When we first met, it was all exciting and new and hot, I was blown away really, in a wonderland. But as time went on dear, I got to know you, and now all that’s cold and faded and tired. It’s no sueno en vivo nada mas, and I’m not in love with you Santiago. Tonight I’m leavin’ you for good, dear friend, and I probably won’t be back. The one, my true love, mi corazon from the beginning—California—waits for me patiently, and after a brief but sure-to-be-unforgettable affair with Peru, I’m headed home to her. Don’t get me wrong darling, I wouldn’t trade our time for anything, what I’ve learned from you is priceless; I don’t regret a moment and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, you’re part of my eudaimonia. I have to say now though—and it’s something I couldn’t say before I met you—that life is bigger than you, so much bigger, and I gotta go live it. I’ll look back so very fondly, I hope you will too. If I hear that sad but sweet Spanish song on the radio I’ll curl my mouth into a nostalgic smile and daydream about my hot and cold summers in South America.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
pure mornin
sorry to leave you hangin, dad. i'll continue....
I often get the question of what I do during a day, so I might as well spell it out. I woke up bright and early today with Shay, and did the usual routine--I get breakfast together and french press some coffee downstairs while she gets ready. Today it was oatmeal and pears, yesterday I sauteed some banans with just a little butter and brown sugar and cinnamon for the oatmeal. I try to throw in some variety. She went off to school; this is the most commitments she's had in a day so far-- school 10-2 then internship till 10ish. I watched some foodie videos, I've discovered Mark Bittman on NYTimes.com is damn funny and has some good albeit simple ideas. I then went on a few mile run around the Club Hipico horse track. Its really not the ideal running route with the dust, cars, and horse stank, but it avoids intersections. Then stretching and situps, and some pushups, although I slacked on those cause my chest is weak. I hit the shower. but.... there are few things more peeving than being fully soaped up, and having the water go ice cold. (The gas ran out. Each shower hooks up to its own heater and gas tank, the upstairs one is broken). So, much to the behest of my man-bits, I quickly rinsed my lower half, grabbed my towel and shower items, and relocated to the other downstairs shower. Ahh, warmth again. With conditioner then in-hair... ice cold. Again. The other tank hit bottom. I chuckled and cursed at the same time. With some 'oh f-this' angst, I rinsed, washed my face and got the hell outta the cold hell of showering here. I lunched on a sandwich, and went to the grocery store for milk and fruit. The milk here comes in room-temp 1-liter boxes, weird right? Most are terribly designed, too; you have to cut them open, with no option to reseal. Now I'm here, about an hour later, having crossed off a few things on my do to list for the day, and working on the next thing....this. Oh, and I am enjoying a beer, the cold shower warranted one. We picked out several different individual bottles from the Jumbo in an attempt to find at least one decent Chilean beer we can enjoy...and bingo! This one is a winner. One of very few winners. Also on my list today is: to finish up my Spanish resume, and get it out there, do laundry, attend the asado (bbq)/dinner that housemates are throwing (I'll humor them although, this may be pricky, but I'm sure I could make it better), and give the sad OK to mom to send in my humble denial to attend USF Law. Today, as a whole, is a shift away from some pessimism that has infected me as of late. The house, area, lack of funds, blandness of Santiagoan (almost) everything, helpess frustration of the cost of school (and thus the starting on square one yet again), and...gramps....all had my head spinning. I have no intention, however, of straying from the title of this blog. Hell, add an exclamation point to it.
I've decided today, though, to cut my losses. I will expound on the highlights since I left off, at the mouth of Torres, and catch up to today-- to right now.
the Trek. After we set up camp, we got daypacks and cameras and headed up to the Torres del Paine. It was the longest and toughest day hike of the three, but different and inspiring around ever turn. We went from the valley up, into the forest. On the occasions we emerged, we could see the valley and river far below, and the completely opposite, barren landscape of the mirroring uphill of the valley. The last 45 minutes of the hike was near vertical rock and boulder hopping, and then we reached them. It looked...fake! Its grand-and-picturesque-ness was almost unbeleivable. (pictures!) It was a 7-8 hour hike, altogether. We got some flame on the potatoes and sausages, put 'em in foil with seasoning and cheese, and then stuck 'em in under the coals. Then added some avocado and hot sauce; it was good, even if the potatoes were a bit undercooked. It didn't rain that night--a nice start.
The next day was both rough and relaxing. We arose and headed out to the next camp, on the first hike with the full weight of our packs. It was tough terrain. When we arrived 4-5 hours later at the next refugio, we decided: stick it out here for today. Hike to 'Campo Italiano' at the base of the next day hike (up Valle Frances), drop our packs, do that hike. Then get our packs again, and head to the final camp. We wanted to cook ourselved that night, but discovered they didnt rent stoves. So we signed up for an expensive refugio dinner. It was satisfying but not nearly as satisfying, actually, as the other meals we cooked ourselves. For reference in the pictures: this is where you see us dining on bread-avo-chorizo-tapatio 'salad', skipping rocks on the glacier-water lake, and me falling off a log, and the big meat dinner plate. We met Maya here. I rigged the tarp over the tent as best I could, because we saw the rain clouds coming. Sure enough, we woke up with a very damp tent. Well, a wet tent. Those fancy 20 dollar tents kind of absorb the water through to the inside, instead of shedding it. The tarp saved us though, more or less.
We donned what 'rain gear' we had, and I fashioned a trash bag over my pack to shed the water. We stuck to the plan I told you about. At Campo Italiano, we joined with Maya, because she shed her trekking partner (who couldn't handle it and went home). Valle Frances was one of my three favorite day hikes (lol...). It was dense with wonders...waterfalls, stream-trails, fairy-tale trees, and a persisting view of the massive snow-ice covered mountain ahead. This hike was only a few hours, total. Then we shouldered up our packs yet again, and with the clouds cleared, trekked four hours more to the final camp.
The final camp had a 'kitchen and dining' hut for campers, equipped with stoves! So we dined there. Our dinner was gnocchi with tomato cheese sauce and threw in whatever else we had left, like some chorizo. I set the up the tarp more effectively that night, as you can see in the pictures. I did my best to keep the tarp from touching the tent--to shed off the water, not let it soak through. It was a challenge given that the tarp wasn't quite big enough, and I had a scraggly tree, rocks, and some shrubs to tie onto. But it worked out.
Maya, Corrie and I hiked to the glacier the next day, Shay and Greg left and had massive cheeseburgers in Puerto Natales. The glacier was breathtakingly massive. It just stretched on and on.
We caught a ferry across the lake, and back to the beginning. Funny to think what took us 3 days of trekking, we backtracked in a matter of hours. And the ferry cost 20 bucks, wtf.
(I'm getting into more detail then I meant to for this 'highlights' section!!)
bbbbzzzzzhummmmm (fast forward sound)
Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA! (After a bus to El Calafate, a night there, and another 36 hour bus ride)
BA is wonderful. Ecclectic, alive and enlivening, inexpensive, beautiful, stylish, good food, great meat. But one bad hostel; very bad. Bedbugs. It makes me shudder just thinking about it. Shayla and I woke up with the telltale lines of bites everywhere. Shay took classes in this stuff for the Co-op, so she explained all the nasty details of these resliant little ****s. The lay eggs and come with you. They live anywhere and everywhere. They survive forever, waiting to feast. asldkfjaew;ifjadls;f. Gross, and they were feasting on US. So, we got the hell outta there, to a really awesome hostel nearby. Shay explained that they come with you via eggs. The eggs dont hatch for over a week, and that extreme temperatures will kill them. So, we did our best to contain our belongings, and when we retured home, high heat in the dryer for everything. (So far we are bug-free!). Otherwise, BA was fantastic. Shay and I stayed the final few nights in Shay's previous house-mom's apartment. Oh, and we had an incredible (and spicy! I had to douse my face with cold water twice, I was out-of-practice) dinner at a south-east asian/Argentinean fare place. Greg and I ate some rabbit.
The earthquake happened during all this, and shook us up a bit (hehe). But puns aside, not so funny, a lot of damage was done.
Greg changed his flight plans to leave out of BA, but first, we headed to Mendoza (a few hours from the Chilean border) for a day and a half. We shared a parilla dinner. The first course consisted of the insides of a cow, I'm still not sure which parts exactly. I thoroughly enjoyed the blood sausage, which I usually would rather tiptoe around. The meat was the best I've ever had. They know how to handle a cow in Argentina, from the raising to the cooking. We also took a bike tour of the wineries, olive oileries (?), and specialty fooderies of Mendoza, which was delightful. Greg and I parted ways.
Shay and I met back in Santiago. She then found out that, because of the quake, she didn't start school until the 22nd! So naturally, we bought 2 tickets to Brazil for the day after. Of course, we didn't know that we needed about 10 days to secure a visa. We found that out after. So, we tried our luck at the Brazilian Consulate, who told us sorry, we'd have to change the flights. The airline wasn't havin' any of that. Not at first, anyway. A few calls later, we got our money back, thank god.
Madison, Allie (our housemate), Shay and I went to La Serena instead. La Serena is a beach town about 6 hours north. We secured a 3 bedroom apt on the beach for a few nights, at the cost of a hostel, and enjoyed ourselves. A tour on the beach one day, a tour through Valle Elqui another day, and a trip up to the massive cross-chapel in the neighboring poorer fishing town of Coquimbo. I liked Coquimbo more. One of those days, on the bus into La Serena, a very curios thing happened. A man in the seat in front and across from us made a clicking sound, and turned toward us. The clicking sound was something you might here on a National Geographic program of indigenous African peoples, or from aliens on a Star Trek episode. This man seemed equally as stern and intense as either of these would be. He then fished into his backpack and revealed to us a whole live crab, and held it out to us in what might have been an offering or a warning, I'm still unsure. With that, he said, in english, 'remember, you remember...' We said, no, pero gracias, senor weirdo. He faced the front again, but swiftly swung around again, holding a leg of that same crab he kindly removed for us, and repeated, 'remember', and said something else in his secret clicking language. He smelled like rancid sea. The bus driver stopped the bus, and led him to the rear, where somone took care of him. then, with a slap of the tougue from the roof to the floor of his mouth....'click click, click'
I wonder if that crab leg had special powers. It was still moving, after all.
