The Love of Money

7/8/09
Today we landed around 5:40 local Santiago time and I had an immediate feeling that we weren´t going to make our connecting flight. Boarding was in 45 minutes and I knew that wasn´t enough time to go through customs and check in for the next flight. But we rushed off the plane anyway, only to try and figure out what all the signs meant. Apparently "in transit" means going to another country via Santiago. So we rushed downstairs and that´s when I found out that Max had fallen asleep during the time when the forms were being passed out. So we stopped at the kiosk* to get more and fill them out. We took them to the immigration officer but then we found out that we were supposed to pay the entrance fee to the country first, which is $131, but only "bills in good condition" are accepted. I didn´t know this would translate into a big bully behind a counter carefully caressing and eyeing each bill I handed him. I think three of mine got rejected, and I had to pay with a card. Just this part took around 15 minutes alone, including waiting in line for the transaction. After that we rushed to the head of the immigration line and were waved through. Next was customs, where we found our bags teetering on the side of a baggage man´s makeshift cart as he was towing them away from the claim area. As we tried to get them down, about 4 other bags slipped off the cart. He was happy. So then we ran them through the x-ray, ran up 2 flights of stairs, and were then told our flight had already closed boarding. Next available alternative was an hour later. As we left Santiago the sun was rising over the mountains covered in snow as the fog poured over them. It was nice to see after the kind of night we´d had.