Santiago
Trip Start
May 07, 2008
1
64
90
Trip End
Jan 06, 2009
Santiago,
Chile
Monday, November 3, 2008
First, please be prepared. This is a long blog. We spent a week in Santiago and we didn't quite expect it to turn out the way it did!! You may need a coffee....or a stiff drink.....!
Well, afternoon Santiago was hot as it's getting close to their summer time. A welcome relief after chilly NZ. Our flight from NZ was 11 hours, crossing the International Date line meaning we arrived in Santiago before we left NZ!! (David: Something I got very excited about, and still am very excited about. Not often you get the chance to experience two 1:32pm Mon 3rd's. We were packing in Auckland at this time AND drinking orange juice in Santiago)
We were looking forward to Santiago
Chile by flight
. Not just because it was South America and somewhere completely different but also because not since Thailand had we calmed down. Every single day we were up, sightseeing, on the move, driving, checking in, checking out, moving again, more sightseeing. We needed a couple of days downtime so Santiago would be slowing our pace a little. Well, at least that's what we hoped anyway.....The Hotel was in a district called Providencia, about 10mins from the city centre. Hotel Orly was small, friendly and surrounded by restaurants, bars and shopping. Our room was nice but small with a lovely view of a tin roof below us!! I asked for a nicer room as we were on honeymoon (forgot to mention this on booking!) so they moved us to a slightly larger room with a street view instead. It was a good room. As we were starting to unpack, reception called and said they would move us again tomorrow morning to a much nicer, bigger room. So, in 24 hours we would have moved rooms 3 times. Nothing like making yourself known to Hotel Staff from the outset! We were absolutely knackered from the flight and a bit jet lagged too probably.
I sent a quick email that night to some contacts that we were due to meet up with in Santiago. They are the brother, Rene and wife, Carmen Luisa, of friends of mine in Coventry and another friend, Isobel
Exquisite view by air
. It would be good to meet them for a quick drink one night...................The next day we ventured out for a wander, to do the Lonely Planet's recommended city walking tour. Santiago is indeed a beautiful city. (David: I had no idea what Chile would be like... I was half expecting something close to India, I probably couldn't be more wrong!) We bought freshly squeezed orange juice from a street vendor - so deliciously sweet it made you wince. We walked through a beautiful park with fountains and schoolkids snogging and locals lounging on the grass under the sun. Every now and then were glimpses of the snow capped peaks of the Andes between the high rises.
We walked down a street with a bit of commotion and tons of shredded paper being thrown about. There was chanting, stamping and whistles being blown. It was a demonstration outside what looked like a Bank that was shut. People were holding banners saying something like Free Chile from Britain or at least all I could recognise were the words 'free' 'Chile' and 'Britannica' so it was something like that and a Spanish man tried to explain with little success. (David: Hmm... I think it was a fundraiser at a British language school... still, viva la revolution eh?)
We then got a bit lost - Lonely planet said to start the walking tour at La Poem, a café. It was nowhere near where the dot on the map indicated. I knew a little Spanish to ask two policmen but they eventually said it was up the road from where we had just come from! Near the second place on the walking tour: The Bibliotheca National. We re-traced our steps back to the Biblioteca
Heavenly skies of chile
. It was a fantastically ominous stone building with a number of wide steps climbing up to the impressive columbed entrance and glass doors, housing historical archives, antique books and a map room. On closer examination of the badly written Lonely Planet we realised that La Poem was INSIDE the Bibliotheca National. However, inside we were confronted with a vast, echoing, marble foyer and a museum map, in Spanish (David: How dare Johnny Foreigner have their own languages) and no sodding café. We wandered around blindly before stopping a lady and asking her in Spanish and then a guy from an office who eventually led us there himself! What a palavar! The coffee shop was indeed really lovely. Tall ceilings with a mezzanine above, sun streaming through elongated windows and the splintering echoes of high heels on the floor and briefcases slapped onto tables. We grabbed a menu and chose food - we were starving. (David: Yep, just Food. Generic, nondescript Food of a Foody nature) However, no food was being served. Right. So then David tried to order 2 cokes but the waiter didn't understand, so speaking English in a Spanish accent (made sense to me!) I then asked for dos cocks by mistake! Swiftly following it with "cocka cola por favour". He seemed to understand FINALLY and went away. Phew! Some minutes later he returned to our table........ ...After we finished our two coffees, (!?) we walked some more and came across the local opera theatre which was very grand with cobbled streets and the sun beating down on its white ornate façade before we stopped at a café for some nosh.
