South American adventure Oct/Nov 2018 part 3

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Santiago, Chile

Cerro Santa Lucia statue

We fly from Cuzco to Lima then on to Santiago Chile, this is a travel day; ending at 430 AM the next day in Santiago.  Santiago is another 3.5 hours south of Lima by plane.  The size of this continent is becoming very apparent to me with our flying times adding up as we continue south.

This portion of our adventure is where we will get to know the customs officials between Chile and Argentina.  We will be renting cars on and off during the remainder of the trip negotiating the borders several times.

View from Cerro San Cristobal

Our ride into Santiago is quick.  The roads at 430 are empty so taxi drivers put the pedal to the metal.  We find the area where we will be staying on and off the next three weeks somewhat questionable; graffiti is everywhere.  At home when I see graffiti I generally do not want to hang around very long.  Checking into the room we collapse; sleeping the next few hours before exploring our new city.  5 million people live here.  Driving is civilized; no continuous horn blowing as in Lima, although lane lines still only provide general guidance.  From our 14^th floor apartment we see trees, shrubs and grass tucked in between the buildings, even small parks.  A total change from what we had seen in Lima.  The only negative thing we see about Santiago is the air pollution.  The Andes mountains are in a continual gray haze.

After a few hour nap we head down to the street not certain what to expect.  This appears to be a blue collar neighborhood; there are many people conducting their business; going to work, school or walking their children or pets.  Nobody seems disturbed by the graffiti.  Over the next few days we notice graffiti seems to be normal as we make our way around the city.  We stop at the corner mini mart/bakery; where we will be stopping many times during our stay.  We start with a breakfast roll; essentially a pastry wrapped around a quality hot dog.  The other pastries in the display case look very tempting – we will be back.  Talking with another of the Venezuelan emigrants working here we learn of a farmer’s market down the street and a large grocery store a few blocks away; both necessary during our stay.

Catedral Metropolitana

The farmer's market is blocks long, we walk three and can not see an end to the fresh fruit, vegetable, egg, and meat stalls.  All the vendors are calling out; enticing us with their wares.  The colors, smells and frenetic activity of the vendors and buyers surrounds us.  Seeing all this produce makes us think what do we really want; we can’t fit one of everything thing in the refrigerator.  We stock up on fruit; bananas, apples, oranges, tangerines, avacados; are avocados fruit? eggs are also on the list.  We have to try the corn; the kernels are huge, they are the size of the kernels in packages of Corn Nuts, a salty snack I used to eat as a kid.  Arms full of our finds we make our way back to our apartment.  Our next stop is the super mercado (market) for the items we cannot find at the farmer’s market; water, milk, juice, crackers, cheeses, cereal and clothes hangers.  The super mercado limits us to two plastic grocery bags; their effort to limit pollution, we end up purchasing a fabric grocery bag to transport our items.

Santiago mall

We have an impromptu lunch sampling our finds.  Everything is quite tasty and fresh.  While enjoying lunch we pull out the pile of tourist brochures determining what we will be seeing.  We also plot out our route to visit Nicida’s niece living a mile or so from our apartment.  That done, our next job is to find enough change to wash laundry.  Living in your own house with washer and dryer means not having to find change for laundry day.  On the road is a different story, working with foreign currency means we have to look at each coin determining if it will help.  I am successful with my broken Spanish at the super mercado exchanging several thousand peso bills for coins allowing us to do our laundry.  Multiple trips to the top floor of our building takes care of the laundry for another week. 

Catedral Metropolitana

A 20 minute walk takes us to Nicida’s neice’s small one bedroom apartment.  For the time being their apartment has three adults and one child; very cozy.  Nicida has another happy reunion seeing her niece after almost twenty years.  Her husband and three year old daughter have never been seen other than on WhatsApp.  The visit goes on for several hours before we head to the Costanera  mall for dinner.  The mall is huge with four floors along with the usual food court; my only request is no American food, easily resolved by a couple Chilean dishes.  Nicida’s niece, husband, and daughter dine on McDonalds and Domino’s pizza.

  

Museo de Pre-Columbino
 statues

The next day we meet up with them for a walking tour of historic Santiago.  We walk through the Plaza de Armas, visit the Catedral Metropolitana see dozens of government buildings and hundred plus year old buildings with all their ornate stonework.  A great deal of effort has gone into preserving these old buildings.  A stop at Cerro Santa Lucia, a small mountain within the city limits provides views of the city from a garden setting.  A visit to the Museo De Pre-Columbio is the highlight of the day.  The artifacts dating back to 11,000 BC with the area’s first inhabitants through the Inca civilization, 1450 AD is extensive, the gold, silver and other metal pieces used as ornaments and tools dazzle our eyes for both their beauty and the intricate workmanship.  

We end the evening in front of one of the museums for an anniversary light show.  The streets are packed with people witnessing the events; this is one of multiple locations where displays are put on.  Tired we start our walk back home finally Ubering our way home 11+ hours after we started this morning.

