Santiago: 27th - 29th March
27th March – Friday
Travelling to a new country always has it’s stress points and today was no exception. The journey itself was fabulous. I really could have done with closing my eyes for an hour once we boarded the bus but I was too scared of missing the something. I really didn’t need to be as the Andes are humongous and we spent the best part f the journey going through them. The climb was slow and so beautiful with the rock formations and colours continually changing. At one point we passed through an Andes town called Uspallata which is 2,039 meters above sea level and is nestled in a little valley. All of he trees were such a contrast to the rest of rocky scenery we had been driving through, it almost felt like we were down at sea level and not in the middle of the Andes mountains. We passed through quite a few much smaller residential areas which, from what I could see, were mainly restaurants or hostels. There was also an abandoned and broken down train line that ran the whole journey with us, at some points it ran so close to the edge of the cliff that I was surprised it was still there. It must have been such a scary journey by train. I also noticed the remnants of a fair few car / coach crashes and more abandoned stone houses than I could count.
It didn’t feel like long before we briefly stopped at a check point consisting of two red huts. We were not checked and ushered through really quickly. From there we entered the Cristo Redentor tunnel, later I learnt that the actual division between Argentina and Chile is half way through this tunnel. Once through the tunnel we came to the Chile immigration office, Complejo Los Libertados, which is 3,200 meters above sea level. After going through immigration I felt a bit confused because I hadn’t done anything to leave Argentina, so wasn’t sure if I had officially left it. I needn’t of worried, research informed me that this is a joint immigration zone so it is all done at once.
Oh my gosh, my first experience of Chile was hair-raising to say the least. The moment we were back on the road we started to head down a mountain. It was a rather steep series of 20+ hair pin bends called Los Caracoles (The Snail). It descends to 800 meters above seas level. Talk about dangerous and so much traffic going both ways, the traffic going up was going at a snails pass and I am glad our driver kept his foot on the brake so that we were also going nice and slowly. It would have been the end of us if he hadn’t. Once we reached the bottom I let my eyes close for a little while and had a relaxing doze with the sun shining in my face.
Again it didn’t seem to take too long to reach Santiago. After driving through the Andes the Chilean senary seemed flat and bland, but much greener and richer than the Mendoza area of Argentina, and I noticed quite a few housing complexes being built as we neared Santiago. I was also feeling a little concerned as I had no SIM card and no Chilean pesos. Uhm, seems to be the story of my life entering another country however, It wasn’t difficult to find an ATM at the bus station, I just asked someone, but trying to get money took 5 attempts. I tried asking a couple of people to help me but they ran off quite quickly – lol. However, one guy did read a couple of the screens before we got a useful message and, pointing to it he said ‘foreign card’ and then ran off. It was then that I saw a button for foreign cards, whoop whoop I got £40. I then tried for £100 but I was told I would exceed my limit – so I went for another £40. Finding a SIM shop wasn’t difficult either, but activating the damn thing took bloody ages. At one point the lady was going to give up as she couldn’t get internet access for the set up, I played around with my phone and logged onto the bus stations internet, so she was finally able to finish the process which also involve me doing a selfie verification photo – lol.
The taxi journey was long, but mainly due to traffic, My hostel is on the main bar and restaurant road in an area called Bellavista. The host gave me a choice of rooms so I took the back one. It is actually really quiet considering were we are, even more quiet than my Mendoza apartment, hopefully I will sleep well tonight. I have been for two walks since arriving at 5pm. One for food and the other for beer and breakfast stuff. WoW, this really is the street to be on if you love a drink and junk food, that is all it contains. It does however, have a nice feel to it and everyone seemed quite friendly and upbeat. My second walk was much later and all the party people were heading up the road, OMG, my red jeans were so out of place, all of the girls and women were in black – it’s goth heaven round here. LOL.
So, for now, I do not have much to say about Santiago except it looks and feels very much like any city, I noticed a lot of down and outs, especially by the river, the traffic was awful but then it was rush hour, there are far too many fast food joints, you can only buy take out beers from off licenses and all the young adults are goths.
28th March – Saturday
I am not happy, money has been withdrawn from my account for transactions yesterday at the ATM machines that were actually declined. A total of £180 has been taken by the Bank of Chile even though I did not receive the money. So I spent the entire morning writing an email and trying to find an email address to send it to. Having no luck I decided to just go directly to Starling and raise the issue with them, but I read that I needed the identification numbers of the ATM machines I had used. OMG, I really didn’t want to sit in traffic and pay Uber fairs for a return journey to the bus terminal. So I did a little research and it turns out that Santiago has the most comprehensive metro system in the whole of Latin America. And to top things off, the red line that is a 10 minute walk from my hostel, goes all the way to the bus terminal – what a touch. And it was so easy to use, you have to buy a BIP card which is then topped up for the amount of journeys you want to do. The stations have clear maps and the trains have a tannoy system announcing each station just before you arrive. It was so similar to using the London underground that I could just sit back and enjoy the ride.