Santiago was not as 'primitive' as we expected. It was a busy bustling city with traffic and people but it was a really pretty, easy city to be in
Beautiful building in Santiago
. No stress or chaos. I don't know what we were worried about! (David: In fact it's a very lovely, safe, place.)When we got back to the Hotel, I had an email from Carman saying she would collect us the next night from our Hotel for dinner at her place. Fantastic. Also, we moved into our new room. Our third room in 24 hours. This room was indeed brighter and bigger.
The next day, we did nothing. David and I stayed up until 6am watching the US elections on TV so we were both knackered and the flight still so we slept most of the day. Carman and Rene collected us at 8pm and we went to their apartment nearby. They are both really warm, friendly people and cooked us a delicious dinner. We gave them some wine but they insisted we try a Chilean drink called Pisco Sour which is basically lemon juice with a high level of alcohol in it. It was SCRUMPTIOUS and after 2 sherry-sized glasses I was as silly as a kitten! They also plied on us Pina Colada - already mixed. GORGEOUS!!! We met their children, Francisco and Magdalene who are in their 20's and really friendly. Isobel, the other friend, then turned up who was also lovely (David: Bingo! That's another Full House of Lovely) but a bit more serious though. During dinner, Sergio, our friend in Coventry called which was a great surprise - he was just making sure we were being looked after by his family!! There was lots of chatting going on with Sergio and then lots more between everyone afterwards - all in Spanish...so we guzzled the Pisco Sour! We just smiled a lot, and chatted with Francisco and Magdalene. Francisco explained that Rene, Carman and Isobel were organising our itinerary... we were a great excuse for them to have a little holiday! We wondered what they were planning
David and a steep bridge in Santiago
. It was great as we would probably get to see a side to Santiago that we never would have but it was also a shock, an act of such generosity that we didn't quite expect. So welcoming.After dinner, Isobel, Rene and Carman took us into nearby Barrio Bellavista which is another suburb of Santiago. The colourful and ornate architecture here is stunning. Very bohemian area popular with painters, writers, dancers. Pablo Neruda, the famous poet had a house here. In 1971 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature and Gabriel García Márquez deemed him "the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language". He was a political activist as well and held many diplomatic posts before he was arrested for this and then dying of heart failure later on. So, now you know! I was introduced to him while in Santiago. (David: HOW? He died of heart failure you said...)
We parked up and went into a bar playing extremely loud live Spanish music so we sat outside drinking Pisco Sour. Parking is great in Chile, they have traffic wardens, but they're more like bus conductors! You drive down a street and they direct you to a parking space. Afterwards you pay them directly. Only on busy streets though, I assume. (David: This might work for some enterprising young people in Britain..
Santa Lucia building in Santiago
. lounge around a busy street and direct traffic to parking spots. Although in Britain I think it might be called extortion, or a protection racket.). We were dropped off that night back at the hotel, Rene and Carmen were picking us up the next day for a day trip out... so we had to check out of our hotel the following day. We wondered what on Earth they had planned for us. The next day, we learnt that Rene had taken the week off work from his engineering for the local Council and Carman had called a sickie from her Social Working. They both had busy, stressful jobs so we were very privileged. So, packed into Rene's little car, we all zoomed down the motorway, listening to a Chilean music CD, while the stunning snow-capped, heaven-high Andes Mountains surrounding our car lulled us into a dreamy state. (David: To get out of town we passed the national stadium. This is where Pinochet had hundreds of people held prisoner, tortured and murdered in the 70s. It's akin to going to Auschwitz, and evokes similar feelings. It's an incredible thing that the Chilean people have bounced back from, those dark times in a single generation. We didn't go in or anything, but just driving past was enough.)
On the way to our our first stop, Santo Dominigo, we drove through beautiful farm land, with winding roads and acres of eucalyptus trees
After a day's walking in Santiago-Pollution Feet!
