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Published: December 29th 2007
Holiday Inn, Santiago
Cheers! Enjoying a beer (on dad's credit card!)... even though I'm meant to be in the Atacama desert right now!Hi everybody! Guest editor Gregory at the reigns here. Kate and Mark were kind enough to entrust me with continuing on the legacy of the blog (or maybe they just needed the break, I can barely handle the pressure and I'm only doing ONE!) so I'll do my best to live up to their high standards, although I can't promise any faeces-based poems a la Mark "Heaney" McMullan. But here goes nothing:
As documented in the last blog, my trip over to Chile was a little........problematic what with me being stuck in Santiago, luggageless, almost penniless and smelling quite terrible after travelling with the same clothes on my back for over 24 hours. But after a relaxing night (and a vigorous scrubbling in the shower) in the Holiday Inn I was all set to tackle the seven hour bus ride up to La Serena on Tuesday 11th where I was to rendez-vous with the dynamic duo on Wednesday morning after their mammoth seventeen hour bus journey from San pedro de Atacama. I arrived in La Serena late that night and after checking into the Hostel El Punto and doing a quick recce around the town (which involved me stumbling into
the middle of a communist parade and almost getting hosed down by a street cleaning truck) I settled in for the night, excited by the prospect of seeing the two of them after such a long time. Got up early the next morning and (after another vigorous scrubbing in the shower - still had no clean clothes at this stage!) headed down to the bus station to meet them. An hour later, finally a bus pulled in with some idiot frantically waving out the window who I immediately recognised to be Mark. The first thing that struck me was the almost inhuman tan on young McMullan, quickly followed by the realisation that yes, Kate's bag actually WAS bigger than her. Anyway, it was good to see them again and I'm sure they relished the prospect of having somebody else to talk to for the first time in several months, even if it was only me.
That day was spent exploring La Serena, a pretty,coastal city, the second oldest in Chile with a population of about 150,000. For me, the highlight of the day was getting my rucksack back after 3 days in luggage limbo, a feeling so good it
inspired me to eat most of my baggage reclaim form. The next day we headed off for a day long tour of the nearby Elqui Valley which passes from the Andes in the west all the way to the Pacific and is a famous area for the production of Pisco (a type of brandy) and Papayas. First stop was Puclaro Dam which, considering the size of the dam Kate and Mark had seen in Brazil, was thoroughly unimpressive to them both! We also took in a Pisco factory (notable for the fact our guide Phillipe informed us he couldn't drink it anymore because of the damage done to his liver after drinking a bottle of the stuff every day for several years!), the thoroughly unimpressive house of the Nobel Prize for literature winner Gabriela Mistral and a thoroughly unimpressive lunch of goat and peaches in a glass with nuts at a solar powered restaurant. Luckily, things picked up at the end with a trip to an observatory high up in the mountains at night time where our guide pointed out some constellations, shooting stars and satellites and we got a belter of a view of the moon through a high
powered telescope.
Friday was spent in transit south to “Chile’s Cultural Capital” Valparaiso, a port town about 100km west of Santiago. The town is characterised by it's steep hills sloping up from the waterfront, making the walk up to our hostel literally a breathtaking experience. This was also the town where we discovered the humble empanada, a Chilean delicacy which is basically a variety of stuff inside some pastry, often including ingredients you may not have ordered, much to myself and Mark's disgust. Only 10 minutes away by train is the more vibrant town of Vina del Mar and it was there we headed with a fistfull of dollars each ready to bankrupt the local casino! We were standing outside trying to figure out if this place was too classy for us to actually set foot inside when suddenly....EARTHQUAKE! (my 2nd in 6 months!). After about six seconds the tremor stopped and we looked at each other with a mixture of shock and....joy! We had all wanted to feel what it was actually like to experience an earthquake and it was something to tick off the list. No damage was done thankfully as it registered only a 6 on
the Richter scale and, as they're quite common in Chile we seemed to be the only ones who actually took any notice if it. So, amid talk of aftershocks and tsunamis we ventured into the casino. Turns out my roulette skills were not as well-honed as I had led myself to beieve and I wasted no time in losing my $20. Kate and Mark were somewhat luckier and emerged with only $1 lost after an incredible streak at the end which saw them win about 12 times in a row!