We returned to Santiago to finally attempt at settling into 'real' life and a routine. This was upset, however, buy the realization that the house we were in was an overpriced disaster. The more we thought about it, the more we had issue with. The solution of course was to find a new place; but, this is somewhat of a full time job. Nevertheless, a week later we signed on for three months at our soon-to-be new place. It'll be in the heart of the livielest, 'hippest' (as hip as you get 'round here) area, and at the foot of the biggest park in town (a big mountain). It is clean, and beautiful, and clean, and kitchen to only 4 people. Yet, its part of an umbrella building of apts that share the same great outdoor patio, equipped with a bbq, and tables, and lounge chairs. and its clean, and has a shower you can bend over in. And, the police impound, equipped with 24-hour towing, is not on the sidewalk below our balcony. And its essentially the same price! We move in the 16th.
I joined Shay and her program on a day trip to Pomerie, too. The town thrives on crafting anything and everything from the earth of a local mountain. If Peir 1 got a hold of this stuff, you'd be paying hundreds of dollars for handcrafted home-goods from vases to those outdoor fire oven things to masks. Cool pueblo. (pictures!)
The 'real' life element of our time here has set in now, and we are gathering our routines in a place across the world from where we'd call home. I need something purposeful here, yes, something to 'put on my resume' after its all said and done. I'm workin on it. It's quite weird to think we're not even at the halfway point yet, but then again, I know it will go by faster than I can imagine. We have whole new chapters to look forward to, too, like another Mendoza trip, another home in Santiago, Haleys visit!, and Peru (and Bolivia, funds permitting). And tomorrow night we are seeing one of my favorite bands who are touring through Santiago--Placebo.
So we are back to now, all caught up. I put the laundry in during this, too. Y ahora tengo que poner la ropa en la secadora.
Te vaya bien, chow!!
(yes I know it's ciao)
I often get the question of what I do during a day, so I might as well spell it out. I woke up bright and early today with Shay, and did the usual routine--I get breakfast together and french press some coffee downstairs while she gets ready. Today it was oatmeal and pears, yesterday I sauteed some banans with just a little butter and brown sugar and cinnamon for the oatmeal. I try to throw in some variety. She went off to school; this is the most commitments she's had in a day so far-- school 10-2 then internship till 10ish. I watched some foodie videos, I've discovered Mark Bittman on NYTimes.com is damn funny and has some good albeit simple ideas. I then went on a few mile run around the Club Hipico horse track. Its really not the ideal running route with the dust, cars, and horse stank, but it avoids intersections. Then stretching and situps, and some pushups, although I slacked on those cause my chest is weak. I hit the shower. but.... there are few things more peeving than being fully soaped up, and having the water go ice cold. (The gas ran out. Each shower hooks up to its own heater and gas tank, the upstairs one is broken). So, much to the behest of my man-bits, I quickly rinsed my lower half, grabbed my towel and shower items, and relocated to the other downstairs shower. Ahh, warmth again. With conditioner then in-hair... ice cold. Again. The other tank hit bottom. I chuckled and cursed at the same time. With some 'oh f-this' angst, I rinsed, washed my face and got the hell outta the cold hell of showering here. I lunched on a sandwich, and went to the grocery store for milk and fruit. The milk here comes in room-temp 1-liter boxes, weird right? Most are terribly designed, too; you have to cut them open, with no option to reseal. Now I'm here, about an hour later, having crossed off a few things on my do to list for the day, and working on the next thing....this. Oh, and I am enjoying a beer, the cold shower warranted one. We picked out several different individual bottles from the Jumbo in an attempt to find at least one decent Chilean beer we can enjoy...and bingo! This one is a winner. One of very few winners. Also on my list today is: to finish up my Spanish resume, and get it out there, do laundry, attend the asado (bbq)/dinner that housemates are throwing (I'll humor them although, this may be pricky, but I'm sure I could make it better), and give the sad OK to mom to send in my humble denial to attend USF Law. Today, as a whole, is a shift away from some pessimism that has infected me as of late. The house, area, lack of funds, blandness of Santiagoan (almost) everything, helpess frustration of the cost of school (and thus the starting on square one yet again), and...gramps....all had my head spinning. I have no intention, however, of straying from the title of this blog. Hell, add an exclamation point to it.
I've decided today, though, to cut my losses. I will expound on the highlights since I left off, at the mouth of Torres, and catch up to today-- to right now.
the Trek. After we set up camp, we got daypacks and cameras and headed up to the Torres del Paine. It was the longest and toughest day hike of the three, but different and inspiring around ever turn. We went from the valley up, into the forest. On the occasions we emerged, we could see the valley and river far below, and the completely opposite, barren landscape of the mirroring uphill of the valley. The last 45 minutes of the hike was near vertical rock and boulder hopping, and then we reached them. It looked...fake! Its grand-and-picturesque-ness was almost unbeleivable. (pictures!) It was a 7-8 hour hike, altogether. We got some flame on the potatoes and sausages, put 'em in foil with seasoning and cheese, and then stuck 'em in under the coals. Then added some avocado and hot sauce; it was good, even if the potatoes were a bit undercooked. It didn't rain that night--a nice start.
The next day was both rough and relaxing. We arose and headed out to the next camp, on the first hike with the full weight of our packs. It was tough terrain. When we arrived 4-5 hours later at the next refugio, we decided: stick it out here for today. Hike to 'Campo Italiano' at the base of the next day hike (up Valle Frances), drop our packs, do that hike. Then get our packs again, and head to the final camp. We wanted to cook ourselved that night, but discovered they didnt rent stoves. So we signed up for an expensive refugio dinner. It was satisfying but not nearly as satisfying, actually, as the other meals we cooked ourselves. For reference in the pictures: this is where you see us dining on bread-avo-chorizo-tapatio 'salad', skipping rocks on the glacier-water lake, and me falling off a log, and the big meat dinner plate. We met Maya here. I rigged the tarp over the tent as best I could, because we saw the rain clouds coming. Sure enough, we woke up with a very damp tent. Well, a wet tent. Those fancy 20 dollar tents kind of absorb the water through to the inside, instead of shedding it. The tarp saved us though, more or less.
We donned what 'rain gear' we had, and I fashioned a trash bag over my pack to shed the water. We stuck to the plan I told you about. At Campo Italiano, we joined with Maya, because she shed her trekking partner (who couldn't handle it and went home). Valle Frances was one of my three favorite day hikes (lol...). It was dense with wonders...waterfalls, stream-trails, fairy-tale trees, and a persisting view of the massive snow-ice covered mountain ahead. This hike was only a few hours, total. Then we shouldered up our packs yet again, and with the clouds cleared, trekked four hours more to the final camp.
The final camp had a 'kitchen and dining' hut for campers, equipped with stoves! So we dined there. Our dinner was gnocchi with tomato cheese sauce and threw in whatever else we had left, like some chorizo. I set the up the tarp more effectively that night, as you can see in the pictures. I did my best to keep the tarp from touching the tent--to shed off the water, not let it soak through. It was a challenge given that the tarp wasn't quite big enough, and I had a scraggly tree, rocks, and some shrubs to tie onto. But it worked out.
Maya, Corrie and I hiked to the glacier the next day, Shay and Greg left and had massive cheeseburgers in Puerto Natales. The glacier was breathtakingly massive. It just stretched on and on.
We caught a ferry across the lake, and back to the beginning. Funny to think what took us 3 days of trekking, we backtracked in a matter of hours. And the ferry cost 20 bucks, wtf.
(I'm getting into more detail then I meant to for this 'highlights' section!!)
bbbbzzzzzhummmmm (fast forward sound)
Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA! (After a bus to El Calafate, a night there, and another 36 hour bus ride)
BA is wonderful. Ecclectic, alive and enlivening, inexpensive, beautiful, stylish, good food, great meat. But one bad hostel; very bad. Bedbugs. It makes me shudder just thinking about it. Shayla and I woke up with the telltale lines of bites everywhere. Shay took classes in this stuff for the Co-op, so she explained all the nasty details of these resliant little ****s. The lay eggs and come with you. They live anywhere and everywhere. They survive forever, waiting to feast. asldkfjaew;ifjadls;f. Gross, and they were feasting on US. So, we got the hell outta there, to a really awesome hostel nearby. Shay explained that they come with you via eggs. The eggs dont hatch for over a week, and that extreme temperatures will kill them. So, we did our best to contain our belongings, and when we retured home, high heat in the dryer for everything. (So far we are bug-free!). Otherwise, BA was fantastic. Shay and I stayed the final few nights in Shay's previous house-mom's apartment. Oh, and we had an incredible (and spicy! I had to douse my face with cold water twice, I was out-of-practice) dinner at a south-east asian/Argentinean fare place. Greg and I ate some rabbit.
The earthquake happened during all this, and shook us up a bit (hehe). But puns aside, not so funny, a lot of damage was done.
Greg changed his flight plans to leave out of BA, but first, we headed to Mendoza (a few hours from the Chilean border) for a day and a half. We shared a parilla dinner. The first course consisted of the insides of a cow, I'm still not sure which parts exactly. I thoroughly enjoyed the blood sausage, which I usually would rather tiptoe around. The meat was the best I've ever had. They know how to handle a cow in Argentina, from the raising to the cooking. We also took a bike tour of the wineries, olive oileries (?), and specialty fooderies of Mendoza, which was delightful. Greg and I parted ways.
Shay and I met back in Santiago. She then found out that, because of the quake, she didn't start school until the 22nd! So naturally, we bought 2 tickets to Brazil for the day after. Of course, we didn't know that we needed about 10 days to secure a visa. We found that out after. So, we tried our luck at the Brazilian Consulate, who told us sorry, we'd have to change the flights. The airline wasn't havin' any of that. Not at first, anyway. A few calls later, we got our money back, thank god.
