My scariest travel experience

Since I can’t go anywhere due to the coronavirus pandemic, I figured why not tell some of my favorite/most memorable travel stories. Up next, my scariest travel experience, when I couldn’t get into my hostel while traveling alone in one of my most dangerous parts of Chile.

I consider myself a fairly seasoned traveler, having been to six continents and journeyed extensively on my own. However, there are certain experiences that rattle me to the core and make me realize just how vulnerable and prepared for anything you have to be while traveling. 

It was summer 2019. I was in the midst of a six week long trip across South America. I had been studying in Buenos Aires, Argentina for the first four weeks, and then I had an additional two weeks of travel in Chile. 

I flew to Salta, in Northern Argentina, then took a bus across the border to San Pedro de Atacama, in Northern Chile, and finally flew down to the capital of Santiago and the nearby port city of Valparaiso. Everything was going great in Salta and San Pedro de Atacama. I stayed in bed and breakfasts and hostels, I met some friendly Australians, I had developed a taste for pisco sours. But Valparaiso was when I ran into a problem. 

I left San Pedro de Atacama around 9am, taking a minibus to Calama, an uninteresting city about 90 minutes away, but it has the closest airport to San Pedro de Atacama so I had to pay a visit. Then, I took a two hour flight to Santiago, which landed around 3pm. But my journey wasn’t over yet. 

I still needed to take 2 more buses and an Uber until I got to my final destination. With everything in the airport (getting checked bags, finding the bus station, etc.), I didn’t end up leaving until about 4:30pm. The first bus (about 20 minutes) took me to Pajaritos Bus Terminal in western Santiago. Then, I waited 15 more minutes and caught a two hour bus to Valparaiso, but that didn’t put me in Valparaiso city. Finally, I caught an Uber the last 10 minutes to my hostel up in the hills of Valparaiso and arrived around 7:15pm. 

So before I continue, let me tell you a few things about Valparaiso. It’s a fantastic city known for its street art, but it’s incredibly hilly and many streets are alleyways where barely two people can stand next to each other. It’s so hilly that many areas have public elevators called ascensors that you need to use to get around. Also an important fact: Valparaiso is notorious for petty crime and muggings, especially at night and in many alleyways. 

Anyways, when I eventually arrived at my hostel around 7:15pm, I was exhausted. Three buses, 1 flight and 1 Uber really knocks you out. I walked up the 15 steps to the hostel and knocked on the door. No answer. I tried again. No answer. At this point, I thought it was a little weird no one had answered, but maybe they hadn’t heard me, so I knocked on the door again. Once more, no answer. 

At this point, I started to freak out a bit. I heard about the muggings in Valparaiso from other travelers in Chile and I was totally exposed. I had all my bags, up an alleyway at night; an easy target for pickpockets. I checked my email and sent them another one saying that I arrived. I called the hostel’s phone number (three times!) as well, with no one picking up. 

Ok, now I was terrified. I franticly started looking for other places to stay in Valparaiso, any cost. I just wanted to get out of the dark alleyway and into safety. I looked at any passersby with suspicion and I was worried they were going to rob me. 

After about 45 minutes of waiting outside (now it was 8:00pm), a woman comes out of the alleyway and says to me forcefully in English, “Are you Aaron?” 

I cautiously said, “Yeah… who are you?” She introduced herself as Natalia, an employee of the hostel, and looked in her purse for something. Natalia looked distressed and then hopped on the phone with someone, obviously worried. She talked for a little bit, and then said, “Oh f*ck, me perdí mi llave” and mentioned she was going to Plaza Sotomayor, but left before I could say anything. 

My Spanish skills taught me that “Me perdí mi llave” translates to “I forgot my key.” This hostel was getting sketchier by the minute! First, no one shows up to let me in for 45 minutes, then the one employee who shows up forgets her key. WTF is up with this place?!?! I regret not being able to ask for her phone number before she left so I at least had some way to contact her.

Thankfully, Natalia reemerges 15 minutes later with a key and checks me in. I notice that the hostel seems awfully quiet. Normally, hostels are lively and filled with people drinking or playing cards, but this place was empty and almost every light was off when we walked into the common room. 

Natalia explains the rules of the place and shows me to my bed when she explains, “You’re actually the only guest here tonight, so you have your pick of beds.” I ask if that’s normal for the hostel to be so empty, and she says it is. In fact, I was the only guest for the past four days, so that’s heartening isn’t it… 

I went to grab a quick bite to eat and when I returned, Natalia had left. She gave me my own key, so I wasn’t locked out again, but I was literally the only person in the building that night, which, by the way, is not normal for hostels. I was honestly 70 percent sure I was going to get killed or my stuff would get stolen from me. After being locked out for 45 minutes, the whole key debacle, not to mention the fact that I’m the only one there, I was thankful to wake up the next morning with both my kidneys and all my limbs.