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Published: August 3rd 2009
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Pucon is a cute little town about 12 hours south of Santiago. It’s surrounded by volcanoes which you can climb and then descend via a bum board. I was extra keen to get cracking with this activity. Neil on the other hand was not! If you have read our account of climbing Cotopaxi in Ecuador you will recall Neil had told me in no uncertain terms that he was never to climb another f’in mountain again and he stuck to his word. This was particularly in light of the fact that 2 days previously a girl from our hostel had fallen almost 200m down the mountain before the guide threw himself on top of her breaking his ankle and pulling all his knee ligaments in the process.
Not to be deterred I went ahead and booked myself in to do the climb with another girl, Helen. We set off at 7am however, we only walked for about an hour and had to turn back due to bad weather conditions (too windy and icey). Oh well worth a shot.
Other activities included a 5 hour bike ride through a forest to some waterfalls and lagoon and just generally chilling out
after our roller coaster ride with Camps. Helen and I did another hike in the national park which was spectacular. Overall, we stayed in Pucon for 7 nights (and cooked for ourselves each night, which was a novelty in itself after 3 months of utter indulgence). It was great to be able to relax in such a lovely part of the world.
Next stop, Santiago. We’d heard mixed reports about this city but we’ve found it to be an enjoyable experience apart from one incident, details of which will be provided further below. The first day consisted of looking around the city centre and going for another huge steak in a place called ‘Fat Cow’, well deserved after our cooking efforts in Pucon. The next day we went skiing in Valle Nervado which was awesome. The snow was great and the place was perfect for a day’s skiing.
The third day we got the funicular to the top of a mountain. This provided a view of the whole of Santiago covered in smog so thick that it was barely possible to make out the mountain range which surrounds the city. Apparently Santiago is the third most polluted city
in the world. Helen was still with us at this stage and the three of us enjoyed a few cheeky drinks at the top of the mountain. We then decided to head to a bar called La Projera. This came recommended by an Ozzie and Kiwi we met in Pucon. The lads explained that you can buy drinks there called ‘tera modos’, meaning ‘earthquake’ in English. They said the locals recommend that you only drink 3. They drank 5 and one lost their passport and the other had his wallet stolen....strong old stuff!!
Sat comfortably in the middle of the bar we began on our first tera modo the contents of which is a half pint of wine, some pisco, some other brown liquor and a splodge of pineapple icecream. After two we were a tad tipsy. Neil had his phone out and was showing Helen some pics. By this stage Neil and noticed some random staring in our direction but took no notice. Helen then held Neil’s phone in her hand and at this point the random leapt forward into the middle grabbing the phone out of Helen’s hand, bashing her on the head in the process. Before
I knew what was going on I sprung out of my seat and sprinted after the bastard through the bar knocking about 10 people out of my way in the process. Neil was right behind me, soon to overtake me. Neil managed to grab the guy’s sleeve but he changed direction at lightening speed and Neil, after 4 pints and 2 tera modos, couldn’t manage the turning circle, slipping over twisting his knee and tearing a hole in his jeans! I then continued my sprint after the guy (I don’t actually know what I would have done if I’d have caught him), anyhoo, he crossed the traffic and ran into the distance with mobile on tow. Neil then came running around the corner after recovering from his fall but by this stage we had to wave bye bye to the James Bond series mobile, oh the irony!
We were shaking with adrenalin and rage particularly at the fat bouncers’ incompetence! We went back into the bar, all eyes on us, prob coz we’d spilt half of their drinks. We collected Helen and regrouped outside the bar. Whilst discussing what happened we were approached by a rather strange old Australian
man, Ivan who was about 70ish. He told us that his wallet had just been robbed whilst in the middle of “giving a woman a cuddle”. He then said his wallet had been returned to him with the money stolen (but curiously his visa cards were still there) and asked us for some pesos to get a taxi back to his hotel. We obliged, initially feeling sympathy for this little old man. We told him we were going to the police station to report the incident and he wanted to accompany us. That was grand, however, as we approached the station, Ivan, said he would just pretend he was drinking with us in the same bar and he’d been hanging about with us all night. I told him to stick to his own story and Helen told him the fact that he’s about 70 and we’re clearly not might look a tad odd. He shouted to me “what’s your problem” and I told him he was my problem as he was clearly a sex pest who’d been robbed by a hooker, serves him right as far as I’m concerned. Neil then asked for the pesos back and told him to
get his money out of the cash machine since his cards hadn’t been stolen.
After filing the police report down at the local nick, we headed back to our own familiar neighbourhood to end the night on a high with a few more bevvies and a bite to eat. What a polava!!!!
Next day we recovered from a mild hangover and a sore knee, and managed to do a bit of shopping. We headed to Valparaiso, a big city 2 hours north of Santiago, dubbed the artistic capital of Chile. To be honest, our first impressions were “what a sh!thole”, but the more we looked around the more we saw its charm. Most of the buildings that weren’t derelict, were painted in bright pastel shades which, considering the size of the place, gave an impressive overall effect. We found a surprisingly good antiques market, which had loads of cool things. Neil spent a ridiculous amount on 3 antique lighters that he claims will earn him a fortune on ebay back home. We spent the afternoon and early evening drinking cocktails in an amazing hotel/bar called the Brighton which overlooked the city from high above. The views and bevies
were class - a good way to spend a Sunday!
Anyway, this marks the end of our South American leg - the following day we headed to Auckland on a 12 hour flight. See you in NZ. XXX
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carol mcdonald
non-member comment
hi from mummerjee
well la - did as i was told and spent 2 hours in front of computer screen voraciously reading your blog (so entertaining)! my eyes were moving from left to right so quickly that i actually might have hypnotized myself. anyway i came round again (thank god) and just want to let you know that i am fully up-to-date now. the blog is just great and the photos are fantastic. i feel as if i have just gone round the world with you. well cant wait to meet up with you in oz. got my flight socks with me just in case my legs explode (they havent made anything yet for my ass) see you both soon - lots of love mum xox