Madison, Allie (our housemate), Shay and I went to La Serena instead. La Serena is a beach town about 6 hours north. We secured a 3 bedroom apt on the beach for a few nights, at the cost of a hostel, and enjoyed ourselves. A tour on the beach one day, a tour through Valle Elqui another day, and a trip up to the massive cross-chapel in the neighboring poorer fishing town of Coquimbo. I liked Coquimbo more. One of those days, on the bus into La Serena, a very curios thing happened. A man in the seat in front and across from us made a clicking sound, and turned toward us. The clicking sound was something you might here on a National Geographic program of indigenous African peoples, or from aliens on a Star Trek episode. This man seemed equally as stern and intense as either of these would be. He then fished into his backpack and revealed to us a whole live crab, and held it out to us in what might have been an offering or a warning, I'm still unsure. With that, he said, in english, 'remember, you remember...' We said, no, pero gracias, senor weirdo. He faced the front again, but swiftly swung around again, holding a leg of that same crab he kindly removed for us, and repeated, 'remember', and said something else in his secret clicking language. He smelled like rancid sea. The bus driver stopped the bus, and led him to the rear, where somone took care of him. then, with a slap of the tougue from the roof to the floor of his mouth....'click click, click'
I wonder if that crab leg had special powers. It was still moving, after all.
We returned to Santiago to finally attempt at settling into 'real' life and a routine. This was upset, however, buy the realization that the house we were in was an overpriced disaster. The more we thought about it, the more we had issue with. The solution of course was to find a new place; but, this is somewhat of a full time job. Nevertheless, a week later we signed on for three months at our soon-to-be new place. It'll be in the heart of the livielest, 'hippest' (as hip as you get 'round here) area, and at the foot of the biggest park in town (a big mountain). It is clean, and beautiful, and clean, and kitchen to only 4 people. Yet, its part of an umbrella building of apts that share the same great outdoor patio, equipped with a bbq, and tables, and lounge chairs. and its clean, and has a shower you can bend over in. And, the police impound, equipped with 24-hour towing, is not on the sidewalk below our balcony. And its essentially the same price! We move in the 16th.
I joined Shay and her program on a day trip to Pomerie, too. The town thrives on crafting anything and everything from the earth of a local mountain. If Peir 1 got a hold of this stuff, you'd be paying hundreds of dollars for handcrafted home-goods from vases to those outdoor fire oven things to masks. Cool pueblo. (pictures!)
The 'real' life element of our time here has set in now, and we are gathering our routines in a place across the world from where we'd call home. I need something purposeful here, yes, something to 'put on my resume' after its all said and done. I'm workin on it. It's quite weird to think we're not even at the halfway point yet, but then again, I know it will go by faster than I can imagine. We have whole new chapters to look forward to, too, like another Mendoza trip, another home in Santiago, Haleys visit!, and Peru (and Bolivia, funds permitting). And tomorrow night we are seeing one of my favorite bands who are touring through Santiago--Placebo.
So we are back to now, all caught up. I put the laundry in during this, too. Y ahora tengo que poner la ropa en la secadora.
Te vaya bien, chow!!
(yes I know it's ciao)
Monday, March 29, 2010
Build up to the Torres
Ok its time. I had coffee this morning, and a grande iced Americano just now. A grande is huge for what you usually get around here café-wise. That’s the most coffee in a day I’ve had in a long while. In summation, I am thoroughly wired, which I’ll need to help me recap the last…3 weeks? 4 weeks? I lost count I suppose. I have to say, I have missed the feeling of satisfaction I get after writing this stuff down, no matter how (not) enlightening or beautiful my prose might be. A little hurdle I face now is where the hell to start; but a little push from my dose of roasted beans….and I’ll jump it. I’ll just start where I last left off. The bus.
Lots of bus. We left off on a Sunday morning before the Trek. At this point in the story, we were fairly comfortable and confident in our plan for Torres Del Paine. It was budget and we still needed a few things, but we were calm enough. We crossed back into Chile later that Sunday, and unfortunately had to ditch some of our cheese and salami. Upon arrival to Punta Arenas, we rushed to the local mall to gather what items we knew we needed. I received kick in the gut of coldness when I got off the bus--an indication that my hip sweatshirt and second hand windbreaker weren’t gonna cut it. So, I got a cheap warm jacket from the ‘Jumbo’--the Chilean kmart/walmart. We made it to our hostel later that night. We gave each other nervous wide eyed looks as we passed the campers out front; they had there shit together--legit tents, little stoves, hiking boots, water proof gear, and it all looked so natural to them, and they (I swear…) gave us a little smirk that said, ‘silly gringos. of course, this is how you do it, how’re you plannin’ on makin’ it?’ This, I think, was the beginning of our swiftly deleting all previous plans and ideas, and the start of our scramble to truly prepare ourselves. The hostel was great, the four of us had a room to ourselves. We owe our re-planning of the Trek to the dueno of the hostel. He gave us the same look as the campers did outside, and promptly, and nicely, informed us of the best way to tackle Torres del Paine. We were to go the opposite direction as we had originally planned. We were to pack food for all meals, because the food at the refugios are fantastically overpriced. He suggested buying a stove. We were to postpone our bus to Puerto Natales, and stay there another night, and bus to the mouth of the Park the morning after the next day. We were to use this time to gather the now-known-to-be-necessary-items. So we got to it. We changed our bus tickets to Puerto Natales that night, and got some food. The next day involved deliberation over what to buy--especially what to do about food--and where to go to get it. (Remember, our packs include living essentials for the following 2 weeks as well, for Buenos Aires etc, so they were quite full. Plus, I had Madison’s sleeping bag, which I swear must be a relic from 4th grade in-house sleepovers....very bulky, heavy, and as I would discover, not warm) Several stores later, after buying much of what we needed, we found the store we should have bought most everything from in the first place, but so it goes. We finally found a tarp to cover our sad tent. The stove idea was replaced with the following plan--use the firepit at the campsite the first night, treat ourselves to a refugio dinner the second, and rent a stove the third night. The bus left for Puerto Natales Monday afternoon, and we arrived there a couple hours later, feeling quite confident once again. The dining that night was memorable--‘Afrigonia’ was the place--a blend of African and Patagonian fare. I had the mint rack of lamb; it was fantastic.
Bright and early the next morning, we were off. The road turned to dirt for the last half hour, and we de-boarded to pay the entrance fee. Then, one more final bus to the first camp.
The great Patagonian gods smiled on us--the weather was beautiful, and remained that way for most of our journey, except for some light rain during the last two nights. I took a lot of pictures, sometimes to the point of Shay giving me the whip to speed up. Of course Shay is always on a serious mission while hiking, with eyes on the prize, and the prize is always ahead. Still, I wish I had taken more. I guess there is value in lacking pictures that might spoil any grand and beautiful memories that I have all to myself.
Lots of bus. We left off on a Sunday morning before the Trek. At this point in the story, we were fairly comfortable and confident in our plan for Torres Del Paine. It was budget and we still needed a few things, but we were calm enough. We crossed back into Chile later that Sunday, and unfortunately had to ditch some of our cheese and salami. Upon arrival to Punta Arenas, we rushed to the local mall to gather what items we knew we needed. I received kick in the gut of coldness when I got off the bus--an indication that my hip sweatshirt and second hand windbreaker weren’t gonna cut it. So, I got a cheap warm jacket from the ‘Jumbo’--the Chilean kmart/walmart. We made it to our hostel later that night. We gave each other nervous wide eyed looks as we passed the campers out front; they had there shit together--legit tents, little stoves, hiking boots, water proof gear, and it all looked so natural to them, and they (I swear…) gave us a little smirk that said, ‘silly gringos. of course, this is how you do it, how’re you plannin’ on makin’ it?’ This, I think, was the beginning of our swiftly deleting all previous plans and ideas, and the start of our scramble to truly prepare ourselves. The hostel was great, the four of us had a room to ourselves. We owe our re-planning of the Trek to the dueno of the hostel. He gave us the same look as the campers did outside, and promptly, and nicely, informed us of the best way to tackle Torres del Paine. We were to go the opposite direction as we had originally planned. We were to pack food for all meals, because the food at the refugios are fantastically overpriced. He suggested buying a stove. We were to postpone our bus to Puerto Natales, and stay there another night, and bus to the mouth of the Park the morning after the next day. We were to use this time to gather the now-known-to-be-necessary-items. So we got to it. We changed our bus tickets to Puerto Natales that night, and got some food. The next day involved deliberation over what to buy--especially what to do about food--and where to go to get it. (Remember, our packs include living essentials for the following 2 weeks as well, for Buenos Aires etc, so they were quite full. Plus, I had Madison’s sleeping bag, which I swear must be a relic from 4th grade in-house sleepovers....very bulky, heavy, and as I would discover, not warm) Several stores later, after buying much of what we needed, we found the store we should have bought most everything from in the first place, but so it goes. We finally found a tarp to cover our sad tent. The stove idea was replaced with the following plan--use the firepit at the campsite the first night, treat ourselves to a refugio dinner the second, and rent a stove the third night. The bus left for Puerto Natales Monday afternoon, and we arrived there a couple hours later, feeling quite confident once again. The dining that night was memorable--‘Afrigonia’ was the place--a blend of African and Patagonian fare. I had the mint rack of lamb; it was fantastic.
Bright and early the next morning, we were off. The road turned to dirt for the last half hour, and we de-boarded to pay the entrance fee. Then, one more final bus to the first camp.
The great Patagonian gods smiled on us--the weather was beautiful, and remained that way for most of our journey, except for some light rain during the last two nights. I took a lot of pictures, sometimes to the point of Shay giving me the whip to speed up. Of course Shay is always on a serious mission while hiking, with eyes on the prize, and the prize is always ahead. Still, I wish I had taken more. I guess there is value in lacking pictures that might spoil any grand and beautiful memories that I have all to myself.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
travel back in time...the bus to puerto montt
we backpedal a few weeks to a Sunday morning before the Trek, I wrote this one on the bus. ...and I'll continue to catch you all up.
