Chile - A South American Curates Egg

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I’m typing this blog entry from the poolside of a Santiago airport hotel and I’ve got to be honest - it’s a bit of a struggle. We’ve been in Chile for exactly a week now and had really interesting and enjoyable time; however, it has seemed somewhat of an anti climax after the (largely unexpected) brilliant time we had in Argentina. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with what we’ve seen and done here, it just that Chile seems to lack much of the charm, charisma and atmosphere of its neighbour to the east. As with Argentina, we weren’t sure exactly what to expect upon our arrival but assumed that, being so close, Chile would be similar. It isn’t.

Geographically, it’s is a very unusual looking country. Shoe horned in between The Andes on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other, Chile is over 4,600km from top to bottom but never wider than 430km. This long, thin strip of land was governed by the Spanish (them again!!) until 1808 when, after a period of intermittent warring, it was eventually liberated by its most famous ever patriot - wait for it..................... Bernard O’ Higgins!! (honestly!! I thought he played Yosser Hughes in Boys From The Black Stuff). Chile has a population of around 16.5 million and its economy relies heavily on copper mining and tourism - it can also boast to be the world’s fifth largest wine exporter.

Our flight into Santiago from Mendoza only took fifty minutes but provided stunning views that even the longest long haul flight would struggle to match. Just about all the time in the air is above the snow covered Andes and the scenery is simply jaw dropping. Immediately the mountains subside you quickly descend into the airport of Santiago, a city which is home to around 6,000,000 people.

The first thing we noticed about Santiago is that it is extremely modern and makes more than a passing nod to its close ally of America. Starbucks, McDonalds et al hog every street corner along with a host of trendy malls that would rival those of any other countries capital. I’m sure this would appeal to a large amount of people but some of the best times we’ve had since we’ve been away are when our surroundings weren’t familiar and we didn’t really know what was going on.

As a city it has had two decades of strong economic growth which has led to a great deal of new build but, unfortunately, much of this is ugly and already looks dated. That said, we did what all good tourists should do and took the open top bus tour which revealed lots of hidden gems. These took the form of beautifully grand and ornate civic buildings, wonderful churches and pristine, palatial squares. Here, rows of the gorgeous Chilean flags billowed proudly over imposing statues of national heroes giving a “what might have been” feel to the place. Santiago also boasts a long, open air funicular ride to the top of one of its mountains; from the peak, you can ride a cable car across the valley whilst taking in some amazing views of the sprawling city below.

To be fair to Santiago, nature hasn’t always been kind to it. As recently as 1985 an earthquake destroyed many of its historically significant buildings, particularly in its downtown region. Also, its most inescapable and impressive feature are ironically the root of its biggest problem. The city is dominated by its immediate proximity to The Andes and this causes a significant issue in terms of pollution. Cold air from the mountain holds down the warmer gases churned out by industry / vehicles etc and this leads to a constant layer of smog at ground level. For our time in the city we had rented a nice, centrally located apartment on the 15th floor and had a huge wrap around balcony. This afforded us memorable views of the sun rising over the snow capped mountains which really did take your breath away. We were also able to observe how less and less became visible downtown as the day went on and the pollution grew. Unfortunately, it never became bad enough to stop us seeing the ugly fat man on the roof of an adjacent building who ate bags of crisps whilst sunbathing completely nude in the belief no one else could see him......................

A real plus point of Chile is that it offers an extensive variety of dining options. Whilst the wonderful quality of steak in Argentina has been detailed here previously, it was pretty much to the exclusion of anything else and their idea of variety was to serve your meat with a Chimi Churri herb sauce and some garlic chips. We hadn’t realised how much we’d missed having a genuine choice of food and this was certainly provided here.

The range and quality of fish and seafood was exceptional - how could it not be with the coastline running the entire length of the country? The Chileans have had an eclectic approach to fuse the best dishes from its immigrant background with its own cuisine and we really enjoyed the results. Along with its fish, the quality of its lamb is excellent and they are fiercely proud of their wine - in fact you’d struggle to buy a bottle from any other country. We particularly enjoyed one of its national dishes - Conger Eel done with a kind of red curry sauce and on a bed of mash. The eel wasn’t in the least like we expected it to be and is tender, white and really delicious.

We had three days in the city and then decided to hire a car to get out and about and see more of the country. Other than being fairly mad motorists and driving on the “wrong” side of the road, we found travelling by car quite easy and it does give you the freedom to become more masters of your own destiny. It caused us one small problem though at a motorway toll booth though. We were under the impression that our rate with Hertz included all toll charges and would allow us to pass through the “Automatic” rather than “Manual” channel. We had a little radioactive device adhered to our windscreen which we assumed took care of this and pointed it out as we drew to a stop at the barrier. The toll booth lady said “No - es necessario” meaning literally “No - it is necessary” but really meaning “that isn’t a radioactive paying device you numpty and you have to pay like everyone else”. Either her intonation was wrong or there’s an outside chance it was my understanding of Spanish (again!!) but I understood this as “No es nessario” (i.e. “It is not necessary”) and quickly set off again. The look of panic on her face made me realise all was not as I thought and I just managed to apply the brakes and continue our journey without a large red and white barrier across the bonnet.