. Rene pulled over and Carman got out and broke off some small branches of eucalyptus and lay them in the car making the car smell heavenly! Santo Dominigo is a beautiful City-by-the-Sea with long stretches of dark volcanic sand and an array of various ocean-vista houses and apartments, mainly holiday homes. It was quite cold and overcast though, so the sea was really rough and frothy and most of the houses were shut up although the fishermen on the beach seemed to be happy! Next, we were taken to San Antonio. This is a very busy port. The largest in Chile and the busiest for freight in the West Coast of South America. When we arrived, there was a massive building development going on - an ocean front of casino, shops, restaurants, apartments etc so there was an abundance of cranes, JCB's, piles of sand and cement and a hoard of oily men. Hurrah!! (David: Who knew the Universal Bilders Code of appreciating a woman... ie: The Wolf Whistle. Which Lois got a lot of. It must have been because of her lovely winning smile...) (Lois: No, darling it was because of my see through dress.) We walked along the front just beyond this though where there was a plethora of tourist shops and ice cream stalls. Actually really pretty, with pelicans gliding back and forth with their Boeing 747-sized wings just touching the mirrored surface. Stunning. Then we walked to the nearby fish market. I've been to some fish markets in my time and I love it - the smell, the action, the bustle, it's fascinating
All of us at dinner the first night of meeting
. But this fish market beats all other fish markets!!! It was bog standard, nothing particularly unusual. UNTIL we saw the SEALS!! Each the size of a submarine!!!!! Lounging around on the rocks in the baking sun beneath the fish market platform. We leant over the balcony to observe them below us and their obese hulk of a body was just incredible. How the hell they moved from rock to rock was just staggering. As we watched one move to a different rock, he obviously encountered his enemy as the pair of them started barking (??) and biting each other. Their teeth are like Jaws. Despite all of this though, they were absolutely beautiful creatures. Their faces were like little puppies, all crumpled and whiskery. Like my grandma was without her teeth in.Next, we were taken to Pomaire. We had an interesting discussion in the car. Chile is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity. The last earthquake was in 1985 in Valparaiso (more on this place later) but also reached and affected the port of San Antonio where we had gone earlier as well as Santiago itself. 177 dead, 2,575 injured and 142,489 homes destroyed with approx 1 million people now homeless. The Chaiten Volcano, 800 miles South of Santiago, also caused considerable mayhem in May 2008 when a lightening storm and the eruption of the volcano coincided. The volcano had not erupted for thousands of years. Lava spewed out and ash shrouded everything like a white christmas
Lois, Rene & live spanish music!
. People were evacuated from homes and villages, water was contaminated, schools were closed. Pomaire is a small village set amidst very beautiful scenic hills which are abundant in natural clay. As a result the local community is abundant with little shops that all sell pottery! Also, in the village there is a local tradition of giving little pig statues (Chanchitos) to friends and family for good luck. David and I didn't give or receive though! We wandered around, I bought a gorgeous necklace, we bought a little wooden ornament (too rude to describe here!!) and we bought Carman and Rene a present. We also ate Empanadas. Empanadas are basically huge cornish pasties but tastier. If that's possible! Cooked in a big clay oven. It had been a fantastic but tiring day. We were knackered!
The next day, we were collected by Rene early in the morning and then him and Isobel took us to Pueblito Los Dominicos Craft Market. This is a rabbit warren of cobbled alleyways housing craft shops and stalls with local goods all made by local people. It is fantastic. Most materials are all natural and goods range from traditional toys to children's clothes, jewellery, handbags and greetings cards. Really beautiful place. I was drawn in by the stunning jewellery but didn't buy anything -Extraordinary!
Gal, Rene & Carman's dog panting for a tickle!!
! And David was drawn in by the wooden puzzles!After this, we met Carman at home who had just skived off work again (!) and then we all bundled into the car and went to the seaside for the week end!! Isobel's son had agreed to let us all stay at an apartment he rents out in Vina Del Mar. Isobel drove, Rene navigated and Carman, David and I sat in the back eating oranges and singing! The drive was nice, the weather was grey . We got to Valparaiso first which is next to Vina Del Mar, arriving from a high, winding road where the view below us was stunning. To the left was Valparaiso and to the right Vina Del Mar and beyond the winking, sapphire ocean.
Valparaiso is a beautiful place with a harbour heaving with bobbing fishing boats, tourist gift shops and fish and chip stalls. Valparaíso was once a stopping point for ships travelling between the Atlantic and Pacific. It was also known by sailors as Little San Francisco" or "The Jewel of the Pacific." It's dominated mainly now by the large freight industry along the front but it really is still a pretty little place with a few funicular railways running up to the top of the hill overlooking the whole region.
