Return of the Cat: 20 Years On

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Back in smoggy Santiago, well it's not so bad, not as bad as I remember it. I don't know if that is my memory or if the situation has improved, or the time of year. So much has changed I don't know where to begin. I knew from what I had read that it would be different, 20 years is a long time, but no where in Europe changes this much in 20 years. I suppose it is hardly surprising with the unprecedented economic growth of the 90s. It is sad to see that it has become so open and laid all its secret bare, but that is progress and it is good for everyone except nostalgic men like me.

The first thing that struck me was the airport. When I first came here in the mid 80s the international airport was a shed - literally. I remember it was a blue shed. I hasn't grown or been expanded, it has gone completely. They could have kept it as a theme bar - it used to have a restaurant that served barros luco and barros harpa and pisco sours for about 200 pesos a piece - it was unique. You could sit and chat to the barman while you waited for your plane and he would remember you from the previous time. It was friendly, it was like a club, people dressed smart to fly - no sportswear. You knew all the foriegners too mostly British and French, a good crowd. Now it is a sate of the art modern international airport, no one knows anyone just like everywhere else - amazing progress really.

Downtown Santiago, still reassuringly sleazy in some parts and not too different and of course the Cafe con Piernas that famous Chilean institution is still thriving, thank God. If I had found a Starbucks I would have got on the next plane home.

The city outside the centre, which is no longer the centre, has sprawled east almost as far as the mountains. Providencia, which used to be as far east as the city went has long since been engulfed and left behind by the affluent hordes fleeing the smog - and who can blame them. I think I will flee the city too before long. I want to spend a couple more days marvelling at the development before heading north to see how things are up there and hopefully dropping in on some old friends.

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