People are beginning to wake up now. An old lady with a spray bottle of air freshener, toothbrush, toothpaste, and some beauty product sways in the aisle beside me, waiting to use the bathroom; she hollers at someone down the aisle. I cringe, it’s not the hour for hollering yet, and I feel protective of Shay as she tries to sleep beside me. It’s flat as far as the eye and I can see, just cold dirt with scattered dry brush. Late last night I peeked out the window and followed a dainty power line, just taller than this bus, as far I as could before it turned a hard left--we drove on. When I woke the sun poked through the closed blinds, which I liked because it was pretty and warm. Now, after a stretch of clouds, it hits my face again. But it passes, and the clouds stretch on, a single plane reaching the horizon. They look flat on the bottom, but I’m sure they billow on top. That lady just sprayed her air freshener generously in and around the bathroom, I can smell it seven rows up. I can feel that my eyes are bloodshot, but it’s not from the spray. This is our second straight morning on a bus, we’ve been on about 38 hours now, except for a three hour break in Porto Montt, and a few short leg-stretchers. We are deep into the Argentinean side of Patagonia, I think. We are on route to Punta Arenas, where we will stay the night in a real bed. Our bus takes us through Argentina because there is no other way; there are no Chilean roads that connect Porto Montt to Punta Arenas. Not bus worthy, anyway. Despite the bloodless tingly toes, the dry eyes, and mild claustrophobia, I would choose this bus trip over a flight in a heartbeat. We’ve seen truly beautiful landscape through these tall, albeit a bit dirty, panes of glass. It was stretches of vineyards at first, which gave way to verdant pastureland, dotted with magnificent wooden homes, and --less magnificent-- farm shacks. Regardless which home it was, happy cows come from Chile (….not California). The pasture led us to Porto Montt. Beyond Porto Montt, we dove headlong into Patagonia; the windy road threaded us between rivers and waterfalls, which threaded themselves through lush dense jungle forest. Behind a stretch of heavy grass, a sheer rock cliff towered, directly out of which grew deep green trees and vines; they covered the cliff face, so only in patches could we see its steel grey color. We crossed the Chile/Argentina border around 6 last night, and drove on. We have even enjoyed a few onboard picnics, the most recent one comprised of salami, gruyere, and a bottle of Concho y Toro’s red blends. It helped us sleep. Its about 8:20 am now, on Sunday, and we arrive around 20:00. We will have a good nights rest in Porto Arenas, and gather last minute items, like warmer clothes, and a tarp if we can find one. Yes, these should not be last minute items, but this is a budget trek full of ‘I forgot this at home!’ and ‘shit, I should have brought that!’. From Punta Arenas, we bus north to Puerto Natales. We had to bus further south than we are going--its just the only way. From Puerto Natales, there is a regular connecting bus north to the mouth of Torres del Paine. Then, we start our trek. We have a twenty dollar tent from ‘Jumbo’ (a Chilean k-mart), and again, we hope to find a tarp we can throw over it if it rains--we’re not confident that the tent is waterproof. We brought the warmest clothes we have. I forgot my old ski jacket shell and layers (…full of ‘shit, I should have brought that!’s) so I picked up a used waterproof layer for ten bucks at a second hand store. I have a sweatshirt, but like I said, we’ll get some last minute warm-me-uppers. The girls bought hiking boots; Greg has his leather Timbaland boots, but they’re the kind built for fashion over function. I have my trusty tennis shoes, from my city college tennis days. This is one of the most beautiful places in the world, and National Geographic says so. No crappy tent, tennis shoes, skinny wallet, or 3 day bus trip will stop us. The glaciers might though.
People are beginning to wake up now. An old lady with a spray bottle of air freshener, toothbrush, toothpaste, and some beauty product sways in the aisle beside me, waiting to use the bathroom; she hollers at someone down the aisle. I cringe, it’s not the hour for hollering yet, and I feel protective of Shay as she tries to sleep beside me. It’s flat as far as the eye and I can see, just cold dirt with scattered dry brush. Late last night I peeked out the window and followed a dainty power line, just taller than this bus, as far I as could before it turned a hard left--we drove on. When I woke the sun poked through the closed blinds, which I liked because it was pretty and warm. Now, after a stretch of clouds, it hits my face again. But it passes, and the clouds stretch on, a single plane reaching the horizon. They look flat on the bottom, but I’m sure they billow on top. That lady just sprayed her air freshener generously in and around the bathroom, I can smell it seven rows up. I can feel that my eyes are bloodshot, but it’s not from the spray. This is our second straight morning on a bus, we’ve been on about 38 hours now, except for a three hour break in Porto Montt, and a few short leg-stretchers. We are deep into the Argentinean side of Patagonia, I think. We are on route to Punta Arenas, where we will stay the night in a real bed. Our bus takes us through Argentina because there is no other way; there are no Chilean roads that connect Porto Montt to Punta Arenas. Not bus worthy, anyway. Despite the bloodless tingly toes, the dry eyes, and mild claustrophobia, I would choose this bus trip over a flight in a heartbeat. We’ve seen truly beautiful landscape through these tall, albeit a bit dirty, panes of glass. It was stretches of vineyards at first, which gave way to verdant pastureland, dotted with magnificent wooden homes, and --less magnificent-- farm shacks. Regardless which home it was, happy cows come from Chile (….not California). The pasture led us to Porto Montt. Beyond Porto Montt, we dove headlong into Patagonia; the windy road threaded us between rivers and waterfalls, which threaded themselves through lush dense jungle forest. Behind a stretch of heavy grass, a sheer rock cliff towered, directly out of which grew deep green trees and vines; they covered the cliff face, so only in patches could we see its steel grey color. We crossed the Chile/Argentina border around 6 last night, and drove on. We have even enjoyed a few onboard picnics, the most recent one comprised of salami, gruyere, and a bottle of Concho y Toro’s red blends. It helped us sleep. Its about 8:20 am now, on Sunday, and we arrive around 20:00. We will have a good nights rest in Porto Arenas, and gather last minute items, like warmer clothes, and a tarp if we can find one. Yes, these should not be last minute items, but this is a budget trek full of ‘I forgot this at home!’ and ‘shit, I should have brought that!’. From Punta Arenas, we bus north to Puerto Natales. We had to bus further south than we are going--its just the only way. From Puerto Natales, there is a regular connecting bus north to the mouth of Torres del Paine. Then, we start our trek. We have a twenty dollar tent from ‘Jumbo’ (a Chilean k-mart), and again, we hope to find a tarp we can throw over it if it rains--we’re not confident that the tent is waterproof. We brought the warmest clothes we have. I forgot my old ski jacket shell and layers (…full of ‘shit, I should have brought that!’s) so I picked up a used waterproof layer for ten bucks at a second hand store. I have a sweatshirt, but like I said, we’ll get some last minute warm-me-uppers. The girls bought hiking boots; Greg has his leather Timbaland boots, but they’re the kind built for fashion over function. I have my trusty tennis shoes, from my city college tennis days. This is one of the most beautiful places in the world, and National Geographic says so. No crappy tent, tennis shoes, skinny wallet, or 3 day bus trip will stop us. The glaciers might though.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
from surfin a couch, to my own bed
I'm sitting comfortably now in a bean bag chair, in the upstairs den of our new home. The double doors are open behind me, to the small balcony; the slightly cooler air comes in. There are two modern couches in front of me facing the tv, an orange one, and one of black leather, without armrests. Our 'matrimonial sweet' (as they call it) is steps away, and it's door and window too are open to the same balcony. Canvassed romantic pictures of Santiago adorn the walls, along with a dartboard, and in the corner sits a fake Charlie Brown sized Christmas tree (?), ornaments and all. The window across from me, above the black leather couch, reveals the open space that is the center of the home, and spans both floors. A wooden staircase spirals squarely along its walls from the first to second floor, around and above the kitchen, which sits on a black and white checkered floor. It floods with orange light in the morning. A big fluffy Alaskan looking dog strolls the first floor--unfortunately he has to leave next month.
We'll be here until mid-July, as you know. It's pretty damn exciting.
I have a couple stories to relay to you, so I'll get to it. I couch-surfed on Thursday night! While I was at the hostel, I received a few unexpected emails from fellow couchsurfers in Santiago, so I emailed them back, and said I'd be down do hang out, and if they have a couch, I'd sleep on it. On Wednesdayish I got a call from one of them named Rod. He invited me over to hang out, and I accepted and asked if it was cool that I stay, and he said of course. (Remember this is all in Spanish! well, maybe spanglish sometimes) I met him at his--nice--apartment in the center of the city, just below Bellavista, the heart of the Santiago club scene. He was absolutely and wholeheartedly welcoming. We talked and he was patient with my Spanish, and truly interested in creating a friendship--one where we learn about eachothers culture, life, etc. So there I was, about 18 floors above Santiago, with Rod and his friends. Oh, and he had a tiny kitten he had rescued from the streets (strays everywhere, remember?), pretty damn cute.
We drove with his friends into Bellavista, where we were gonna meet up with Shay and Corrie and Madison (remember I met Madison at the hostel...and now he's living with us!). I spotted them as we drove through the main drag, and we exchanged waives and yells that were probably awkward to everybody around, and caused a small traffic back up, lol. I went with Rod and friends, but Rod then insisited we go get my friends. He got them into the club with us, so we all danced together. Shay and friends left, and later Rod and I and friends did too. We went back to his house, where he had a mattress and blanket set up for me in the living room--a few hours ago I was a complete stranger; now I have a mattress and blanket in his living room. I slept well, and Rod and I plan to help eachother with language while I'm here, I'll see him again this week.
I have more stories, but right now I gotta get those pictures up. So until next time....chow!
We'll be here until mid-July, as you know. It's pretty damn exciting.
