but it was on sale!

This weekend we're having the WorldTeach mid-service gathering at Termas de Chillan, a hot springs/ski resort down south. I don't know exactly what I'm doing after that, but regardless, my backpack isn't big enough to carry my sleeping bag and any significant amount of stuff, so I decided to buy the smaller-than-giant suitcase that I've been wanting ever since I struggled to balance the weight of my stuff across my giant suitcase and my duffel bag. The duffel bag is a fine duffel bag, but it's bad for a number of heavy things, like books, which I don't want squished.

I checked out the suitcases at Jumbo, which sucked, and at Falabella, which were in the CH$45,000-116,000 (US$80-200) range. That seemed a little steep, so I went to the cheap-luggage place on Pedro Montt, the main drag through town. Perfect! A suitcase slightly bigger than carry-on, for CH$16,000. It had a small-tooth zipper, but surely it would last for this vacation and then the trip home.

When I lifted it up to see how bulky it was, one side of the handle broke.

I looked and decided it was easy enough to fix, so I had the lady grab another one, and I paid and went out.

Ten yards from the door, I put the suitcase down to roll it, opened the rolling-handle, and that broke. I went back to see the couple at the store.

"Hi, yeah, this just broke."

"What's going on? We've never had any problems with these."

"Well, two of them just broke on me."

With a hopeful look on her face, she moved to get me another one from storage.

"Um, no thanks. I'm done with these. Can I just have my money back?"

They were very nice about it. There's a saying here, "El barato cuesta mas": cheap stuff costs more.

I have a much more durable suitcase from Falabella for CH$43,000. More expensive, but it survived the trip home.