Life in Santiago
Trip Start
Sep 13, 2006
1
86
108
Trip End
Ongoing
Santiago,
Chile
Friday, May 4, 2007
Once up in the morning, I met up with Matt and Karla and the three of us headed into the city centre for a look around. Despite being the most developed country in South America, pollution is a problem in Chile and this was on show in Santiago. There appears to be a permanent light haze around (smog) and the river we crossed to get into the city absolutely stank!
We found our way into the main square and had a look at the Cathedral, which was very impressive
Ian introducing a bottle of wine
. After a while we finally managed to find the main shopping area and located a cafe to have a bite to eat in. My attempt to order in Spanish failed, so I just pointed at the menu that fortunately had pictures on it. The afternoon´s entertainment consisted of football back at the hostel in the form of AC Milan verses Man Utd, where the Italians gave a masterclass to the soon-to-be English champions. A few of us then wondered around the local area and took pictures of some very bright buildings - common in this part of the world apparently.That evening the hostel manager, Ian, did a wine tasting event, in which 16 people from the hostel (about two-thirds of the hostel) took part. We were tasting red wine and despite being a white-wine drinker, I did find a few that I liked. My two favourites were the cheapest and the most expensive wines.
Once the wine was finished and after five of us failed to get into a tapas bar, about 11 of us headed out and sampled Pisco in a local bar. Pisco is a local drink that is like a cocktail, but has the strength of a short. Although it also contains egg white, it tasted pretty nice and I´m sure I´ll be having another one of those in the future. We then attempted to get into a Salsa club, but were told they were closing early (2:30am) - damn Wednesday nights
Karla and Min
. We ended up in a club called Jammin´, which was a dive. The beer was served in one litre bottles and you had to pay at one counter, before giving your receipt to the person behind the bar - all very strange.The following day I was feeling the after-effects of the previous night´s activities with a worse than usual hang-over. I tried to get rid of this by climbing the hill that overlooks Santiago with a few of the others in the hostel. The climb was a bit harder than we expected, but the views (despite the light smog) were worthwhile. At the top of the hill is the Cerro San Cristobal monument - a religious monument, similar to the famous one in Rio, but a lot smaller. Apparently most South America cities have one of these. Also at the top is an open-air theatre that we assumed was used for mass (with Chile being a Catholic country).
The evening´s activity was a free (we tipped the teacher) Salsa lesson, provided by one of the instructors from the local Salsa school. Now anyone that knows me, knows that I can´t dance and worst of all, I know that. This meant I had no confidence at all when we started. However, I did managed to get into it, even if I was being led by my female partners (as the male I´m supposed to lead). It the end, I managed to master a few steps and everyone enjoyed themselves, which I suppose is all that mattered
Learning to Salsa dance 1
. The evening was finished with a big game of cards.After my first good night´s sleep in South America I sorted out my plans for the next few weeks. I booked a ten-day trip that covered the north of Chile for a week´s time, return flights to Easter Island after the trip and a bus ticket to Mendoza in Argentina for the following day. I´d been recommended the bus journey over the Andes by Mario in Fiji, so as I had about to week to kill, I thought I have a quick visit.
During the day I also visited a museum with Ronan, Lorna and Min to capture a bit of culture and Min even managed to get us in cheaper, e.g. four for the price of four. Once back at the hostel I volunteered to cut Ronan´s hair for him, as he couldn´t be bothered to go to a barbershop. Despite only having blunt scissors and a razor with no attachments to use, I think I did a reasonable job! The four of us decided to cook together and we had a very tasty beef stir fry, before finishing the evening off with wine and a chocolate brownie at the tapas place I´d failed to get into the other night. I then said my goodbyes as I had an early start the following morning to get my bus across the border into Argentina...
D.
