Is this Europe?
Trip Start
Sep 28, 2005
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41
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Trip End
Jun 24, 2006
Santiago,
Chile
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Buenos Dias! We´ve dusted off our Spanish -- which is pretty close to nil since neither of us ever took any classes... :-P
After a refreshing stay at home for 2 weeks, we´re on the road again to start the South America portion of our trip. We flew to Santiago, the capital of Chile, and we´re very impressed with the city. It´s very modern and clean, and the downtown area could have been lifted from any U.S. or European city, with businessmen in dark suits, tourists toting cameras, street performers, people selling newspapers, and all manner of cars/buses on the road. Santiago is at an elevation of 1500 feet surrounded by mountains reaching upwards of 18000 feet, so it is a dramatic setting
01 Santiago
.We took a funicular and gondola to the top of a nearby hill for a great view of the city. An 80-foot statue of the Virgin Mary overlooks the city with arms outstretched. We also wandered by the Fish Market, which has all sorts of fresh seafood available (though they don´t throw the fish at you like at Pike Place in Seattle, so it´s not quite as lively here). We also saw little slices of life here: kids splashing in fountains, couples making out in the park, political rallies (there´s apparently a presidential election upcoming as there are campaign signs and leaflets all over the place).
We´ll be "overlanding" again for the next 6 weeks, camping in the national parks as we make our way a thousand miles to the tip of South America and then back up the east coast through Buenos Aries and to Rio. Our traveling companions number 23 again (another full truck, though hopefully it won´t be quite as hot and cramped as before), mostly British, but also including Austrian, Greek, and Danish.
Next update probably from the Lake District of southern Argentina, which is supposed to be the "Switzerland of South America". We look forward to the spectacular natural scenery that awaits us on this leg of the trip.