The bus terminal is actually far bigger than it appeared when I arrived and I had to walk through 2 station areas before I found the one I arrived in, but once there I did not have any problems locating the machines that I used or their numbers. Returning to my hostel was just as easy and the journey there and I was a happy puppy. I sent messages to Starling and then much to my delight I found an email address for Bank of Chile, they have since replied stating that my issues will be sent to the correct department – horary for that.
I like Santiago, especially this area. During the afternoon I went for a walk to a botteleria, which is an off-licences. The general shops don’t sell beer or wine. But I am glad as the walk was fabulous, there is so much wall art in this area, I spent ages taking photos. There is a really cool vibe about this neighbourhood and I must have counted at least 5 night clubs just along the road that I live on, not that I can hear them from my room. The trend sis definitely goth and gay, I must research why as there doesn’t really seem to much divergence from this, even the people more my age seem to be goth like, or at least wearing mainly black. Anyway I bought a nice bottle of wine and some fruit before returning to my room.
I spent the rest of the afternoon booking my Galapagos cruise. I am so happy. Not only did I find a site that has huge discounts, I also realised that the prices are in US dollars. The 8 day cruise that I have now booked myself on was originally just over $5000, I got it for $2100 which is about £1530 – talk about happy. All I need to do is book my return flights, but I am waiting to hear from the cruise company about the arrival and departure times so I can book appropriate flights. Uhm, I did this sitting on the back balcony and swear blind that I left my room open, but it was locked and the keys were in the room. This actually baffled me. I had to wait for almost 2 hours for the guy to return to open the door for me. Once in I tried several times to
lock myself out without the key but I couldn’t. You need a key to lock the door, so I am now wondering who the fuck locked me out of my room. A question I will probably never have answered.
By the time I had access to my room I was starving and pissed from demolishing the bottle of wine, it was late so I just popped downstairs to the sushi restaurant and had the sushi burger. OMG, it was huge, deep fried and so delicious. Luckily the deep frying bit was only to make the outer coating crispy, the inside sushi bit was not fried or greasy, it was absolutely delicious, and I have returned with a rather big fat full belly. Don’t you just love it when a bad day turns into a good day.
29th March – Sunday
My last day in Santiago so I went for a bit of a sight seeing stroll. I took some more photos of the wall art in this area, I absolutely love it. When done well it is decorative and tells many stories. My walk took me across a large metal bridge and into Parque Forestal. The main road running through the park was closed off to cars so only people, i.e. joggers, cyclist etc. and families strolling could go down them. It is such a lovely social thing to do and I have noticed it happened a lot in Latin America, especially on Sunday mornings. I wonder if it because so many of them live in apartments without gardens and this is a means of getting them out and exercising?
I walked to the Museo Bellas Artes, which is located in a neoclassical palace which was built in 1910. The building was stunning, beautifully decorated, and I am sure the exhibition it houses is just as stunning but I did not go in. Instead I continued my walk to the Plaza de Armas where I admired the Monument al Pueblo Indigena, the monument to Pedro de Valdivia and the Catedral Metroplitana de Santiago de Chile. As I arrived the Catedral was emptying and almost everyone was carrying a woven palm fond, known as a palaspas or ramos. I had totally forgotten it is the beginning of holy week and Easter is next Sunday. Ha ha I am going to be spending Easter Sunday on Easter Island!
After I had my fill of people watching, and there was a lot to watch, I headed to my final destination, Cerro Santa Lucia. As I was not going to see the city view from the Funicular de Cerro, which I should have done as it is literally just behind my hostel, I decided I should do this view instead. Just outside the entrance to the park is a beautiful water feature of Neptuno y Anfitrite. I was waiting for a couple of women to move so I could photograph it when this hippy looking trampy guy started to stare at me. The women didn’t move so I took a zoomed in photo and started to leave when this guy lunged at me and did some sort of karate kick – luckily he missed and I quickly circled around him and into the park. There are some weird people in this world!
The walk to the top of Cerro Santa Lucia was not too bad. It was mainly steps, however they were made from rocks and stones so very uneven and in places a little precarious. There were a couple of balconies to stop and rest, I bought an ice cream on one and had a good rest before finishing the final assent. Wow the view was amazing. 360 degrees of Santiago. And I absolutely love that the Andes can be seen, although they were a bit hazy, and the peaks were snow covered giving them a magic look. It was definitely worth the walk and climb.
Anyway I am having an early night as I have to leave at 7am for my flight. It is not until after 10am but I do like to get the airport early especially as I am checking in my rucksack and that can be stressful if the queues are long and time is short.
