The Great Smog Bowl
Trip Start
Feb 14, 2006
1
15
104
Trip End
Ongoing
Santiago,
Chile
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Another Great Steet Scene
. In fact, I was remarking to Kelly that Chile has been unique, in that I have felt safe in every place weīve been. Valpraiso is a virtual ROY G. BIV of colors. Every house is a different shade which wouldnīt sound too good too most people in urban development, but it works here. Think of that famous picture of the row houses in San Fran, and that might give you an idea of what Iīm talking about. The town had lots of cool parks and we enjoyed a nice leisurely day of just looking around. The weather wasnīt so hot, but weīve been very lucky over all. Back at our hostel, we met lots of cool folks. But most interesting to me was Nicola, a lady from the UK who told me she was in the music business. After a bit of prying and a few glasses of ridiculously cheap and tasty Chilian wine, she told me that she was the former manager of Oasis and Johnny Mars of The Smiths (no relation to my wife, the artist formally known as Ms. Smith.) She had a few funny stories, but didnīt divulge anything too juicy. She was taking some time off to travel. I guess babysitting rock stars is pretty stressful stuff. The next day at noon we headed to Santiago. I have to admit, I wasnīt expecting much from Santiago. Everything that I had heard was that it was huge, full of smog, dirty, and a general mess. Well, some of this is true. Itīs HUGE... six million people call it home and virtually none of them live in the suburbs. This is because there really isnīt any room for suburbs. The city is absolutely surrounded by massive mountains. Which leads to the second truth, it is very smoggy. So much so, that it basicly obscures those fore mentioned mountains most of the day. I have to say though, that the smog didnīt really bother me much. In fact, I thought Santiago was very modern, clean, and progressive. The problem is, that they have SIX MILLION PEOPLE living there.
Me and Ricky... over served
. and the smog is trapped by the mountains, so it's just always there. When Kelly and I got there we tried to agree on a place to stay, but alas could not. Spending every waking moment with the same person, no matter how much you love them, is stressful. So we agreed that I would go check out a hostel that the all knowing Lonely Planet had recommended, and Kelly would have a break from the 200lb tumor sheīs been lugging around South America. So I trudged through the central city using only my broken sense of direction and the LP map as my guide. I finally found the hostel that they recommended and went inside. I guess you shouldnīt believe everything you read... This place looked as if it had been decorated by David Berkowitz. After seeing the reception desk, I canīt quite say why I decided I needed to see a room. But the only thing missing was a few chalk lines and a heroin addict in the hallway with a needle in his neck. It was the most disgusting place Iīve ever been in. Thatīs saying a lot, seeing as I was a FIJI at Ohio University, where you show your love and respect for the Frat house by vomiting in the bathroom sink. I found Kelly and we agreed to stay in a more expensive place. So much for saving a few bucks. Our Hostel was actually very cool. It was a massive mansion called Casa Roja and it had people from everywhere there. It was by far the biggest hostel weīve stayed in so far and definitely the most well run. The next day, Kelly and I decided to have "Choose Your Own Adventure" day
Meat at the Santiago Market
. Basicly, after two and a half months together, we needed a day apart. I went and posted a story on my blog in the morning and then just started walking. I ended up in a massive wholesale fruit market. It was very cool. There is a shit load of fruit grown in Chile and I did my best to eat it all. The apples here taste like candy. I bet you Iīve eaten at least a bushel of them so far. I went from there through the meat market (always interesting) to the part where the locals eat their lunch at these make shift restaurants. I was just "browsing" until I saw this plate of shell fish in front of me that I couldnīt resist. If this were in the states, it would have cost about $15.00. Here it was about $2.00. So I sat down and enjoyed one of the best seafood meals Iīve ever had.... While I was watching some one saw the hoofs off of a cow carcass. So Iīm having a beer and taking in the sights when this cat next to me starts talking to me in broken English. I respond in broken Spanish... and the next thing you know, weīre having a bottle of wine and telling jokes. His name was Ricardo and it was his day off so he was making sure to enjoy himself. I guess it was my "day off" in a sense too, so we were kindred spirits in that regard. After we killed that bottle of kool aid, he asked me if I wanted to go back to his house and drink more beers. I thought it was a bit weird, but he seemed cool, so we went and grabbed a cab. First though, we stopped at his sonīs school. This too, I thought was weird, but hey, whenīs the next time Iīm going to be in a Chilian Prep School? So Ricardo gets his son out of class and brings him down to say hello
More Art
. Nothing more, Just "Son, this is my amigo, Nate". He was a nice kid... From the school we walked a few blocks to Casa de Ricardo. Along the way, my new chum thought it was in good taste to whistle at every girl that walked by, or tell them that I was from Chicago. Normally, I would have been embarrassed, but what the hell.. I wasnīt going to see any of these people ever again.. I had deduced from our pathetic bilingual conversations that he was divorced and worked as a waiter in an upscale Tapas place. After seeing this mo-foīs crib, Iīm going to start tipping better. He invited me to sit down on his bed which looked like he had shop lifted it from that hostel I was just bitching about. I declined.. he went and got us a few beers and we just stood there in his tiny apartment drinking them. He had no TV or couch. Just a MASH cot and a folding chair. He did, however, pull out the worldīs tiniest transistor radio and tried to tune in some Reggaeton for us to listen to. After just kind of standing around and drinking our beers, I suggested that we go to a bar and get a pitcher. I chose a bar right by Casa Roja so I could make a quick get away if necessary. The situation was a little weird, not scary weird, but more sad I guess.. I donīt think old Ricky has that many friends. Anyway, we drank a few pitchers and I noticed that my buddy wasnīt talking so much any more. I just figured he was deep in thought.. until he stared snoring. So I paid the bill and split. No need waking him up. This guy needed the rest. All in all, a pretty funny day. I met up with Kelly a little later. She spent the day going to museums and parks. The sad part was that I had the camera. My only photos were of my lunch, Ricardo in various states of drunken silliness, and a side of beef laying on the blacktop. Iīm quite the Ansel Adams..The next day Kelly took me around to show me the rest of the city. Iīm not kidding folks, Santiago is an honest to go metropolis. Furthermore, Chile has floored me with how nice and modern it is. We walked through beautiful neighborhoods, drank coffee in great cafes, took a ride on the cleanest subway Iīve ever seen, and took a nap in a park. At the end of the day, we climbed a hill and watched the sun go down. In praise of smog.. it does make a mean sunset.
That night we caught a night bus to Pucon in The Lake District. Iīll try to write about this in the next day or so.
