How many Claros does it take to get un teléfono celular prepago?

Cell phone. Anyone who knows me knows I could not possibly live without a cell phone. Would you believe me if I told you that I was the last of all my friends in high school to get a cell phone? My friends didn’t either. They always used to tease me saying the one who needed a cell phone the most was the person who didn’t have one. However, there was a time in my life when I managed to function without one.

Well, that time has come again. It was not that difficult of a decision for me to suspend my Sprint cell phone service for six months knowing that the alternative was a RIDICULOUSLY high $140 international plan in which you still had to pay $2.50 per minute on top of it. With free services like Skype and gchat (both with video options, I might add), why waste the money?

I did decide that it was a bit impractical to be completely without a cell phone, though, on the chance that I need to get in touch with my Chilean friends and/or be accessible in case work needs to get a hold of me. So, I researched some different Chilean service providers and decided to go with a company called Claro.

I preface this story in saying that only after I finally got back from this excursion did I find out Chileans are known for giving people the run-around and sending them on these wild goose chases:

I looked up where the nearest Claros were and decided to go get a phone the other day. In Providencia, Claro seems to be what Starbucks is to the States; there’s one on practically every corner. So, I go to the first store, find lots of phones and tell the salesman that I would like a prepaid phone. He brings me to a counter with phones I hadn’t even seen because it is up against the storefront window and points down to a Blackberry. Now, I don’t even have a Blackberry at home, so I’m sure as hell not going to have one here. Instead, I ask for something more “económico.” He tells me I have to go to the Claro down the street. I make my way to the next one and approach the saleslady, telling her the same spiel as I told the other guy. She says they don’t have any prepaid phones there and that I have to go to another Claro, further down the road. I make my way to that one and the guy there says the same thing to me. At this point, I start to question whether they don’t, in fact, have prepaid phones, or if they keep sending me down the road because they recognize that I’m an American who is a bit lacking in Spanish language fluency and simply don’t want to have to deal with me. I tell this man that the other store sent me to him because they assured me he had prepaid phones. He in turn hands me a card to yet another Claro, again, down the street and needless to say, that is where I FINALLY got the phone I needed.

And the answer would be four. Four Claros to get a prepaid cell phone.