Sunday saw the continuation of Kate and Mark's now infamous mountain climbing escapades as we sought to climb La Campana (1910m) in the nearby national park. We arrived at 11am at the gate where the official told us that there was no way we could reach the top and be back before the park closed at 5 30 and under no circumstances were we to continue all the way to the summit. He emphasised this by marking a big red line on the map at the place we were to TURN AROUND AND GO NO FURTHER. With this in mind we promptly set off for the summit. For 3
and a half hours we climbed in the sweltering heat upwards along the path towards the summit which seemed to be getting no closer. Once we eventually made it to somewhere near the top the climbing became quite difficult as we clambered over rocks desperately trying to stay on the (by now, somewhat vague) trail. At 2. 30 at what I estimated to be another 20 mins from the summit we called a halt to the proceedings with the realisation that indeed we WEREN'T going to make it back in time. So in the shade of a large rock we took a quick rest, had lunch,wiped the melted chocolate of everything in my bag and set off down the mountain again. None of us we too disappointed as we knew we could have made it if we'd had even 30 mins extra. After 3 hours solid descending we reached the gate at 5 50, fully expecting to incur the wrath of the guard but thankfully he spared us this time. The walk back up to the hostel was nearly the end of us all.....
Mark and I had rock climbing booked for the next day in the nearby village
of Laguna Verde and after getting lost for an hour and vowing never to go anywhere without Kate again, we were scaling 20m rock faces in a tiny cove with our instructor Wolfgang and his dog which was a much better climber than either of us! My fear of heights ruled me out of the last route which Mark sped up with the minimum of grunting and groaning, leaving myself and Wolfgang to be soaked by an unfortunately large wave that left Wolfgang wringing out his shoes.
We left for Santiago the next day, checked into our hostel near the centre of the city and headed for the Plaza de Armas where Mark was accosted by some street performers and abused en Espanol in front of dozens of spectators! Now, since I arrived in Chile, Kate has been fascinating me with the practice of 'Coffee with legs' which, apparently is how many business men in Santiago relax after a hard day in the office. Basically in Santiago there are cafes in which the waitresses serve their customers in slightly revealing clothes..short skirts and low tops and the like. So, we all thought this sounded like a good way to
La Serena
Chillin in front of the telly spend the afternoon and Kate led us to one of these cafes marked out on the Lonely Planet map. "I think this is one of the more hardcore ones about" she warned us as we opened the door. Inside was what could really only be properly disguised as a seedy strip joint and if you squinted, you'd be hard pressed to find any clothes adorning the waitress at all! Aghast at the thought of being served anything in this place in the presence of our girlfriend/sister, Mark and I made a hasty exit despite Kate's protestations. We managed to find a more suitable one a little bit down the road where at least one could enjoy one's coffee without the threat of being leapt upon. Back at the hostel, mark and I tackled the problem of the many flies buzzing about the room by commencing "Project Icarus" which involved a can of deoderant, some matches and.........well you can guess the rest.
On Tuesday we relocated to another hostel and got a funicular up to the top of Cerro San Cristobal in Santiago which afforded some stunning views over the city. On the way down we took shelter from the
30+ degress heat in a public pool, badly needed! The day was topped off by a visit to the best steak joint in town where they serve some of the best meat this side of Argentina.
The next day was spent rafting in the Maipo valley about 90 minutes south of Santiago. The river looked prett-y filthy as it was glacial water full of dirt but once we hit the Grade 3-4 rapids it was all forgotten as it took all our concentration just to stay in the raft! But stay in it we did as we travelled 12km down through the valley with amazing views all around.
It wouldn't have been right to send me home without at least one more gambling binge so after that we visited the horse racing track in the south of city for a few hours for more gratuitus money wastage. Yet again I walked away a ruined man, the only one of the 3 of us not to have backed a winning horse. As a final send off, we decided to hit the town hard that night. Everything was going fine until we arrived at a club recommended by Lonely Planet.
La Serena
baggage reclaim form eaten! Now, I don't THINK I saw a sign outside saying it was Goth night but when we got inside that's certainly what we got! At first I thought I'd stumbled onto the set of a hammer horror movie but once the grim realisation set in that these were real people wearing giant black boots, pvc corsets, death make up and hair sticking out of their heads at dangerous angles, I knew there was only one thing we could do. Embrace it. So we danced the night away (on podiums!), as if we were one of them and a memorable night was had by all!
And so, it was with a heavy heart and a throbbing head that I departed Chile on the morning of the 22nd leaving the intrepid travellers to continue on their fantastic voyage and, Christmas presents exchanged and excess baggage unloaded on me I headed off from Santiago airport. With my irish rugby jersey on (so that if anything happened me people would know where to send me), I started into the new book I'd just picked up in Santiago airport to distract me from my fear of flying: Alive: the story of the Andes survivors.
It's about how a plane full of rugby players flying to Chile crashed in the Andes. Er......
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Gerard
non-member comment
Chilling out in Chile!
Great effort, Gregory! Not quite in the Kate/Mark category yet, but with a little practice.........???!!