One down, 364 to go

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Flying - it costs a lot of money to have yourself tortured. 13 ½ hours to LA and even though we were only transitting, we had to do the full security scene. The most intriguing question on the US immigration card involved ´if you were a Nazi war criminal between 1933 and 1945 or if you are carrying any bombs, please tick the YES box. Call me a cynic but I would think any Joseph Mengel types trying to sneak through immigration with a bag full of nuclear weapons probably isn't going to fess up and tick the YES box.
Pennys ankles swelled up on the plane to the point that they disappeared and didn't reappear until the first day in Santiago, the dreaded Astro Boy syndrome.
Arrived Santiago. Pick the odd one out - London, Paris, New York, Venice, Santiago.OK, so Santiago doesnt have any must sees, but I was looking forward to seeing how things had changed since we were last here in 1993. On the surface, the whole city could still use a good lick of paint but the people are as amiable as ever, perhaps with a far less tendency to suspiciously to look over their shoulders now that Pinochet is but a distant memory.The people generally seem to enjoy a reasonable standard of living and like most Hispanics, they rise late and stay in the streets even later at night.The food is all very fresh but a decent chef would do extremely well here. When ordering a simple tomato salad, expect the chef to place a lot of emphasis on the simple and the tomato but none on the salad part.
Gary

For me, judging the worth of a city comes down to its coffee making ability. Sorry Santiago, but a cappucino with weak coffee and a big dollop of whipped cream on top only scores 0 out of 10 for me. Ankles have returned, have had a few good nights of sleep (actually Gary claims I could sleep on a picket fence) and I feel like Elle once again.
Penny

More images at:

www.colvinyeates.zenfolio.com

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Photos

Santiago
Christmas is over

Santiago
The Virgin - so she says

Comments

[juan valdes]

cafe con piernas
too bad your coffee experience wasn't better. there are good cafes in santiago, but most people like instante. chile is a tea drinking country, with the highest per capita tea consumption in the western hemisphere (i don't mean mate, aka 'paraguayan tea, just regular black tea). santiago is a great city, so you may have to change the way you rate a society on something other than coffee. cheers!

[Tracy Davis]

Who the Elle???
Is that Elle McPherson or Elle McFeast that Penny feels like???

[kl23]

Reading different opinions I have come to the conclusion that people miss out a lof of interesenting parts of Santiago. It is true, however, that santiago does not have many must sees like Paris or New york but is a relative modern and clean city with different intereseting things to see. I stayed there for two months and I really appreciated the lifestyle in Santiago.