Research is fun!

I finally had an interview scheduled with Omar Bello, the CEPAL expert on the Bolivian economy, last Tuesday. Omar had been organizing a big conference, and my last week here was the only week he had any time for me. So I made my way to the CEPAL building in Santiago, which involved a two hour bus ride and a 45 minute metro ride. When I finally got my UN visitor nametag and entered the compound, I felt pretty cool. I mean, going to the UN in another country on official business is pretty cool, isn't it? Mr. Bello and I sat in a conference room and exchanged small talk - he received his Ph.D. at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and spoke good English. Unfortunately, when I pulled my camera out, he got this pained look on his face: "Are you going to be filming me? I can't make any statements on film without permission from the press secretary." Oh. Great. I had devoted an entire separate paragraph to the fact that I needed a film interview, and whether that was alright, in my introductory email. I guess Omar had forgotten that detail. So I got back on the metro, back on the bus, and back to Vina del Mar. I got permission to film an interview the next day, and was supposed to meet with Omar again on Thursday. But he was sick and didn't come into work, I found out in an email I checked just before I was heading to the bus station. The email said that today, Friday, would be OK, but when I called to confirm, I was told Omar may or may not be in today. Fantastic. So now it's 12:40, and to make it to the CEPAL building by 3;45, I need to get on a bus in 20 minutes. I am waiting for Omar's secretary to call me to confirm or deny my appointment. In the meantime, I had to cancel my Spanish class yesterday, and probably will have to today as well, since I don't even know if I can go.

I might be able to do this interview on Monday, if Omar definitely could, but it would be hard because I'm trying to get things set up in Buenos Aires, where my sister is coming to visit for two weeks and we're trying to rent an apartment. I decided I would fly, since it's actually cheaper than the bus (and 20 hours quicker), but before I buy that ticket I need to change my ticket home, because I fly out of Santiago and need to know when my return Buenos-Santiago needs to be. But in order to do THAT, I have to go to the ticket counter at the airport in Santiago, because Delta (the worst airline I have ever flown by far - NEVER EVER fly Delta if you can help it. I'm seriously) issued me some strange ticket (after they denied me boarding for no reason they had to issue me a new ticket) that can ONLY be changed at the ticket counter, which I found out after holding for 45 minutes. Very convenient. It's especially irritating because I had called to try and change my departure city a couple months ago, and the woman told me she couldn't change the city, just the date. And oh yeah, to even do that you have to physically be at the airport. Would have been a nice piece of information to have. Last time I went to the Delta ticket counter I was there three and a half hours while the lady called every person at Delta Corporate she could think of, trying to find someone to agree with the original decision to not let me board. I'm hoping this time will be less painful, but I'm not optimistic.

On the plus side, I had some really good berry ice cream yesterday while it was sunny and warm out.