Isobel immediately got us onto a small boat for a tour around the harbour
Rene, Lois & Carman at San Domingo
. 'Delboy' and 'Rodders' as David and I nicknamed them, were the un-likeliest looking boat tour guides you had ever seen! Big moustaches, army jackets, gold jewellery. Delboy later asked if any of us wanted to steer so I jumped up! It's hard!! I thought turning that wheel would be easy! (David: Visions of pirouetting around the canals of Amsterdam with Lois in charge comes to mind.) After 5 minutes of frantic wheel spinning trying to avoid the looming platform of the freight-loading area (David: And harbour wall... just like Amsterdam again really), Delboy thankfully took over again and then we broke down! We all hitched our thumbs out at a passing boat as Rodders yanked the engine's ripcord to try to start it!! It spluttered, started, we went, it stopped, Rodders rip-corded, it started, we went, it spluttered and stopped, we bobbed and so it went on for the next 5 minutes back to the harbour. Very funny. Valparaiso is also where Pablo Neruda had a house. As well as in Santiago, both of which are now open to the public. Finally, we got to Vina del Mar and to the apartment of Isobel's Son. The building was on the seafront but our apartment faced the back residential streets sadly. The apartment was small but was perfect for a week end away. There were only two rooms though. One with a double bed and one with a bunk bed. I insisted David and I have the bunks but Carman and Rene were having none of it and poor Isobel slept on a spare mattress on the living room floor
2 angry sealions
! We went out for a walk along the front as the sun set. Beautiful. Not particularly warm but the beaches were packed with early evening dog-walkers, friends playing guitar, couples hugging and joggers. Also stalls selling jewellery, sweets, gifts. Beautiful place. Back at the flat, we cracked open some Pisco Sour and ate bread and cheese and olives while we watched Titanic in spanish!! Bizarre. Much better than in English!
The next day, we were taken to nearby Renaca Beach. Here, is the first British School in Chile, The Mackay School, which was a girls school until 2007 and then boys only. It was a beautiful, cloudless day and the beach was filling up. The waves were incredible, roaring up and spewing white foam down onto the shore. 2 surfers tried to ride the waves but it was impossible. (David: Their persistence was fascinating. They'd launch themselves 10 metres out to sea, and promptly be dumped back on the beach. As if the Ocean was saying: 'I'm busy, I haven't got time to play... sit there.' They kept at it though, unaware of the law of diminishing returns.) Facing the beach are the apartments. These are built on the side of hill so they are all staggered up this hill and to reach your apartment you can either walk (mad fool!) or you can take the little funicular each has next to it
Sealions and fishermen
. Most of these apartments are holiday apartments. There is no privacy. It is literally "how many apartments can we fit onto the side of this hill?" and everyone's window and balcony overlooks everyone else's. Know thy neighbour....Next on the agenda was Concon up the road. This was a bizarre place. Again, a long stretch of golden sand and the ocean waves smashing their froth down before you, but high up, beyond the road-side rock faces, were sand dunes!! Like a desert in the sky. So odd! There was a great little walk that took you down paths and over boulders facing the ocean and you could see the whole sweeping curve of the beaches from Concon to Valparaiso. Just stunning indeed.
Next stop was a long drive to Horcon where we had lunch. Horcon is a small fishing village with a plethora of fishing boats, whiskery fishermen smiling toothlessly, stray dogs and the place is famous for, as Isobel put it: "hippies and the gays"!!! Homosexuality is still quite frowned upon in Chile. There was a 'hippie' with a long black beard and sunglasses selling jewellery. Looked like John Lennon! He was pointed out to us as though he were a national monument!! We walked down the beach and went for an explore over the massive boulders on a corner of a beach. Once over the other side, we saw a beautiful rock archway where waves slushed in and the sun's rays rainbowed inside
Overlooking San Antonio Port
. Gorgeous. I also found a needle and lots of broken glass on the rocks. Nice.We went for lunch in one of the many seafood restaurants, shacks really. We opted for seafood empanadas which were absolutely delicious while watching the ocean from the little wooden windows and chatting and drinking beer. After lunch we had to pass by 'John Lennon' to get to the car. I wanted my photo with him, after all he was a hippie and you don't see many of them... He was great fun and his 'wife' there was also very funny. None of them could speak English so Isobel translated and as we walked away, hippie's wife shouted to Isobel that David was very handsome and she wanted to eat him! (David: Gulp !?!) The most hysterical thing is that she was the double of David's mother!!
