*

EVERY SINGLE BUS to Pichilemu had left at 5 PM. There was not a single bus left and there wouldn't be a bus leaving until SUNDAY! We were stranded in Talca. We ran to every bus company in the transfer station asking if there was a bus leaving for Pichilemu and there was nothing. With night coming quickly and with us realizing that we had to figure something else out, we set out to find a hostal because at the very least we needed a bed to sleep in that night.

We found a hostal and set out to figure out our plan for the next day. Our host recommended that we took a bus to San Fernando and then went to Pichilemu because there were always buses from San Fernando. So we went and we bought our tickets to San Fernando, we were set and ready to go!

So the next morning bright and early we boarded our bus to San Fernando. *Now it is very important that you know that the stop to San Fernando was not like the others. It was just a stop for the bus on the way to Santiago.* When we reached San Fernando we were told that this was our stop so we grab our gear and got off the bus. 

The stop was on the side of the freeway. 

This is all we saw, you couldn't see San Fernando, you couldn't see anything. So that was great. Thank the Lord there was one other person who also got off the bus and they were able to help us find our way to the bus station. Really it's simple you just need to go off at the off ramp, turn left, walk through the town till you see the mall then turn left, cross the train tracks, hop through a few loops, twirl, and wish upon a star and then you'll be at the bus station! We had made it to the bus station and we bought our next ticket to Pichilemu! This was it! We were almost there! Or so we thought.....

As it turns out fate was still not on our side. About 20 minutes into our bus ride, we came to a screeching halt with a CRASH as our bus had a head on collision with an SUV! Yes, that is right my bus was in an accident. Don't worry no one died and everyone on the bus was fine, the family in the car suffered from some sever injuries but nothing that appeared life threating. 

At this point there was not much more that could go wrong with our trip as we were once again standing on the side of the freeway. We weren't exactly sure what to do so we stayed out of the way of the first responders and followed suit with what everyone else was doing. After a half hour or so passed there was another passenger bus that came along that was headed to Santa Cruz, we were advised to get on this bus where we could then take a connection to Pichilemu. So we did. After about an hour we arrived in Santa Cruz, where we stayed with the pack of people from the accident and then FINALLY we were able to take a bus to Pichilemu!

We drove all through the country side and it was very beautiful. The five buses was a little excessive but I do not regret a single moment of it. To lay it out nicely for you:

                           Concepción --> Talca --> San Fernando --> Santa Cruz --> Pichilemu 

Once we were finally in Pichilemu it was amazing. We ate empanadas, sat on the beach, watched the waves and got a little bit sunburnt. We had some much needed relaxation after our many bus rides. Thankfully, it only took two buses to return to Concepcion, I don't think I could have handled anymore. Anyways as cliché as it is, sometimes it really is about the journey and not the destination. 

**T-minus 39 days!