Lewis the Lion was excited to be heading back to Argentina from Valparaïso.
Lewis looks onto the port of Valparaïso
He was taking another rather cheap overnight bus ($13,000 Chilean pesos) to the city of Mendoza in North-West Argentina. They would have to take the spectacular journey across the Andes to get there but because this was an overnight bus, unfortunately he wouldn’t get to see much. Perhaps there would be another time? This time the journey was even more fun as accompanying Lewis the Lion and Helen on their trip was Kelly, the girl from Manchester that they had met in Valparaïso.
Kelly with a statue of a famous Chilean
Kelly and Helen had both encouraged each other that they were going to do a parachute jump in Mendoza and that’s what they would be doing the next morning, all being well.
The journey was broken up at 2am in the morning when all of the passengers on the bus had to wake up to go through boarder controls. Luckily it wasn’t as strict as it had been on entry to Chile with the customs officers collecting in bits of paper, stamping passports and then reissuing new bits of paper and stamping your passport again showing your entrance into Argentina.
Things didn’t quite turn out as planned when Lewis the Lion and the girls reached Mendoza, as at first the taxi driver couldn’t find the hostel at 6 in the morning and then there was no bed ready for the girls to sleep in as check-out time is usually not until 11 am. Some people were already asleep on the sofa of the hostel when they arrived! So, they had to fight the tiredness and stay awake even though they knew it would be a busy day ahead with their parachute jump! The staff at the Hostel Empedrado were very welcoming though and told Lewis the Lion, Helen and Kelly to help themselves to breakfast.
However, there was more disappointment to come as the receptionist phoned the sky-diver to confirm that they were going to jump today and it turned out that they weren’t. Oh no! After that long trip from Chile too!
Helen and Kelly are disappointed at first
In a secret way though, Lewis the Lion was relieved as he felt so very tired. Furthermore, while they were having breakfast, they realised that they had made a mistake: they had forgotten to put their watches forward so they didn’t arrive in Mendoza at 6 am but rather 7 am! Lewis the Lion thought that this was something he would have to pay more attention to if he was travelling through different time zones, going to different countries.
Lewis the Lion was reminded that travelling was tiring business, especially when catching overnight buses when your sleep was disturbed. Never had he been more grateful when the hostel staff told him that his bed was ready and he could go and catch up on his sleep for a bit! Lewis the Lion was definitely learning to appreciate the simple things in life and the parachute jump would just have to wait for another day!
Can you remember a time when you have been grateful for the simple things in life?
When was it and what was it?