View from Cerro San Cristobal

Another trip takes us to the top of Cerro San Cristobal, another mountain, this one much higher, within Santiago.  Here large funiculars pull us almost 1,000' feet above the city for spectacular views of the city surrounding us.  With the exception of the mountains to the east, the city is endless.  The only detractor is the pollution, easily seen from this mountain top.

View from Cerro San Cristobal

Vina del Mar

The longer we are in Santiago the more comfortable I am venturing on my own to the super mercado to shop.  Cereal, water, crackers and fruit are on the list for the day.  I get through most of it but still have to see the actual amount on the cash register display, I do not know the numbers in Spanish above ten.

One evening while in the apartment we hear lots of yelling from the street - a protest.  We see piles of trash on fire in the streets all around us.  Several blocks away there is a large fire with flames leaping above the nearby single story buildings.  After 30 minutes the police and fire departments rush the protestors scattering them, dousing the fires at the same time.  Turning on the news we find that there was an indigenous Mapuchi person killed by local authorities, sparking the protests.  Later that night quiet returned.  The next morning, exiting the apartment, I see normal life had returned to the neighborhood.  My walk to the super mercado reveals the destruction; melted trash cans, bikes, torn down signs and piles of rubble obstructing lanes of the streets.  People resuming their daily activities, seem to ignore the aftermath.

Port of Valparaiso

Valparaiso

Valparaiso funicular

We include a bus trip to Valparaiso, and Vina del Mar on the Pacific coast about an hour away from Santiago.  Valparaiso is known for its street art; quality graffiti.  Small figures to wall size murals line the walls facing the streets.  Breaks in the murals occur at door and window openings.  Stairways are even painted.  We ride four person funiculars, cable driven carriages, to the upper part of the city overlooking the port.  Here art galleries, restaurants and  micro-breweries are packed with tourists.

Jumping on one of the many buses following the road along the Pacific coast we ride to a favorite beach.  The wind is cold, and fierce, red flags stand out straight in the wind warning beach goers - no swimming allowed.  We dine on a few sweets sold by vendors lugging huge baskets of sweets.  They sell most anything, primarily toys for the kids.  Take your pick as to what you want.

Our next bus ride takes us a few miles to another part of the Pacific coast where artists are selling their creations. We find a few items to bring home as reminders of our trip.  There’s no wind, so the small beach here is crowded; one has to pick their way through all the sun bathing bodies taking advantage of the warm sun and calm wind.

Back in Santiago, I start noticing Christmas decorations showing up.  Not really tracking the days, let alone the particular month we are in I start wondering what’s going on; it’s mid 80’s and spring time; why the Christmas decorations???  Ahh, it is actually November, only five weeks until Christmas -  that explains it.  I inquire about Santa’s attire for the kids in the malls.  They do not catch a break, being almost summer they still get to wear the same heavy pants, coat, hat and full beard the Santas in the Northern Hemisphere wear.  I was expecting to hear maybe a T-shirt and shorts.  Santas have it tough down here.

We decide to pick up our first rental car a day before our planned trip to Mendoza, Argentina.  I have been in contact with Hertz since we made our reservations in April; I am assured all papers are in order, there will be no problems with traversing the border to Argentina.  In case you are considering a rental car; here is a partial list of what is needed, as of Oct 2018 – subject to change of course:  International Driving Permit, Current Driver’s License, Passport, rental car reservation number, days of car rental, number of passengers, name and driver’s license of the second driver, permit from Chile for going to Argentina, CDW insurance and paperwork, safety gear (should be included in the car).  We were also told of chains because we were driving through the Andes Mountains from Santiago, Chile to Mendoza, Argentina.  Most important is fluency in Spanish, even the customs officials did not appear to speak Spanish.  Back to our story.

Utility man's nightmare

I was confident all was in order; our papers in my pocket, the Hertz paperwork on their computer, credit card in hand.  About two minutes into our transaction the gentleman at the desk says there is a problem; it appears we are citizens from Estonia, not the US.  We cannot leave Chile with this error.  Digging deeper into the paperwork we find no other problems for this rental.  He promises we will have the corrected papers in our hands by noon the next day.  We are skeptical at this but there is nothing we can really do at this point.  As we get ready to leave the counter I ask the employee if we have the same issue with our other rental starting a week later from a different Hertz location. A minute of searching reveals the same issue.  We find out later that Estonia and United States (Estado Unidos in Spanish) are sequential in Spanish sort of explaining why we were from Estonia, I think…  Taking the car from the airport, not an easy process given the poor maps of Santiago ends the day.  The wait starts for our paperwork.

Cerro San Cristobal
funicular

Packing for our road trip starts the next morning.  This helps keep us busy; diverting our attention from the waiting for what will come first – noon or the paperwork.  At 1145 we get a call to pick up the papers at the front desk.  Papers in hand we pick up Nicida’s sister-in-law, our third traveling companion.

View from Cerro San Cristobal

We don't waste any time getting lost several times before getting out of the city.  The map I downloaded of Chile and Argentina is useless on my Garmin.  Fortunately I made a few paper maps which we use extensively.  Note: road signs are fair at best, usually nonexistent; a navigator is necessary, as another pair of eyes.

On to Mendoza, Argentina

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark