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Published: January 16th 2010
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Mmmmmm
Jen enjoys a completo...messy messy business After leaving the crazy landscapes of the Bolivian slatflats, we arrived in San Pedro de Atacama, in the driest desert in the world with some low amount of rainfall that jeff would no doubt have mentioned in the last blog, as he really gets a bit more into the detail of these things than I do...
It was here in San Pedro that we felt the first shockwaves of having entered the Chilean economy - with meals in restaurants costing about three times as much as they had in Peru and Bolivia, we quickly sought out the supermarket and cracked open our gas camping stove. The upside was we had a lovely campsite, where we met some very friendly people who were cycling a good part of South America, through the salt flats, the Andes and the deserts....freindly, but clearly mad as a meataxe. I was still feeling the effects of altitude quite badly, not helped out by a dodgy empanada, and it was really hot, so we decided pretty quickly to head to the coast, and a city called La Serena.
Due to the increased cost of everything in Chile, we decided to forego our ususal little treat of
Me and my best mate
La Serena beachfront a taxi from the bus stop to the hostel and walk, which was fine, except at the first hostel we rang the doorbell and waited, and rang the doorbell and waited, and so on for about 10 minutes. Resigned to our fate, we walked on to another. Same situation, but this time with the added attraction of being stared at by the police and all the old fellas going to the polling booth across the road as we sat in the gutter. So, having left jeff with the stuff, I decided to walk and ring at any hostel I came across until someone answered the door. Luckily I only had to walk three doors down before I got a guy in his boxers to finally open a door for us. Turns out this was great though, because the hostel was absolutely lovely! We had a lovely big private room, kitchen access, but more importantly a beautiful outside patio area which was perfect for just chilling out and drinking chilean wine. But the big reason we were in La Serena was for the beach, which we´d heard was beautiful. So we waited until about 3 in the afternoon (for some reason
Nativity scene
We´re in La Serena, But where is baby jesus?? eveyday in La Serena was overcast until 3, at which point the sun came out strongly and burnt you when you were least expecting it), and we headed to the beach. It was grey, cold and windy, so needless to say we didn´t end up having the long awaited ocean dip. We did however get adopted by two dogs, who followed us all the way down the beach, sat with us for a bit, then escorted us back to where we started, before sniffing out some better prospects and abandoning us to walk home alone. Good company though, while it lasted.
La Serena was also the site of our introduction to the Chilean specialty, the completo. For those of you not in the know, a completo is basically a pretty large hot dog, covered with chopped fresh tomato, a mountain of mashed avocado, then tomato sauce, mustard, mayonnaise, and if you´re so inclined, chilli sauce. There´s about three times as much sauce as there is hot dog, and you end up wearing a lot of it, but it tastes a lot better than it should. As you can imagine, we were to indulge in completos a fair few times
in our Chilean stay, particularly after a few vinos....
Our next port of call was actually a port, the charming town of Valparaiso and one-time hometown of Pablo Neruda, one of South America´s favourite literary lights. Valparaiso is a ridiculously picturesque town. It is made up of many hills, all of which are covered in gorgeous colourful corrugated iron houses. It is impossible to walk in a straight line in this town, and it´s not because of the vino this time but rather the windy streets and hidden alleways. You feel as if you´re constantly on an adventure, and never know what you might find round the next corner. There´s also a lot of street art on the walls, adding even more colour to an already vibrant city. I really loved just walking around with no set aim or destination, just wandering....It´s a city I would definitely like to have spent more time in. One night we headed out to a pub recommended by a local guy, and it was excellent. Lots of plastic chairs and tables, drinking from long-necks and listening to local musicians take the stage. Afterwards they´d walk round with a hat, and if you liked
Valparaiso
climbing all those hills is hard work them you gave some coin, and if not, then you didn´t. It was an excellent night out, and great to get away from the sometimes exhausting gringo bars. If you ever get a chance to go to Valparaiso, do it.
Just a twenty minute bus ride from Valparaiso is the beachside town of Viña del Mar, where we headed for another shot at a salty swim. Viña has lovely beaches, but the town itself is pretty non-descript suburbia, particularly when compared to neighbouring Valpo´s colourful and interesting vistas. However, we did find an interesting museum there, with a good display about Easter Island, and with one of the big statues standing out the front. The upstairs of the museum was a fair bit creepier, with a display of shrunken heads (!) and loads of stuffed animals, including a two-headed lamb.....I had to get out of there pretty quick....The good news is Jeff finally got an ocean swim, but it was freezing and there was no way I was going in. I think I´ll hang out til Central America for my salty swim...
Our next destination was the Chilean capital, Santiago. Santiago was a fun city, with quite an
alternative population, whcih was great after the more conservative northern countries. We found an excellent hostel to stay it which was like a small family. The first day we were there they organised a BBQ so everyone could hang out and decorate the Christmas tree. Two kids lived there too, so it was a great day, and managed to give us a little taste of Christmas despite being so far from home. Our time in Santiago was largely spent wandering aimlessly through the city, and heading out at night to drink with all the students on the cheap bar strip. This was excellent as you sat on the street at plastic tables, bought beer by the litre and chatted the night away. Lovely!
Santiago was really hot while we were there, so we decided to head up to the park that sits on one of the hills above the city, where we´d heard there was a swimming pool. After enjoying the great views, then walking around for a couple of hours with no pool in sight, we gave up and resigned ourselves to a quick nap under the trees. Not as refreshing as a dip, but still not a
bad way to spend an afternoon! Of course soon after we discovered the pool, and peering through the fence saw it looked like paradise, but unfortunately it was late, and we didn´t want to pay for only a quick visit. Bah!
Another fun thing in Santiago was the Chinese exhibition on at the museum, including some of the original terracotta warriors. Very interesting, but kind of odd to be learning about China whilst in Chile....
After bidding our fond farewells to our hostel ´family´we decided to head to Argentina for the silly season, where we heard it was a little cheaper, the wine flowed like water, and the steaks were the size of small children....and so we went.
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james st. james
non-member comment
regarding buildings unknown
saludos. i've thoroughly enjoyed reading your many adventures, and your fat man in india made me laugh out loud. i'm glad you seemed to have enjoyed your time in chile, despite the fact that it came at a price--literally! i just wanted to add that the unkown public building with the water is called La Moneda (the mint, as in minting coins), and is the presidential palace of chile. the president doesn't actually live there but it is the headquarters of the executive branch of government. it is one of the few colonial buildings in santiago (the rest having falled due to earthquakes or the shortsightedness of man in years past) and was originally a mint for spain during colonial times. it was bombed by jets during the september 11th military coup in 1973 (pinochet) and the socialist president salvador allende committed suicide inside with a rifle given to him by castro rather than surrender to the military authorities. anyway, enjoy the rest of your travels.