Today I decided I was up for an adventure. I wanted to go to a winery. For some reason, going on a winery tour here is ridiculously expensive! I couldn’t find one for under US$100! Because I’m too cheap and I find organized tours boring (Brenda & Neil, I can hear you laughing from here…) I decided I would create my own adventure and get there myself.
I made reservations to have lunch at the Santa Rita winery (the only way I could go on a tour on a Sunday) I vaguely figured out how to get there (with some help from the family I’m staying with) Armed with the winery’s map from their website and the family’s instructions, I set off!
The first part was easy and just involved taking the metro. I even managed to buy a pre-paid transit card without any charades. Next was a train ticket. Easy peasy, bought a ticket and no one flinched at my Spanish.
Took the train to Buin a small town in the Maipo valley. The winery’s map indicated that it should have been less than a kilometer from the train tracks to the winery: WRONG! After some aimless wandering and asking a few people, my options to get to the winery were: to look for a random car with the right name on the top (called a collectivo) and hail it down. Sort of like a cab, but with other people going every direction. Option 2, take a micro bus (#81). I went for Option 2. I would have never known that this was the bus stop…
Where this becomes an adventure is the fact that these buses have no set stops and drive wildly through the country roads (despite the fact that on the bus there’s a sign saying they have a maximum speed of 50 km/h) Where it becomes really interesting however, is if you’re the only person getting on or off the bus, they don’t come to a complete stop! So, when you want to get off, you let the driver know, he slows down, and you jump off and practice your Hollywood stuntman skills.
If you know me at all, you know how clumsy I am (or as they say in Spanish “Yo soy torpe” (I am clumsy)) So, imagine me, trying to keep my balance as the rico suave bus driver slows down and then I launch myself off the bus. Amazingly, I made it. And the winery, was awesome!
Risk of Death/Serious Injury potential: 3/10 (increases depending on speed of bus)
Adrenaline factor: 4/10
1 comment:
Ha ha! Loved your descriptions of the collectivos and microbuses - it's the same deal in Mexico. You have 1 of these 2 options to get to Saul's mom's house. Both are hair raising, especially a micro bus in a rain storm dropping you off in large puddles by the side of the road.
Sounds like a fun adventure. How was the getting back home part after a few glasses of wine?!
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