I have a couple stories to relay to you, so I'll get to it. I couch-surfed on Thursday night! While I was at the hostel, I received a few unexpected emails from fellow couchsurfers in Santiago, so I emailed them back, and said I'd be down do hang out, and if they have a couch, I'd sleep on it. On Wednesdayish I got a call from one of them named Rod. He invited me over to hang out, and I accepted and asked if it was cool that I stay, and he said of course. (Remember this is all in Spanish! well, maybe spanglish sometimes) I met him at his--nice--apartment in the center of the city, just below Bellavista, the heart of the Santiago club scene. He was absolutely and wholeheartedly welcoming. We talked and he was patient with my Spanish, and truly interested in creating a friendship--one where we learn about eachothers culture, life, etc. So there I was, about 18 floors above Santiago, with Rod and his friends. Oh, and he had a tiny kitten he had rescued from the streets (strays everywhere, remember?), pretty damn cute.
We drove with his friends into Bellavista, where we were gonna meet up with Shay and Corrie and Madison (remember I met Madison at the hostel...and now he's living with us!). I spotted them as we drove through the main drag, and we exchanged waives and yells that were probably awkward to everybody around, and caused a small traffic back up, lol. I went with Rod and friends, but Rod then insisited we go get my friends. He got them into the club with us, so we all danced together. Shay and friends left, and later Rod and I and friends did too. We went back to his house, where he had a mattress and blanket set up for me in the living room--a few hours ago I was a complete stranger; now I have a mattress and blanket in his living room. I slept well, and Rod and I plan to help eachother with language while I'm here, I'll see him again this week.
I have more stories, but right now I gotta get those pictures up. So until next time....chow!
Friday, February 5, 2010
....and here is where we're gonna live!
Tonight I move into our new place. Its a house of 20 people, all Spanish, all the time. We're headed back into a co-op, but this time its Chilean! Actually, there are international students there too, like any good co-op, but again, we're all gonna speak Spanish. All the time. See why I started a new blog entry, totally outside the comfortable one? The idea is that I come back speaking Spanish, no?
The owner of the place was more than welcoming, as were the other two people living there now. (The others will come back when school starts.) The room is still very comfy, with a big bed, and a little balcony; and the house has a cool feel to it, with art everywhere and an awesome staircase winding up and above the kitchen to our floor.
So now, I gotta wake up a buddy named Madison who Shay and I have met here at the hostel, because he's gonna live there too(I think)! He is studying here too, like Shayla.
Sorry about the pictures, I've been busy! I'll get 'em up asap.
Tonight I move into our new place. Its a house of 20 people, all Spanish, all the time. We're headed back into a co-op, but this time its Chilean! Actually, there are international students there too, like any good co-op, but again, we're all gonna speak Spanish. All the time. See why I started a new blog entry, totally outside the comfortable one? The idea is that I come back speaking Spanish, no?
The owner of the place was more than welcoming, as were the other two people living there now. (The others will come back when school starts.) The room is still very comfy, with a big bed, and a little balcony; and the house has a cool feel to it, with art everywhere and an awesome staircase winding up and above the kitchen to our floor.
So now, I gotta wake up a buddy named Madison who Shay and I have met here at the hostel, because he's gonna live there too(I think)! He is studying here too, like Shayla.
Sorry about the pictures, I've been busy! I'll get 'em up asap.
pretend with me, for a second, that this is my comfort zone, this particular little blog entry. In this comfort zone is a cozy little apartment on a cobblestone street. It has a private bathroom, and double glass door that open to a quiet patio with a mini pool (well, actually, its more like a giant kiddy pool). Two other Americans live here, along with an Italian, and only one speaks Spanish. A comfortable and beautiful place. Maybe too comfortable.
let's step outside this zone.....
let's step outside this zone.....
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
loco, y not so loco
When we first got ourselves into this whole expedition, it seemed a little crazy. And, when a friend in Berkeley said he was gonna go to South America and just travel, it seemed un poco loco too. When I mentioned our trip to anyone, there was always a short pause of, hmmm what the f?? awesome, they might say, but why? Some might say it didn't make much sense.
Now that I'm here, I can say that this makes more sense than anything I can think of.
There is absolutely no price on a little, or a lot, of perspective.
Shayla and I have decided to move here permanently and indefinitely.
JK. lol.
While this makes sense as a whole for us, there are things that don't make sense. Take for example, our dinner. A man obviously goes through great trouble to create the massive 'WANG CHUNG CHOW FUN' or whatever neon sign out front, in those Chinese letters, and inside, you get the full oriental experience. However, the same effort for the orient was not present in the FOOD. The mongolian beef was sliced beef in what could have been instant brown gravy mix. It said spicy on the menu, but if that was spicy, then that poor owners toungue will catch fire if he so much as looks at a red chili or sichuan.
The sushi last night was equally as disappointing. The salmon on the rolls was ok, but otherwise it was like what you'd get at a supermarket.
Maybe these were strokes of bad luck, but I doubt it. I'm gonna use one of my new little travel bottles (for shampoo etc) and fill it with Tapatio....remember how we brought a giant bottle? hehe. We're quite spoiled in California, as far as food goes (in plenty of other ways, too).
I'm excited to cook at home, once we get our place. Also, there are some more exotic foods at and around the central market, a friend at the hostel brought home a baggie of yellow peruvian sauce that looked good. Apparently Peru is an exception to the generally not-so-spicy South America.
ttyl, look for the pictures tomorrow!
Now that I'm here, I can say that this makes more sense than anything I can think of.
There is absolutely no price on a little, or a lot, of perspective.
Shayla and I have decided to move here permanently and indefinitely.
JK. lol.
While this makes sense as a whole for us, there are things that don't make sense. Take for example, our dinner. A man obviously goes through great trouble to create the massive 'WANG CHUNG CHOW FUN' or whatever neon sign out front, in those Chinese letters, and inside, you get the full oriental experience. However, the same effort for the orient was not present in the FOOD. The mongolian beef was sliced beef in what could have been instant brown gravy mix. It said spicy on the menu, but if that was spicy, then that poor owners toungue will catch fire if he so much as looks at a red chili or sichuan.
The sushi last night was equally as disappointing. The salmon on the rolls was ok, but otherwise it was like what you'd get at a supermarket.
Maybe these were strokes of bad luck, but I doubt it. I'm gonna use one of my new little travel bottles (for shampoo etc) and fill it with Tapatio....remember how we brought a giant bottle? hehe. We're quite spoiled in California, as far as food goes (in plenty of other ways, too).
I'm excited to cook at home, once we get our place. Also, there are some more exotic foods at and around the central market, a friend at the hostel brought home a baggie of yellow peruvian sauce that looked good. Apparently Peru is an exception to the generally not-so-spicy South America.
ttyl, look for the pictures tomorrow!
Week Two
Well this is week two. This past week has gone by markedly faster than the first! Last week was pretty mellow; I guess I save I'm saving the blog entries for more interesting stories. Then again, it's all pretty damn interesting. Last week I was on my own every day till 6, then I'd go meet Shay for one thing or another, but always we'd get some dinner.
I've found that with the sleeping snoring sasquatch orchestra I have the pleasure of sharing a dorm with, I get adequate sleep in only if I am thoroughly tired, and sleep in past breakfast, cause they've all left the room around 930am. So, I slept in last week most days. I would then shower, and make myself a good lunch; lunch would inveitable include avocado, tomato, fruit, and bread, and whatever I might have had leftover from dinner the night before. Then I would roam the city for one reason or another, I don't remember which days I did what....One day, I just took my camera and walked. Another day, I went for picnic supplies (Shay and I ended up just having a small dinner with wine on the patio of the hostel, which was very nice). A quick note on the wine. Its all Chilean, mostly bigger reds, chardonnay and sauv blanc, and the price range is from 1 mil pesos to 8ish mil, with quality wine at 2-3mil, and drinkable at 1mil. The 2buck chuck here ain't chuck, and for 5 bucks you get awesome wine.
Another day, I went on a quest for a new beard trimmer, because I left mine in the bathroom the previous Saturday before my Valparaiso trip, and it disappeared. That sucked, because that's 35ish bucks I had to spend; and there's not the variety of budget trimmers you find in the US. I found a really crappy 20 dollar one, or a better expensive one, or a really expensive one, and that was it.
So, at 6 every day, I would go meet Shayla. I have the bus route down to get to Anjelicas--walk out to Av Providencia (the main road in this disctrict with the same name), flag down a bus, and take it to Av Pedro de Valdivia. You have to waive down the buses, like you would a cab, or else they just cruise on by. Sometimes they'll cruise on by anyway. Then, another bus down Valdivia, and then its just a couple blocks to walk. Anjelica's house is in the district Nunoa (with 'enya's' on both n's....I can't put that accent on the blog...)
One night, we headed to 'Fuente Alemana' , which translates to something like German fountain (? or german source?) ....There's a ton of whats called a Fuente de Soda (soda fountain) around here, and they all serve the same type of food. I guess the Fuente Alemana is more of the classic or original, or just best, version. It's funny...some Fuente de Soda's look like what you expect out of Soda Fountain's, innocent, clean, soda and sadwiches, etc. But some have that classic 50's soda fountian window signage, but inside its beer and cigarrettes and futbol. Anyway, Fuente Alemana is where Anthony Bourdain went on his Chilean tour, and it's a local favorite, so naturally we have to go. They serve massive sandwiches that you can order a number of different ways. We didn't really know what was what on the menu, so we ordered the 'lomito completo' con solamente un poco mayo, which was thin sliced pork, saurekraut, and only a little mayo, and something else was on it. Usually, they ladle a massive amount of mayo on, which coagulates to almost look like mozzarella cheese--but its not, obviously. They love mayonnaise here, especially the older generations. It gets a little gross. You can order them with avocado, tomato, both, green beans, or everything. And there's other meat I think, maybe beef. It was a damn good sadwich. It required a knife and fork, and we took some home (I had the rest for lunch the next day).
