Sat next to a nice lady on the plane, a Chilean magistrate called Sandra. She talks to me in fast Spanish even though I obviously understand about 10% of what she says! The plane touches down in Iquique (donde?!) to pick up a few passengers, but for this we all have to alight, exit via Chilean immigration, admire the sand-dunes for 30 seconds, then go back through security and board again! Marvellous fun!
Finally arrive in Santiago, and I manage to check my backpack in for my flight that is about 9 hours later in the Preferential Check-in area. Saves me the cost and effort of a luggage store. Sandra offers to share a cab into town, and ends up paying, which is nice. I am dropped in the Providencia area. After a quick cappuccino, which from the surprisingly intense flavour I can only assume is the first good coffee I've had since Cafe Andino in Huaraz several weeks ago, I walk the wrong way for several blocks, then take the tube along to Baquedano, or Plaza Italia.
From the Plaza, I walk through the Bellavista area to a funicular railway which goes up to the top of Cerro San Cristobel hill, which has a huge statue of Mary at the top, gazing over the city.
[GPS: 33.42661S, 70.63338W] The views are great, but I don't linger, as it's a bit touristy.
The views of Santiago show it to be fairly flat, but surrounded by large hills, none of which appear to be snow-capped.
After several abortive attempts to find restaurants in my guide (I guess this is a sign of a city which is alive - fast turnover of eateries!), I pick somewhere off-guide (oooh how brave) called Patagonia (seemed appropriate).
The place was quite inside, but had a large area of seating on the pavement, which was full of locals chatting away enjoying the balmy evening.
After a few minutes, a table came free. The waitress advised I wrap my bag around a chair, presumably to avoid it getting snatched. Confidence booster, but to be honest I felt safe everywhere I visited in Santiago. The city is like a slightly less-vibrant Buenos Aires. The streets are wide, tree-lined, there are parks, but less cafes, less people, more closed up offices etc. Of course it's Sunday, so perhaps I'm being unkind. Still, I don't sense the energy of BA. I do notice that there are lots of people selling little walking-stick shaped red and white striped candies!
First strange thing - the beer I order gets poured into a white mug, i.e the sort of thing you'd enjoy a nice cup of tea in. I ask, and am told it's the Chilean way!
Then, when I switch to wine, this continues! I would feel like I was been played, but locals seemed to be doing the same thing. Strange. Reminded me of being a student, when any kind of receptor for liquid will do (just thinking back wandering whether I ever enjoyed a beer out of a saucepan. Perhaps not. However there was that time I tried cereal with water instead of milk. Never again!)
Food is good. I order what I think is a salami on crostini thing, it turns out to be ham and cheese toasty! Then beef with chips stacked up like jenga, veg and a salami sausage. Nice. Came to $11,200 plus tip. Ah yes, I should mention the way things are priced here. It's fairly shocking to arrive and find that internet access is $600 per hour. Takes some getting used to in remembering that $ = Peso not USD, and it's about 1,000 to the pound. The only mitigating factor is that like the Europeans, they use a "." not a "," as a thousand separator, so when you see $2,500, for a coffee and orange juice, it tends to be written $2.550, which doesn't get the heart racing quite so much.
Taxi to airport is $7,000, which the taxi driver seems very reluctant to accept (i.e. going that low), so after we chat about his family and his 20-day-old son, I end up giving him the 8 he wouldn't go below (originally) anyway. I'm such a sucker!
Santiago airport more like it. Preferential route through security avoiding big queues, and two LAN lounges, though for the period I'm hanging around for, I will have to cut over from one to the other. I hope they have someone to carry my bags for me, anything less won't do. Am sitting on wifi enjoying some Chilean red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon) and salami. Flight's not for 4 hours! The sun sets...
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