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Published: March 20th 2006
Note that I've spelt President with an ´a´. That is because Chile now has its first woman president. President Bachelet was inaugurated whilst I was studying Spanish in Santiago for two weeks. She is also the first twice divorced, single mother in the post. Her father, like thousands of others was murdered by Pincohet. Not that Pinochet murdered with his own hands. But he gave the orders that opened up the torture chambers, with the full support of the USA´s CIA.
President Bachelet is part of Chile´s lost generation - she didn´t get to party, like the young do now in Chile. Pinochet didn't do fun - anyway he didn't like large numbers of people getting together for any reason. For more information on the crimes of Pinochet go to
the amnesty international site Traditionally Latin America has been a macho culture. So, a woman president is a big deal. During my time studying at a Spanish language school I was lodging with a local family. My house "mother" was Miriam Sanches. The day before the inauguration of Bachelet, Miriam said; "We are now in the era of Bachelet. Tomorrow, women will run Chile. My husband will now do the housework and
cooking." The next day I bought a bottle of Champagne and presented it to Miriam in order to celebrate. We shared the bottle at dinner and toasted Bachelet.
At the end of the last blog entry , I was still in Argentina in Neuquen. On Saturday 26th February I caught a night bus to Mendoza. It was a very plush bus - the seats reclined and there was lots of leg room. Not only that, but they served dinner on the bus which included free wine and even champagne.
The next morning I arrived in Mendoza at 7.30am. I spent an hour looking for accommodation, eventually booking into the Hotel Cervantes for 400 Argentinian pesos. I spent the next 2 days concentrating on producing the last blog entry. On my third day in Mendoza, I went on a couple of trips. In the morning I went horse riding in the nearby countryside and in the afternoon I went on a tour of local vineyards. The area around Mendoza produces 80%!o(MISSING)f the wine in Argentina.
THURS 2nd MARCH - SUNDAY 5th
I finally left for Argentina at 8.30am. I caught a micro, which is supposed
to be quicker than a regular bus. Micro´s are minibuses. The scenery through the High Andes was stunning, but the actual border crossing was less fun. It took two and a half hours to get through the border post. There was a huge queue of traffic trying to cross. Both the Argentinian and Chilean officials were housed in the same building. The problem was that the Chilean border guards insisted on checking every bag that everyone was carrying. But, they only had a single scanning machine. Not only did they scan all the luggage in all the cars and buses, but they also insisted on opening everyones hand luggage. The border guards even insisted on looking in the pockets of my coat.
To make things worse, this border post is at the very top of the High Andes. Down in Mendoza and Santiago it may have been hot, but up at the border post it was snowing. And to add to our misery whilst we were waiting to be dealt with, there was a biting cold wind.
The compensation for the misery at the border post was the steep, winding, stunning drop down the mountainside at the other
side of the border post.
Finally I arrived into the rush hour smog of Santiago at 5.30pm, where I booked into the Hotel Imperio for 18,000 Chilean pesos ($US37). It was a shabby place and it was damp.
On Friday I booked myself onto a Spanish Language course. The school gave me the address of a couple of "home stays". That is local people that rent out rooms in their house. On the Saturday I visited one of the addresses. I arranged to move into the house of Miriam Sanches on Tuesday 7th of March. She was charging 7,000 pesos ($US14) a day. That price included breakfast and dinner. She doesn´t speak a word of English. So, I would be forced to speak at least some Spanish. In the meantime, I moved hotel until I could move into Miriam´s house. I moved to the Hotel Ceres, which was much nicer than the Hotel Imperio. It wasn´t even that much more expensive. It cost me 21,000 pesos. On the Sunday before the course started I took it easy.
MONDAY 6th MARCH - FRI 18th
I spent two weeks on an intensive Spanish course. I found it
very hard work. I often felt like the thickest person in the class. The classes were small, fortunately. Even so, most of the others were much younger than me, and probably more used to studying. The school also organized activities and visits. On the first Tuesday we had a guided tour of the Museo Nacional Bellas Artes, in Spanish. Every Weds they organize an Intercambio. Students who are learning English help students with their Spanish; and those that are learning Spanish help those learning English. On the first Saturday I went on a day trip to Valporaiso, which included a visit to one of the houses of the Nobel prize winning poet, Pablo Naruda. The school also organized re-union nights on Thursdays in a local bar. I only went on the first week. I was a party pooper and left at 2am. Others stayed until after 4am. Which meant that there were a lot of tired looking students on the Friday morning.
SATURDAY 18-SUNDAY 19th
I had finally finished my two week course. My Spanish is still rubbish! I moved out of the home stay into the Hotel Principado to be closer to the down town of
Santiago. I also have a few days to kill to write this blog until I fly to Easter Island (Rapa Nui). The flight to Rapa Nui is costing me an arm and a leg. Although I asked for the cheapest flight in March or April it is still costing me $US700.
In the evening I went out with some of the people from the language school. This being Latin America evenings start late and end very, very late. We met at Flannery´s Irish Pub. It is Santiago´s only Irish Pub, in Las Condes, a very upmarket district of town. We stayed in the bar till 4am , some of our group even taking part in the Karaoke. After that we staggered into a nightclub that was playing 80´s music. When that finished we went back to the house of one of our group; who is a young Chilean woman, and a bit of a rock chick.
She was very naughty, plying us with bottles of wine and food. The worst thing was that she had to go to work Sunday morning. But, she said; it wasn't the first time she had stayed out all night and then gone
to work...and it won´t be the last.
So, finally I rolled back into my hotel at 7.30am. I lay down for a rest for a moment, only to find that the next moment I was aware of was 3 hours later. I staggered around my room at 10.30am with a nasty headache.
So, as you do, I packed up my stuff and moved hotel again to the Hotel Rivaderia. This place cost me $US40. As soon as I had booked into my new hotel I went to bed. I woke up at 4pm. I had lost a day.
I will be back in Santiago in a couple of weeks after my visit to Rapa Nui (Easter Island), which is the most isolated permanently inhabited place on earth. It is a 5 hour flight from Chile. Its a couple of thousand miles from anywhere.
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