To tangentalize... Fuente Alemana is just one example of the German influence here, but I think the whole 'completo' hot dog thing is another example. So too is 'schop'. I'm still unsure what exactly schop means. I do know that schop refers to the beer that they have 'on tap'; except, all the taps I've seen are just one, maybe 2, taps. Sometimes its the brand 'Crystal', sometimes its something else. At Fuente Alemana, they had 'blanco or negro' schop. So, I think it just means the beer on tap, which I guess they only have one kind of. But the word 'schop' sure sounds German to me.
http://www.fuentealemanachillan.cl/
Another night after 6, Shay and I met a school group of hers at Catolica, the school where her Spanish language program is held. There were about 8 of us, led by Pablo, the 'Chilean Host' and leader to Shayla and Corrie and Alisa's small group. I wasn't part of the group technically, of course, but I joined anyway. Pablo was to show us around some honest Chilean--Santiagoan--areas of town, and some legit Chilean food. We headed on a crowded bus across town to Barrio Brasil, an area of town (a district?...I'm not sure). He took us to a great restaurant which was, finally, a full departure from the touristy stuff. We all started with an aperitif; Shayla got a Mango Sour, which is like a Pisco Sour but with mango.
Have I mentioned Pisco sours yet? Pisco is a liqour distilled from grapes taken by Chile as their flagship drink (although the Pisco Sour originated in Peru, and Chileans 'borrowed' it....as I'm told). At worst, it tastes like a grocery store pre-bottled margarita; at best, it tastes like a good homemade margarita (no ice, maybe a sugar rim), with a bit of whipped egg white on top. Meh, its ok. I'd rather drink their wine.
For dinner! We had, on Pablo's recommendation, Pastel de Choclo. We split it along with some papas fritas (Shayla loves her papas fritas--french fries). Pastel means cake, and choclo I dont know, lol. It's served in an earthenware bowl, and is a kind of meat and corn pie, with pureed corn crust on top. In it we found many treasures....olives, raisins, hard boiled egg, chicken, beef, and more. It was delicious, and I enjoyed leftovers for lunch too. We also had a (very cute) half-bottle of wine; they didn't serve wine by the glass, but did serve half and quarter bottles. All of it was cheap, as far as wine in restuarants in the US is concerned. A good bottle of wine wasn't more than 10-15 bucks, and our half bottle was around 7. Its a markup from the stores, but still worth smiling about.
Then came Friday!!!! Except for dinners, Shay and I hadn't spent a ton of time together, because she's at the homestay and has class, and I'm at the hostel, and I have my extremely important daily activities of roaming, lunching, fruit and avocado shopping, etc. to attend to.
So, we planned to take a weekend to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar together! Thursday night, while we picnic'd, we found a hostel on Cerro Conception, the hill I told you about in Valparaiso. I was to get the bus tickets early on Friday, and we were to leave at 720.
The timing was already a little tight, Shay had to get from class to Angelicas to the bus station in an hour and 20 min. She was on time and almost to the station when the Metro stopped. It's no fun to be crammed in the train at rush hour when its 85 degrees outside, let alone for 15 minutes, when you cant understand what the hell the guy is saying over the loudspeaker. And then, the streets are blocked for a parade, so there were no cabs. (There's always cabs, everywhere!) Then, back on the metro to the bus station, except we missed our bus. She was a little shook up and upset, but I exchanged the tickets for a later time (which was no problem--like I said, the Tur-Bus thing is well-run). All was fine, just a little postponed. We calmed nerves at the 'Jerry's' above the station. It's like a fast food joint, but only sort-of, because they still cook food, and use whole avocados; and...they serve beer. Imagine Carls Jr servin' up beers with their combos. Except, Jerry's serves, big surprise, completos, mini pizzas, sadwiches like at Fuente Alemana, and a dish of french fries with chopped meat and eggs on top. Like I said, we calmed nerves with papas fritas and schop. Shayla, though, got a 'Fanschop', which is schop with some Fanta in it.
We bussed to Valparaiso, go there at around 1015, walked up Cerro Conception, and found our hostel. It was PERFECT. Just what we needed--our own room with a big bed in a quiet hostel with a welcoming host. We took a short walk, showered, and slept better than ever.
We awoke to a decent breakfast, albeit a standard hostel-ish one; white bread, cheese, a slice of meat stuff (?), juice, instant coffee, and at least we got some yoghurt. When we were ready, Alberto was very kind and gave us a comprehensive verbal tour of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar, complete with a history of the area, and a map highliting where we should go. We spoke in Spanish, so I got about 75 percent of what he said. He used english only to describe the abundance of [butt] 'floss' we were to see on the beaches of Vina, lol.
Our first day, Saturday--off to Vina del Mar, for some beach time. We took the metro along the water into Vina, about 10 minutes. We walked along the ocean until we found a place to lunch. I'll let the photos do the talking for our walk. For lunch we went for the view--a place called Tierra del Fuego, a new and modern place on the beach with only panes of glass seperating us from the sand. We had a great lunch, with a mini pisco sour and a half glass of wine on the house. We started with tres ceviches. A salmon one, a white fish one, and one with both and avocado. They were awesome. Then more fish. Corvina, with a side of mashed potatoes. Its pretty standard to have just the fish on the menu, and you order a side or 'salsa' if you like, the salsas being sauces or additions to the fish, like some shrimps and avo. The fish was fresh. Simply grilled with some lemon juice. The ensalada greiga, however, was a sad, sad attempt at a greek salad. It was iceburg lettuce, some olives, some cubed cheese... Their salads are different. A salad can be anything from our greek thing to, say, palm hearts and avocado, just plain. Lunch was good, and considering we had good fish at a fancy place literally on the sand, it didn't burn our wallets at all. It did, however burn our skin. A couple hours sitting in the sun, with only spf15, and we felt it. This came to Shayla as quite a shock, because she had yet to be sunburned in all of our year and a half-ish time together! And, her safety in the sun hadn't been challenged for years before we met, too.
So naturally, with our tender skin, we re-applied sunscreen and went to lay out on the sand. We had to even out the farmer tan. Fyi, Shayla is allergic to normal sunscreen, so we have this Burt's Bees sunscreen that is stubbornly difficult to rub in. We enjoyed being on the sand, and jumped in the water now and again to cool off. The waves were strong, and the ocean looks essentially like California ocean.
We continued our walk along the beach, and did some shopping along a stretch of little craft booths. Its funny, we've discussed this phenomenon....much of these little artisan crafty booths sell the same crap. Little Chilean leather coin pouches, eg. Little native-looking statue things, etc. Where do they all come from? It gets annoying, that these crafts aren't very crafty. Nevertheless, there's some gems in the mess. Hales-I gotcha a sweet neclace.
We walked more, back to the metro, and back home. We showered and looked for a place to do dinner. Shayla suggested Italian, which is not uncommon in Chile. We walked through a few blocks of our little Cerro Conception, browsed the menus, and settled on the first place we saw, a humble little place a block away.
This was one of the best dining experiences I have ever had. Which, por supuesto, means it was one of the best experiences I've had.
The place served gnocchi, risotto, and pizzas. There were maybe 10 tables the mom and pop place, all creaky heavy wood, and we got the corner bench with pillows. We browsed the menu, and I paused to listen....Queen. They were rocking Queen. We settled on the red pepper and garlic cream sauce gnocchi with green olives, and their house individual pizza with goat cheese, and their best Chard (which was maybe 8mil--15 bucks). We started with the wine and olives. I wasn't sure what to expect with the Chilean Chardonnay, but this one....was good. Big, but with a crispness, minerality and subtle fruit, good finish.
The gnocchi and pizza came. The pizza was awesome. It had a thin crisp crust, tomato sauce was fresh and bright, and the goat cheese was underwhelming, but ok. The gnocchi was perfect, I'm sure they make it there. We ate it all, slowly.
....''fat bottomed girls, you makin the rockin world go round....'' still Queen.
Dessert. Tiramisu, and panna-cotta with raspberry sauce, both house made. Tiramisu often dissapoints me, because its so...empty. But this one was damn good, with some body and texture and discernable flavor layers to the thing. The panna cotta and sauce was equally impressive.
We'd been there for a couple hours now, at least, just talking and enjoying our food and wine, as it should be. The bill was only 20 mil. That's like 40 bucks. That kind of quality at home, with the best wine, and dessert, will run at least 80. Plus a good tip, which here is only ten percent. We walked around the corner, and down a cobblestoned block to our hostel.
The next day, we started with breakfast again. Sunday was a walking tour of Valparaiso. This time, though, it was sunny. Most of my trip alone had been overcast. We walked the Paseo's, which are pathways along the edge of the hill, with vistas of the city. We saw some of what I had seen the weekend before, but mostly, it was all new. And if I had seen it before, it was better, because I had Shay to share it with instead of my camera; or, ie, a staircase had a car stuck on it! You'll see in the pictures...a group of guys were, god knows why, hauling a car up a stairwell, with only inches on either side. We went further...south?...this time too. We trekked the 'killer staircase', called that because its the longest, and because at least a hundred people have died on it. Sailors would, upon leaving the ships, hit the bars between the water and the stairs. Then head up the stairs to their homes, where, should they sway too far backwards, they'd stumble to their death. We also a statue of justice which is unique in the world; its a lady of justice with her scale under her arm, and her blindfold off. You can infer the point, more or less. We ate lunch at a local place down in the flat port area of town; Alberto recommended it. My Pastel de Jaibo (or Jaib..something like that), was good; again Pastel is cake, and Jaibo or whatever is crab. So it traslates to crabcake, but its in that same bowl that the Pastel de Choclo was in, and there must've been like 2 whole crabs in there. Shay got what is often called lomo de pobre (it was called something else there, and is common everywhere), which is french fries, meat, and eggs on top. She would, lol. Unfornately, a cockroach joined us on the table, and after I smushed it, she wasn't hungry enough to eat it all, understandably.
