Remember me saying that I bought a didgeridoo? A piece of advice for anyone wanting to buy one in Australia. SHIP IT HOME. Or.. buy one that fits in your suitcase. Ours is a few inches longer than our suitcase and I was told I could carry it on the plane and check it at the door (like ppl do with strollers). That's not the case. Thanks Australian guy (that sold it to me). We somehow managed to get by without paying for it to be checked on the first flight to Sydney. I'm still not sure how we did that, but it would have cost $125...more than what I paid for it. Then, we weren't charged again when checking it in Sydney for our flight here. I think since Jason was flying business they didn't care. But....... I had to declare it at customs in Chile since it's wood. Then they proceeded to bang it on the table expecting something to come out of the wood, I guess. Nothing did. The top of it has wax on it - apparently that small amount isn't allowed in the country. The guy got out a little hand saw and I thought he was going to cut the top of it when I could have picked off the wax. Luckily, he was nice about it and just barely scratched it where the wax was. He didn't saw the wood either. So needless to say, I'm thankful I was allowed to keep it but I should have just shipped it home. I guess while I'm here I can just sit on the balcony overlooking the ocean and learn to play it.
It was about an hour ride by taxi to the hotel. The guy was playing random music and changing the CD every few minutes. He seemed excited when he found the Michael Jackson CD and asked us if we wanted to listen to it. We didn't care, but of course he played it for a bit before switching again.
And...now to the city:
So far this looks like a pretty cool location - lots of restaurants and a couple big malls. We managed to not get lost while walking yesterday so that's also a plus. Oh, Jason was with me - he never gets lost. Three other people are on their way here today and a few others will be joining later in the week. We are tossing around the idea of getting an apartment since we are scheduled to be here for two months. Being able to have a kitchen and more than a one room space sounds nice if you live out of hotels like us. The fitness center here at the hotel is awesome and we get breakfast free so we'll have to weigh our options with the apartment. If he has internet at the refinery, we probably wouldn't be allowed to get it at the apartment. That'll be the deal breaker for me. No internet = not a happy roadwife. I still don't know how Caitlin and Danielle made it in China for months with no internet. I supposed if it was forced, I could manage too.
Anyway, we have to joke about this, but Jason and I always have to try out McDonalds in the countries we go. I'm not really sure why - but they most always have something unique about them. (this one had corn as a side option instead of fries) We were tired and didn't have a desire to find some where else to eat, so there we were in line at McDonalds at the mall. Behind us we hear someone ask if we're Boilermaker fans (Jason had his Purdue hat on). Turns out, we ate our greasy food with two other guys that are studying here for a semester and normally go to Wabash College. Small world! They gave us TONS of ideas on shopping, restaurants, vacation ideas and not so good places to walk - basically in the town over, not here where we are staying. Don't worry Mom and Dad!
The picture above was taken on our walk to the mall. Building on the left is the Sheraton Hotel we are staying at. Body of water on the right is the ocean we get to see every day. Not bad, not bad.
Lesson of the day/note to other roadies: wear something from a college and eat at McDonalds to find friends.
2 comments:
We hit up a McDonalds every location also. there is NO mcdonalds on Trinidad though! Oh and random factoid---one TWO items are on every McDonalds meal on the planet....do you know what two?
I'd say the filet-o-fish and fries! Am I right??
Post a Comment