A Long Way Down

We successfully made it to Chile yesterday. We flew Edmonton to Toronto and then Toronto to Santiago. The 10 hour flight to Santiago wasn't too bad. Both Cheryl and I think that we fell asleep on the plane to Santiago. The time difference is 4 hours ahead of us so when we arrived at noon it was 8 am in Edmonton which was much better for the Circadian rhythm than the European flights. I have always thought that Chile was right beneath us in Western Canada but it is actually quite east of us accounting for the time change. I think maps in books must alter the orientation so that North and South America can fit on the same page. I also think that they are on double daylight savings time. We had hired a car service to bring us into the city TransVip which I had paid for in advance. From some travel blogs I read I thought the airport would be crazy but it wasn't. Santiago is a large city. I think about 4 million people. It really stretches out to the west of the Andes. We caught a glimpse of it from the plane. The city also has its share of air pollution. We made it to our Air BnB in the Lastorria district with no difficulties. We are staying on a busy street with lots of bars and restaurants, street vendors and street performers. It is a little noisy at the front of our apartment but the bedrooms are at the back and it is quiet. I would call it touristy but there are mainly Chileans. In fact we haven't seen many North Americans or Europeans here. Yesterday we mainly wandered around and explored the neighborhood finding a grocery store but not having any luck with an ATM. It seems that the majority of the banks lock up their ATMs after hours.

Today we walked over to the district known as Bellavista. One of my favorite Spanish poets Pablo Neruda had his principal residence in Bellavista named Chascona or in English ruffles in Bellavista. I think that I like Pablo even more than I like the Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral . The house was named after his 3rd wife's beautifully wavy hair. Pablo won the Noble prize for literature in 1971. In addition to being a poet he had worked in the foreign service working his way up to a Chilean ambassador and had been elected as a Senator for Northern Chile. His house consisted of three buildings joined by open spaces. It was decorated as mid century modern with an eclectic collection of Chilean and International art.

Afterwards we took a funicular up Cerro San Cristobal a very high hill in the centre of Santiago which was only 5 minutes from Pablo's house. At the top there is a large statue of the Virgin Mary and a large open air area for church services. We were once again able to appreciate the vastness of the city and the extent of the pollution. It was quite busy with mainly Santiagians out for the day.

We walked back to our apartment for a brief rest before heading more downtown to the central part of town to take in the PreColombian Art Museum. When we arrived there were 3 Americans and 2 British people waiting. They were hoping that the museum would open at 3 pm after the siesta time but they had their doubts. They had been traveling for a few weeks and had found Chilean museums quite unreliable for opening hours. We then realized that earlier that day we had been told that Chile was having regional elections and that some things may be closed however there was no mention of this when I had checked Google for open hours. The museum didn't open at 3 so we walked back to our apartment.

Just as we had walked by Place d'Armes a famous park in Central Santiago, a man either threw or spat some dirty liquid on Cheryl. Cheryl thought a bird had shat on her. The man then offered us some Kleenex to clean Cheryl off but then he started dabbing my bum with the Kleenex and I hadn't even been hit with the liquid. I told him to stop and we walked away because he was trying to pick pocket us. Fortunately we are travelling very light with only a phone in our front pockets and one credit card in a theft resistant front pocket. A close call.

After supper we wandered through another part of town known as Barrio Italia where Italians must have settled but is now a restaurant and shopping region. Lots of Chileans and probably only a few tourists.

Reflections on Chile so far.

It feels a little European but also very Latin. It seems not as prosperous as Canada or Europe but not too poor. I have felt reasonably safe despite the pick pocket attempt. There don't appear to be many tourists here. The Chileans don't seem to speak much English. The stores are all playing Christmas songs in English. Food isn't much cheaper here than home. The Chileans love their ice cream. The weather isn't too hot as long as you stay in the shade. There is a lot of graffiti every where.Leia mais