We were fairly tired, and hot, so we wanted iced coffee. We had seen cafes boasting cafe helados, and any number of other coffee drinks, so this didn't seem like an issue, at first. We stopped into this pretty crappy restaurant that looked to serve coffee, most everything was closed, because it was Sunday. Then, we found that cafe helado was listed in the gelato section, so deduced that it wasn't, in fact, referring to iced coffee. So, we asked if they could bring us coffee, but on ice. This proved to be quite confusing. Apparently, for starters, they didn't have just plain coffee, only espresso. And, when we tried to suggest that it be on ice, our waitress just stared at us. So we asked for double espressos, with a bowl of ice. We got just that, so we slowly sipped down the espresso, which was terribly watery anyway, and added ice to it. Gringos locos. We decided that we will be entirely shameless this week and sit in Starbucks and have a damn iced coffee.
We got to the bus station with some time to kill, so we sat in a soda fountain across the street. But, remember what I said about soda fountains? This one was the schop-cigarettes-futbol variety. We headed home on the bus. A quick side story--they're into PDA here, and two rows behind us, you could hear the slopping of a make-out sesh. eew.
A good weekend.
If you read this far, sweet! I'll have pictures up soon. Right now, we have to search for apartments!
E
I've found that with the sleeping snoring sasquatch orchestra I have the pleasure of sharing a dorm with, I get adequate sleep in only if I am thoroughly tired, and sleep in past breakfast, cause they've all left the room around 930am. So, I slept in last week most days. I would then shower, and make myself a good lunch; lunch would inveitable include avocado, tomato, fruit, and bread, and whatever I might have had leftover from dinner the night before. Then I would roam the city for one reason or another, I don't remember which days I did what....One day, I just took my camera and walked. Another day, I went for picnic supplies (Shay and I ended up just having a small dinner with wine on the patio of the hostel, which was very nice). A quick note on the wine. Its all Chilean, mostly bigger reds, chardonnay and sauv blanc, and the price range is from 1 mil pesos to 8ish mil, with quality wine at 2-3mil, and drinkable at 1mil. The 2buck chuck here ain't chuck, and for 5 bucks you get awesome wine.
Another day, I went on a quest for a new beard trimmer, because I left mine in the bathroom the previous Saturday before my Valparaiso trip, and it disappeared. That sucked, because that's 35ish bucks I had to spend; and there's not the variety of budget trimmers you find in the US. I found a really crappy 20 dollar one, or a better expensive one, or a really expensive one, and that was it.
So, at 6 every day, I would go meet Shayla. I have the bus route down to get to Anjelicas--walk out to Av Providencia (the main road in this disctrict with the same name), flag down a bus, and take it to Av Pedro de Valdivia. You have to waive down the buses, like you would a cab, or else they just cruise on by. Sometimes they'll cruise on by anyway. Then, another bus down Valdivia, and then its just a couple blocks to walk. Anjelica's house is in the district Nunoa (with 'enya's' on both n's....I can't put that accent on the blog...)
One night, we headed to 'Fuente Alemana' , which translates to something like German fountain (? or german source?) ....There's a ton of whats called a Fuente de Soda (soda fountain) around here, and they all serve the same type of food. I guess the Fuente Alemana is more of the classic or original, or just best, version. It's funny...some Fuente de Soda's look like what you expect out of Soda Fountain's, innocent, clean, soda and sadwiches, etc. But some have that classic 50's soda fountian window signage, but inside its beer and cigarrettes and futbol. Anyway, Fuente Alemana is where Anthony Bourdain went on his Chilean tour, and it's a local favorite, so naturally we have to go. They serve massive sandwiches that you can order a number of different ways. We didn't really know what was what on the menu, so we ordered the 'lomito completo' con solamente un poco mayo, which was thin sliced pork, saurekraut, and only a little mayo, and something else was on it. Usually, they ladle a massive amount of mayo on, which coagulates to almost look like mozzarella cheese--but its not, obviously. They love mayonnaise here, especially the older generations. It gets a little gross. You can order them with avocado, tomato, both, green beans, or everything. And there's other meat I think, maybe beef. It was a damn good sadwich. It required a knife and fork, and we took some home (I had the rest for lunch the next day).
To tangentalize... Fuente Alemana is just one example of the German influence here, but I think the whole 'completo' hot dog thing is another example. So too is 'schop'. I'm still unsure what exactly schop means. I do know that schop refers to the beer that they have 'on tap'; except, all the taps I've seen are just one, maybe 2, taps. Sometimes its the brand 'Crystal', sometimes its something else. At Fuente Alemana, they had 'blanco or negro' schop. So, I think it just means the beer on tap, which I guess they only have one kind of. But the word 'schop' sure sounds German to me.
http://www.fuentealemanachillan.cl/
Another night after 6, Shay and I met a school group of hers at Catolica, the school where her Spanish language program is held. There were about 8 of us, led by Pablo, the 'Chilean Host' and leader to Shayla and Corrie and Alisa's small group. I wasn't part of the group technically, of course, but I joined anyway. Pablo was to show us around some honest Chilean--Santiagoan--areas of town, and some legit Chilean food. We headed on a crowded bus across town to Barrio Brasil, an area of town (a district?...I'm not sure). He took us to a great restaurant which was, finally, a full departure from the touristy stuff. We all started with an aperitif; Shayla got a Mango Sour, which is like a Pisco Sour but with mango.
Have I mentioned Pisco sours yet? Pisco is a liqour distilled from grapes taken by Chile as their flagship drink (although the Pisco Sour originated in Peru, and Chileans 'borrowed' it....as I'm told). At worst, it tastes like a grocery store pre-bottled margarita; at best, it tastes like a good homemade margarita (no ice, maybe a sugar rim), with a bit of whipped egg white on top. Meh, its ok. I'd rather drink their wine.
For dinner! We had, on Pablo's recommendation, Pastel de Choclo. We split it along with some papas fritas (Shayla loves her papas fritas--french fries). Pastel means cake, and choclo I dont know, lol. It's served in an earthenware bowl, and is a kind of meat and corn pie, with pureed corn crust on top. In it we found many treasures....olives, raisins, hard boiled egg, chicken, beef, and more. It was delicious, and I enjoyed leftovers for lunch too. We also had a (very cute) half-bottle of wine; they didn't serve wine by the glass, but did serve half and quarter bottles. All of it was cheap, as far as wine in restuarants in the US is concerned. A good bottle of wine wasn't more than 10-15 bucks, and our half bottle was around 7. Its a markup from the stores, but still worth smiling about.
Then came Friday!!!! Except for dinners, Shay and I hadn't spent a ton of time together, because she's at the homestay and has class, and I'm at the hostel, and I have my extremely important daily activities of roaming, lunching, fruit and avocado shopping, etc. to attend to.
So, we planned to take a weekend to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar together! Thursday night, while we picnic'd, we found a hostel on Cerro Conception, the hill I told you about in Valparaiso. I was to get the bus tickets early on Friday, and we were to leave at 720.
The timing was already a little tight, Shay had to get from class to Angelicas to the bus station in an hour and 20 min. She was on time and almost to the station when the Metro stopped. It's no fun to be crammed in the train at rush hour when its 85 degrees outside, let alone for 15 minutes, when you cant understand what the hell the guy is saying over the loudspeaker. And then, the streets are blocked for a parade, so there were no cabs. (There's always cabs, everywhere!) Then, back on the metro to the bus station, except we missed our bus. She was a little shook up and upset, but I exchanged the tickets for a later time (which was no problem--like I said, the Tur-Bus thing is well-run). All was fine, just a little postponed. We calmed nerves at the 'Jerry's' above the station. It's like a fast food joint, but only sort-of, because they still cook food, and use whole avocados; and...they serve beer. Imagine Carls Jr servin' up beers with their combos. Except, Jerry's serves, big surprise, completos, mini pizzas, sadwiches like at Fuente Alemana, and a dish of french fries with chopped meat and eggs on top. Like I said, we calmed nerves with papas fritas and schop. Shayla, though, got a 'Fanschop', which is schop with some Fanta in it.
We bussed to Valparaiso, go there at around 1015, walked up Cerro Conception, and found our hostel. It was PERFECT. Just what we needed--our own room with a big bed in a quiet hostel with a welcoming host. We took a short walk, showered, and slept better than ever.
We awoke to a decent breakfast, albeit a standard hostel-ish one; white bread, cheese, a slice of meat stuff (?), juice, instant coffee, and at least we got some yoghurt. When we were ready, Alberto was very kind and gave us a comprehensive verbal tour of Valparaiso and Vina del Mar, complete with a history of the area, and a map highliting where we should go. We spoke in Spanish, so I got about 75 percent of what he said. He used english only to describe the abundance of [butt] 'floss' we were to see on the beaches of Vina, lol.
Our first day, Saturday--off to Vina del Mar, for some beach time. We took the metro along the water into Vina, about 10 minutes. We walked along the ocean until we found a place to lunch. I'll let the photos do the talking for our walk. For lunch we went for the view--a place called Tierra del Fuego, a new and modern place on the beach with only panes of glass seperating us from the sand. We had a great lunch, with a mini pisco sour and a half glass of wine on the house. We started with tres ceviches. A salmon one, a white fish one, and one with both and avocado. They were awesome. Then more fish. Corvina, with a side of mashed potatoes. Its pretty standard to have just the fish on the menu, and you order a side or 'salsa' if you like, the salsas being sauces or additions to the fish, like some shrimps and avo. The fish was fresh. Simply grilled with some lemon juice. The ensalada greiga, however, was a sad, sad attempt at a greek salad. It was iceburg lettuce, some olives, some cubed cheese... Their salads are different. A salad can be anything from our greek thing to, say, palm hearts and avocado, just plain. Lunch was good, and considering we had good fish at a fancy place literally on the sand, it didn't burn our wallets at all. It did, however burn our skin. A couple hours sitting in the sun, with only spf15, and we felt it. This came to Shayla as quite a shock, because she had yet to be sunburned in all of our year and a half-ish time together! And, her safety in the sun hadn't been challenged for years before we met, too.
So naturally, with our tender skin, we re-applied sunscreen and went to lay out on the sand. We had to even out the farmer tan. Fyi, Shayla is allergic to normal sunscreen, so we have this Burt's Bees sunscreen that is stubbornly difficult to rub in. We enjoyed being on the sand, and jumped in the water now and again to cool off. The waves were strong, and the ocean looks essentially like California ocean.
