Nick Levesque tried to board his plane to Santiago at the Fredericton airport on July 31, but they told him he was a day late.
“Turns out the day I wrote in my calendar was the day I was suppose to arrive in Chile,” said the St. Thomas volleyball player.
He spent the rest of that day arguing, trying to keep his return flight, but it was hopeless. Too embarrassed to show his face in public but determined to get to Chile, Levesque kept quiet. He purchased a new ticket from Maritime Travel for an extra $2,000, and left a few days later.
“I made sure to check every day when the plane was leaving. I wasn’t making that mistake twice.”
For some people, missing a flight can be a nightmare. For the 20-year-old, it was a blessing. The St. Thomas volleyball player was to spend a month in Chile backpacking alone – a trip filled with mistakes and magic.
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As soon as he got off the plane in Santiago, a Chilean taxi-driver offered to drive Levesque into the city for 40,000 Chilean pesos (almost double the regular amount.) No necesito, no necessito! Levesque kept insisting. At the bank machine, the driver was reaching over Levesque and pressing buttons on the machine.
Distracted and upset, Levesque escaped the taxi driver and caught a bus into the city, forgetting his debit card in the bank machine. He only noticed a week into his trip that he forgot it.
“I was laughing at myself, primarily at how many mistakes I made early on into my trip,” he says laughing.
On his first night, he made another mistake.
“What I didn’t realize was that as soon as five o’ clock hits, it gets really cold.”
In Chile, it was winter, and he did not pack for the weather.
“I only had one pair of pants, two pairs of shorts and five shirts.”
He found his hostel easily, through the narrow streets in an area called Brasil, filled with locals pushing carts of bottles and clothes, and rotten-fruit stands. For $7,000 Chilean pesos a night ($11.75 US), he could rest.
“The people working there didn’t speak any English at all. I was really trying to communicate but I couldn’t.”
His room for the night was large, had hardwood flooring and two triple-stacked bunk beds. After chatting with an Australian – the only English speaking person around –he headed to the streets in search for excitement. He found a karaoke bar.
“I figured a good way to meet people was to walk right up on stage and sing, so that’s what I did.”
He sang Bon Jovi’s hit song, “Livin’ on a Prayer,” in front of 60 people, most of them young women in their 20s. Everyone in the crowd cheered and clapped as he sang the first verse.
Levesque tried to leave the stage, but the emcee offered him shots of tequila. He took five. Suddenly, the crowd began to sing Happy Birthday, and young woman walked on stage.
“It wasn’t my birthday, I didn’t get what was going on!”
Apparently it was her birthday, said Levesque. The crowd began chanting and the two ended up kissing on stage.
“I ended up having a pretty good night, speaking English and drinking piscola [a liqueur mixed with cola].”
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Levesque’s lowest point was when he hitchhiked to Los Andes, Chile, and found out all of the hostels were full. The temperature dropped, the day was turning to night, and he was tired and freezing. At his last resort, Levesque went to a Chilean church where a fire was burning.
“I’m not religious but I kind of prayed, ‘help me find some place to stay tonight,’” he said.
He stayed for the entire sermon and even ate the bread. Levesque says it paid off. He found an empty bar where he met the owners, Carolos and Boris. They gave him a free meal. The bar owners, both in their 30s, let Levesque stay the night and gave him breakfast in the morning. In return, Levesque helped them open up the bar the next day before taking a eight hour bus ride through the Andes Mountains to Argentina.
“I’m not the person to take advice from. I loved my trip; I loved the way it turned out. Some people would say that I did it wrong, but I don’t think so.”