Another mildly amusing language misunderstanding story occurred when we were approached on the street by a rough looking Gypsy girl who I thought asked me if I’d like a cigarette. (This did seem unusual but the Chilean people are very friendly.....................). Smoking is one bad habit I don’t have so I declined with a polite “No, muchas gracias” and felt puzzled by her annoyed look and guttural curse. This was only understood as we walked off and Angela pointed out that she was asking me for a cigarette, not vice versa - seems rather obvious now...................

After three days we drove North West out of Santiago for 120km to the coastal city of Vina Del Mar. This is a massively popular holiday destination for Chileans and it was quite a shock to us as we arrived. The place was absolutely huge and reminded us of a cross between Blackpool and Benidorm but with a South American slant. Towering hotels and apartment blocks were wedged into every square inch and countless more under construction. February is the height of the holiday season here so the beach was teaming with people, as were the shops and bars. This was fine as we were only there for a couple of days and we had a great time by the seaside. Whilst there we also visited Vina del Mar’s near neighbour - the equally big but more aesthetically pleasing resort of Valparaiso. This is a working port city built into the cliffs and has many ancient funiculars to aid getting around without constant steep climbs on foot.

Having the car allowed us to explore in this way and also provided us (ok, me....) with a large stroke of luck. You may by now have identified a horse racing theme running through this blog and, whilst returning to Vina del Mar, we spotted an impressive looking racecourse by the name of Hipico Valparaiso. Now, there are only five courses in the whole of Chile so that was coincidence enough; however, we called in on the off chance and were informed that we’d happened across it on a race day and the first event was in one hour!! Suffice to say we quickly dropped the car off at the hotel and were on our way back there in a taxi before you could say “they’re under starters orders”. As seems common outside the UK, entry for the 13 races was free and the facilities excellent. The Chilean people are very warm and made us feel very welcome. We made a couple of friends on the evening and even the Tote lady gave me a high five when I (eventually) backed a winner and went to collect our returns.

There was still time to fit yet another visit to the races in (yes, I know she’s very patient!!) at Club Hipico De Santiago on our last day. This again worked really well as it allowed us to return from the coast to the city and be near the airport for our departure the following morning. We’ve been lucky enough to see some beautiful racecourses around the world but this one would be right up there. Based on Parisian architecture, its grand, ancient stands look straight out onto The Andes creating a slightly surreal yet stunning backdrop for horse racing.

And from there to this airport hotel. Tomorrow morning we’ll be up at 6am to board our next flight for three days at an all inclusive resort in Cancun, Mexico and we’ll have time to reflect on this leg. As I said at the start, we’ve really enjoyed our time in Chile but don’t really feel any great empathy towards it. Maybe that was too much to ask in just a week and after only seeing such a small proportion of this vast yet thin country. Elsewhere in its great expanse, Chile is reported to offer a wide variety of adventure, stunning scenery and much more; however, from the brief glimpse we’ve had, our overriding impression will be that of a curate’s egg - good in parts.

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Photos

The Flight From Mendoza To Santiago
Provided views unmatched on any of our other flights.

The Old And The New
Santiago is a real mix of aesthetically pleasing and not so pleasing.

The View From The 15th Floor
It was fabulous to watch the sun come up over The Andes in the morning. Even the fat nude sun bathing guy didn’t manage to take the edge off this.

The Old And The New 2
The artistic creativity of this photo is great, isn’t it? Yes it is!!

Food, Glorious Food
High quality, wide selection and the portions weren’t bad either!!

Out Of The Cities
The Chilean coastline is very beautiful - and there's lots of it!!

An Incredible Coincidence
The odds of us discovering one of Chile’s five courses one hour before the first race must be even bigger than those of me backing two winners in a row.
Actually, probably not......................

Valparaiso
These ancient funiculars are all over the town and are vital. Would you fancy walking up a hill like that?

At The Top
Are rows of colourful houses not unlike those in La Boca.

Time For One Last Racecourse
I only took Angela there for the views - honest!!

Comments

[Wayne McKenna]

What a weekend!
Liverpool 1 Barnsley 2 United 4 Rest Of The World XI 0 Probably the first weekend since you went on your travels that you'll have wanted to be in this country mate! Big Nose Thompson's face on Soccer Saturday when Barnsley's winner went in was the funniest thing I've seen in ages! Glad you're both still having a fantastic time and having done the all inclusive holiday at Cancun, I'm even more jealous this morning. Anyway, back to flogging pens.............Bah! Seeya soon.