A Lesson in Money Management Abroad: Learning Quick in Chile

Our little group taking its initial shape

some fellow EAPers enjoying empanadas and other snacks

Upon preparing for my arrival in Chile, my main focus was on money. Money was on my mind 24/7 for the past couple weeks. I was so stressed about being “prepared”, my stomach was in knots and I was getting blinding headaches, which didn’t help my already fragmented sleeping pattern.
 

I arrived in a daze after 14 hours of total fly time with a quick layover in Atlanta, Georgia. Slowly, but surely, our little UCEAP (UC Education Abroad Program) group began to take shape (img 1). A number of us arrived on the same flights and paired up for lodging at the beautiful and accommodating Hostal Providencia - to which I credit the fabulous outdoor patio with Wi-Fi access to which I am writing from.
 

After checking in, we wandered around the city as best we could and snacked on some empanadas de pino while sitting at some benches in el Parque Bustamante (img 2). The most difficult part about travelling in a group is, well, travelling in a group. For one thing, people immediately see you as foreigners (easy targets) and it just makes trying to figure out what to do, when you already have no clear cut plan, a lot harder. So my advice for travelling in groups, come up with a clear, set plan and execute it as seamlessly as possible. It’s harder to “wander aimlessly” with a group because a group decisions are more difficult to reach.
 

Coming back to money. After retrieving my skateboard from my luggage and assembling it with the help of the Hostel’s handyman – I decided to go on a ride. Note that the pavement is often uneven and sections of cobblestone pop up every now and then, so there is a lot of hopping off and starting up again. It was nice to see what was around me at a quicker pace, and being alone was kind of refreshing. While I was soaking in the city and staring across at the Parque Forestal a woman approached me calling me hermosa and asking me where I came from (the Philippines). She looked harmless enough, but I could tell something was up. My encounter with her revealed to me the selfless insight of those I would not usually regard as someone worth listening to.
 

This woman literally held a couple bills of my money in her hand, blessing me with well wishes, luck and love in the coming year, and then she made it disappear. She literally made it disappear, she poured what I assume to be rubbing alcohol over it and rubbed it ceremoniously while repeating her well wishes and blessings. My heart literally dropped as I saw the bills disintegrate in her hand. I actually paid about $50 USD to have this lady make my wish come true. Its hard to know where to draw the line, I know I could have stood up and skated away but courtesy and curiosity held me fast. After I shamefully deposited a couple pesos into her smiling, naked toddler’s hand I skated away fast, hanging my head low and biting my lip out of frustration.
 

“How could this happen to me?”, I thought to myself. But as I went over the situation in my mind – half concentrating on the road under me while trying not to startle pedestrians, I realized that she had given me an actual blessing in disguise. I shouldn’t be thinking about how my money was being spent, I should be thinking about my time being spent here and now, in this beautiful country on this beautiful sunny day.
 

I guess I have a beautiful, pregnant, tattooed, scarred, former drug-riddled magic worker to thank for this lesson.