Days 12 to 18 were spent in Chicago doing mainly nothing. Day 19 I headed to Chile. This takes me through Day 23.

Arriving at Santiago

Flight was about 30 mins late, arrived at 6.55am. It was very foggy, I thought when the plane approached that we were going through clouds, when all of a sudden we landed. Immigration and customs were straightforward. I emerged to the meeting area with lots of people asking if I wanted taxi when I felt a tug on my backpack. Heh, lots of people do that. It was K — she had kindly come to pick me up.

The drive to her home was at first foggy, then we went through a tunnel and came out to fine weather. Santiago felt like a European city. I was car watching and there were many smaller European cars — Peugeots, Renaults, Golfs and Polos. K’s car is a Clio — that brings back memories of when mm was learning how to drive. :) Not so much mm driving, people are quite aggressive and there’s a lot of weaving in and out.

K&P’s apartment is beautiful. Magnificent view and a kitchen to die for. We had breakfast (I had cereal) and I took a nap cos I was tired. Then lunch of pasta and creamed avocados — lovely lovely. It seems like the first few hours in Chile and all I’m doing is eat and sleep. Hee.

Then we went to the shopping mall and I exchanged some money. The FX rate is approx 500 pesos for US$1. Back to her home and I re-packed, played on the internet for a while.

Dinner was a huge Argentinian slab of steak grilled on the balcony. It was very nice, I think the first time I’ve tried Argentinian steak. The whole apartment got smoked but it didn’t matter.

I’m in Chile. Wow.

Skiing around Santiago

Woke up at 6.30am and left at 7.15am. Our destination today was the El Colorado ski area just outside Santiago.

Oh yes, I went skiing!!!

I was amazed that it was so near the city. About 10-15 mins of town and all of a sudden it was the turn off into the mountains. The road up the mountains is long, winding and full of gasp-inspiring hairpin turns. I’m not going in order, but this is a picture I took when we came down. See how the treacherous the road is.

Before we could get up to our destination we had to put chains on the tires. Oh damn. Neither K nor I had much clue about how to set about doing that, and it took several trials and errors before we vaguely got it right. I don’t think we ever got it completely right. Our hands are still filthy tonight from all the grime. It was an interesting experience though.

But enough about roads and chains. The mountains were beautiful. The runs were beautifully groomed.

When we got there it wasn’t as crowded and we had a couple of runs before people started showing up. I felt like a large elephant when we were trudging around in our boots and skis and stuff — not gotten my ski legs yet. But once I got off the chair-lift and onto the slopes it all came back. I’m so happy I still remember how to ski. I stuck to the easy slopes. We only stayed till early afternoon, cos we were pretty tired. I had such a great time.

Looking back from the slope we could see the city in the distance. Santiago is surrounded by mountains, and is pretty windless. This means air pollution is trapped and the smog is very evident.

We got back to K&P’s home by teatime. K made some absolutely delicious ham, cheese and mushroom toasties. I spent the afternoon reading and relaxing after the day’s exertions. I was in perfect position to capture the sunset from the balcony. So pretty, with the mountain backdrop and the colours.

For dinner we had humitas which are ground corn and seasoning wrapped in corn husks. Very healthy and tastes really good — easy on the palate. Apparently they can be eaten savoury or with sugar. I tried with a sprinkling of sugar but liked the plain savoury version better.

Cajón del Maipo

Easygoing day today. We set off after 11am, for the short drive towards El Cajón del Maipo, or the Maipo Valley. It’s a canyon that follows the río Maipo eventually reaching the Andes and the Argentine border. We didn’t go that far, it was a leisurely drive passing the towns. We got as far as Romeral, when the road turned from paved to gravel. It was too bumpy and we turned back.

It was a cloudy day so most of the pics ended up being mostly grey. It was still pretty, especially the villages along the way and the impressive river. Along the way were small stalls selling honey and nuts.

During the summer this valley is hopping with activities — hiking, kayaking, rafting. There’s even a small ski area. Further along the gravel road (22km) are thermal springs. It’s not far from the city, and again I’m amazed at how easy it is to get out of the city into an interesting area.

We stopped for a late lunch at one of the restaurants along the way. Had warm chicken salad followed by delicious cakes (cheesecake with raspberry sauce for me and plum streusel for K) for desserts. The area has a number of German immigrants, so they brought with them their recipes for küchen. The red drink is raspberry lemonade.

The air pollution was worse than yesterday when we got back to the city. Rested a bit late afternoon before heading out again. Met up with P to watch the semi-finals of the under-20 world cup between Chile and Argentina. We wanted to go to a bar but it was full. So we ended up at a local fast food (?) place where we had 1.5 pitchers of beer and a selection of local snacks. Unfortunately the score at full time as 3:0 in Argentina’s favour. Chile was reduced to 9 players near the end of the game and it was sad to see them lose.

Santiago

Downtown tour today. P was so organised, even printed out a talking point sheets for me, I’m very touched. It was supposed to rain last night but didn’t, so the air pollution level was high. In fact, it was very visible throughout the day. K told me that when the pollution level got high the government placed limitations on certain cars — with number plates ending with a certain digit for instance. The result is that many families get more than one cars so the problem isn’t solved.

First stop was the Santa Lucía Hill, which houses the remains of Fort Hidalgo, a nice garden and statues of important personages in Chilean history.

I like this one, although it’s the ubiquitious boring white sky effect. The contrast between the native Indian warrior and the modern building is typical of Santiago today.

Another typical phenomenon is the smog. From the top of the fort it’s pretty obvious. And we spotted one of the contributors spewing black smoke.

From the Santa Lucía Hill it was a short walk to the Iglesia San Francisco, the oldest structure and great landmark. There’s been a church in that place since 1554, and construction on the church proper began in 1586. Such is the importance of the church, it’s on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage sites. Next to the church is the museum of colonial art dedicated mainly to St Francis.

Walking onwards, we passed the busy financial district, visited the fantastic museum of pre-columbian art, went inside the grounds of the Government Palace, and saw numerous administrative buildings all housed in impressive historical buildings.

The next stop was the Main Square and the cathedral. The churches I’ve seen so far have all been impressive. There’s a sense of history, and that these structures have withstand the passage of time and unease. The decoration is lavish, and full, though never overly opulent.

We stopped for lunch at the mercado central — central market — which is a vast cast iron building with stalls at the side and restaurants in the middle. Mainly fish, poultry and fruit stalls, like a wet market except not as wet. P and I had fried fish and tomato while K had seafood soup. The fried fish was very good, not so many bones and tasted very fresh. We also shared a starter of razor clams.

Then it was shopping time. We visited an artists’ market and I bought lots of small souvenirs for everyone. Nothing too fancy, but with distinctive Chilean character. The walk back to the car was by way of the park (P: “our version of Central Park).

It was a packed day, and I enjoyed the walking tour very much.