Our final stop of the day was the best stop. Ever. Zapallara was another beach town and absolutely exquisite. Like a watercolour painting. On high hills surrounding the long sandy beach, are beautiful, expansive oceanic houses with private paths down to the beach. Their gardens, wild labyrinths of plants, trickling fountains, flagstone steps and inconspicuous gardeners in hats watering the vibrant array of exotic flowers. Just exquisite. We walked along the sweeping beach path, where waiters giddily ran around tables outside serving crisp white wine and steaming garlic mussels, and American tourists in big hats clicked demonically away at the stunning vista...: 'Oh My Gad...' At the end of the walkway was another bar/restaurant where we went for a coffee - well I had more Pisco Sour!
Me and some pottery pots in Pomaire!
! As we sat at white tablecloths, to our side was the rocky drop down to the beach where Herons waited for their supper to wash up on the shingled beach. Seagulls cried at each other and glided above and the occasional paint-cracked fishing boat bobbed close to shore waiting for its owner to return. Isobel adored this place and I caught her fervour. All you could do was just sit and watch and listen and smell the salty air. Just so so exquisite. Adored. (David: It really is the most surprisingly gorgeous place, like San Tropez but with the Pacific rather than the Med.)We had an interesting discussion. We gave Carman and Rene and Isobel our blog details and Carman wanted to know why I was Perryman and no longer Portelli! Because I'm married of course! But this was bizarre to them! In Chile, a woman keeps her maiden name forever but when she has children then their name becomes a double barrel of their mother's maiden name and her husband's name. If a woman is single, then the child will take on the mother's maiden name and any surname of their mother's parents or grandparents. They found it bizarre that I would 'lose my identity' just because I was married and I explained that I could keep my maiden name but to take David's name makes me feel more of a wife. They were saying 'David owns you now' like I was an object but they were just trying to understand our culture. Odd but fascinating
Empanadas and the clay oven
. Kind of made me feel a bit sad as though I was indeed losing my identity, my past life was now erased and now I was married to David everything changes. (David: Damn right woman!) I was just caught up in the discussion though. I'm as happy as a puppy to be David's wife and am so lucky to have him. I can see where they were coming from. (David: Made me feel like a chauvinist, but I asked what name her daughter would take when she gets married...: "Well, Rene's..." , "so your name gets lost in time?" , "Well, yes..." Aha! Not so different really then, and we explained that in Britain it's a choice these days, no longer a rule.)Finally, we started our drive back to the apartment in Vina del Mar. It had been such a fascinating and fantastic day but we were all knackered! We got back and snacked and we showed everyone our wedding photos then were all in bed by 10pm.
The next day was Sunday, our last day at the seaside! We packed up, packed the car up and drove into Valparaiso. I wanted to go on the funicular that takes you up the hill, overlooking the ocean and the whole coast. It was a rickety old funicular with wooden floor boards and windows that wobbled slightly as you went up. At the top of the hill was a small line of stalls selling tourist gifts and a small bandstand area where you could stand and WOW down at the vista. A little old man played the violin beautifully so I gave him some money. Gotta look after the oldies!
Isobel took us to the Maritime Museum which was fascinating. It was a beautiful building with a large courtyard and external runways with balconies. Lots of seafaring paintings and historical accounts and all that stuff
Craftsman at Pueblito Los Domingos
!After the funicular we got back in the car and after about 20mins, Carman, David and I were snoring in the back seat, Rene was snoring in the front seat and Isobel hummed along to the radio as she drove us home. When we got back to Santiago, the pace was immediately picked up, Carman went straight into the kitchen and rustled up some lunch and Rene went out and bought some roast chickens! We drank Pisco Sour and red wine and ate chicken and rice. It was great. Isobel offered to take us back to the Hotel however, she had drunk too much at lunch so David and I were ordered to bed in the spare room for a lie down as though we were naughty children. It was really funny. We lay on the bed and watched tv and then 2 hours later, a knock on our door denoted it was time to leave.
We said goodbye to Everyone and were genuinely sad. Carman, Rene and Isobel had been the most wonderful Santiago hosts, lavishing us with delicious food, looking after us, showing us sights and places we would never have seen. They were funny, cuddly, warm, friendly and just great fun. We only expected to have dinner with them!! Their generosity of spirit and time was amazing. Kidnapped from a planned week of doing nothing... but kidnapped in the best possible way.
Back at the Hotel, we caught up with blogs and packed for our flight tomorrow to Buenos Aires. Santiago had been a welcome relief. We didn't really know what to expect, well, perhaps a bit like India maybe? But it was nothing like that whatsoever. It was clean, efficient, friendly and a historically fascinating country.
Love, us xxxxxxxxx