We continued our walk along the beach, and did some shopping along a stretch of little craft booths. Its funny, we've discussed this phenomenon....much of these little artisan crafty booths sell the same crap. Little Chilean leather coin pouches, eg. Little native-looking statue things, etc. Where do they all come from? It gets annoying, that these crafts aren't very crafty. Nevertheless, there's some gems in the mess. Hales-I gotcha a sweet neclace.
We walked more, back to the metro, and back home. We showered and looked for a place to do dinner. Shayla suggested Italian, which is not uncommon in Chile. We walked through a few blocks of our little Cerro Conception, browsed the menus, and settled on the first place we saw, a humble little place a block away.
This was one of the best dining experiences I have ever had. Which, por supuesto, means it was one of the best experiences I've had.
The place served gnocchi, risotto, and pizzas. There were maybe 10 tables the mom and pop place, all creaky heavy wood, and we got the corner bench with pillows. We browsed the menu, and I paused to listen....Queen. They were rocking Queen. We settled on the red pepper and garlic cream sauce gnocchi with green olives, and their house individual pizza with goat cheese, and their best Chard (which was maybe 8mil--15 bucks). We started with the wine and olives. I wasn't sure what to expect with the Chilean Chardonnay, but this one....was good. Big, but with a crispness, minerality and subtle fruit, good finish.
The gnocchi and pizza came. The pizza was awesome. It had a thin crisp crust, tomato sauce was fresh and bright, and the goat cheese was underwhelming, but ok. The gnocchi was perfect, I'm sure they make it there. We ate it all, slowly.
....''fat bottomed girls, you makin the rockin world go round....'' still Queen.
Dessert. Tiramisu, and panna-cotta with raspberry sauce, both house made. Tiramisu often dissapoints me, because its so...empty. But this one was damn good, with some body and texture and discernable flavor layers to the thing. The panna cotta and sauce was equally impressive.
We'd been there for a couple hours now, at least, just talking and enjoying our food and wine, as it should be. The bill was only 20 mil. That's like 40 bucks. That kind of quality at home, with the best wine, and dessert, will run at least 80. Plus a good tip, which here is only ten percent. We walked around the corner, and down a cobblestoned block to our hostel.
The next day, we started with breakfast again. Sunday was a walking tour of Valparaiso. This time, though, it was sunny. Most of my trip alone had been overcast. We walked the Paseo's, which are pathways along the edge of the hill, with vistas of the city. We saw some of what I had seen the weekend before, but mostly, it was all new. And if I had seen it before, it was better, because I had Shay to share it with instead of my camera; or, ie, a staircase had a car stuck on it! You'll see in the pictures...a group of guys were, god knows why, hauling a car up a stairwell, with only inches on either side. We went further...south?...this time too. We trekked the 'killer staircase', called that because its the longest, and because at least a hundred people have died on it. Sailors would, upon leaving the ships, hit the bars between the water and the stairs. Then head up the stairs to their homes, where, should they sway too far backwards, they'd stumble to their death. We also a statue of justice which is unique in the world; its a lady of justice with her scale under her arm, and her blindfold off. You can infer the point, more or less. We ate lunch at a local place down in the flat port area of town; Alberto recommended it. My Pastel de Jaibo (or Jaib..something like that), was good; again Pastel is cake, and Jaibo or whatever is crab. So it traslates to crabcake, but its in that same bowl that the Pastel de Choclo was in, and there must've been like 2 whole crabs in there. Shay got what is often called lomo de pobre (it was called something else there, and is common everywhere), which is french fries, meat, and eggs on top. She would, lol. Unfornately, a cockroach joined us on the table, and after I smushed it, she wasn't hungry enough to eat it all, understandably.
We were fairly tired, and hot, so we wanted iced coffee. We had seen cafes boasting cafe helados, and any number of other coffee drinks, so this didn't seem like an issue, at first. We stopped into this pretty crappy restaurant that looked to serve coffee, most everything was closed, because it was Sunday. Then, we found that cafe helado was listed in the gelato section, so deduced that it wasn't, in fact, referring to iced coffee. So, we asked if they could bring us coffee, but on ice. This proved to be quite confusing. Apparently, for starters, they didn't have just plain coffee, only espresso. And, when we tried to suggest that it be on ice, our waitress just stared at us. So we asked for double espressos, with a bowl of ice. We got just that, so we slowly sipped down the espresso, which was terribly watery anyway, and added ice to it. Gringos locos. We decided that we will be entirely shameless this week and sit in Starbucks and have a damn iced coffee.
We got to the bus station with some time to kill, so we sat in a soda fountain across the street. But, remember what I said about soda fountains? This one was the schop-cigarettes-futbol variety. We headed home on the bus. A quick side story--they're into PDA here, and two rows behind us, you could hear the slopping of a make-out sesh. eew.
A good weekend.
If you read this far, sweet! I'll have pictures up soon. Right now, we have to search for apartments!
E
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
erikadamnielsen.shutterfly.com
My pictures! go to erikadamnielsen.shutterfly.com!
Its annoying having a site for blog and a site for photos. Maybe i'll blog on shutterfly, we'll see. And it takes forever to upload so many photos, so I only have time to upload to one site; so, it might as well be a site that maintains the quality of the photos, and I can order prints (neither of which happens on facebook).
Its annoying having a site for blog and a site for photos. Maybe i'll blog on shutterfly, we'll see. And it takes forever to upload so many photos, so I only have time to upload to one site; so, it might as well be a site that maintains the quality of the photos, and I can order prints (neither of which happens on facebook).
Monday, January 25, 2010
cerros Crayola y mas...
OK, I've left you hangin since Thursday, no? I have a ton to tell. Well, on Thursday I left the hostel to explore the Centro, which is just few Metro stops away (the metro is the train/subway. The metro and bus sytem is incredible here, btw. Its better and cheaper than in sf or ny.) I ended up just walking, for like 4 hours, getting lost then re-orienting myself, over and over. The city is massive. As this was my first aqcuaintance with the centro, I can't really say what was what or where I was exactly; it was just ins and outs of bustling dusty streets, until I saw a street that called my name. A cafe, another cafe, could this be that 2 block stretch I wanted, within the hundreds of blocks in the centro? It was! I wanted some coffee, but realized I had to get cash first. I decided to just go wherever felt right, and get cash when I found a Citibank. That little street of Cafe's led me to a pretty and patrimonial stone staircase and lush green hill amidst the dusty bustle. I walked through it, I saved the trip to the top for when I have company. I continued to look for the citibanks that the manager of the Berkeley branch said were 'all over Santiago'. Turns out, Citi is just affiliated with Banco de Chile, who boasts the Citi logo. They charge me to use the ATM, 6 bucks; this totally defeats ther purpose of me opening a bank acct with Citi in the first place, but I get money anyway (more on this situation later).
By now, Shay calls me and I make my way over to Plaza Nunoa, a district away. We did some errands for Shays phone, it was broken, and then the new one broke, now she cant turn on the other new one she bought (very annoying :( ) We had some lunch at a resturaunt; it was much better than the Chilean hard rock cafe, but still catered a little to 'us folks'. We visited Corrie's homestay (Corrie lived in Ridge house, too, and is here for the same time/thing shay is). She lives on the 13th floor of an apt building in Los Condes, an upper-middle class neighborhood. The view was spectacular, if a bit smoggy. Tons of Apt buildings, backdropped by the snow topped Andes (its like 85 degrees out here!?) and the other surrounding mountains (Santiago is basically surrounded by mountains). I have pictures of the view.
Friday. I met Shay for lunch at Anjelicas house (homestay). She made us a typical Chilean lunch: salmon, with (i'm pretty sure..) just oil, lemon and salt, and some rice, and avo and tomatoes and bread. This place is overflowing with avocados! We thought Carpinteria was home to avos...here theyre a staple, and hella cheap, I got two big ones for something like a buck. And lunch is the main meal, dinner is small. Lunch was incredible; better than what I had at that resturaunt on Thurs. (You'll hear a lot about what I eat and drink lol....)
Then Shay left for the weekend :(
She had an orientation for her program at a resort (it might have been a resort ten years ago she says, but half was closed and/or crumbling..) between here and the beach. So I stayed at the hostel on Friday night, for a BBQ the owners were hosting. We all hung out on the back porch, with Chilean wine, and had kababs of veggies meat and...hot dog peices? also two tables of salad options, and steak. Tranquilo, muy tranquilo. I talked with a cool Australian couple, and somebody from LA, and listed to their stories/suggestions for Macchu Picchu.
un poco vino, y puedo hablar espanol! Herman (pronounced kinda that way, maybe spelled German), who owns the place, and I talked in Spanish about how he came from the poor regions of Chile and realized his dreams to live in Providencia (where we are, a nice area in Chile), while his friends wound up selling drugs.
Then, off to Bellavista! We went to a matte grey fronted building with a doorman, and entered into, apparently, one of the hipper clubs in the area. Some more talking (or screaming over the music), and we headed home. I reeked of cigaretts because people smoke in there. Honestly, there are other things I'd prefer to do in my travels, but it was fun.
I pulled myself together the next morning in spite of the late night, and left for Valparaiso on my own! Valpo is the cultural capital of Chile, on the beach about an hour and half bus ride from Santiago. So the Metro and public buses are incredible. Then theres the Tur-Bus (and other companies like it), which are even more incredible. I took the metro from my hostel (it stops a block away), to the Terminal de Buses, about 15 min. I bought a round trip ticket to Valpo for like 6800 pesos. Thats like 13 bucks! The bus was exactly on time; its a legit tour bus--reclining seats, air-conditioned, movies, and it drives fast. They sell you refreshments on board. They ask where you need to get off. All with efficiency and ease. I left at 230, (I mean 1430) and got there around 4. I had made a reservation on hostelworld.com for that same night, so I made my way to the hostel. It's a single door in an alley that leads up two floors to a big flat, and the owner and his family lives there too. It was the wrong hostel. Same name and owner, but wrong hostel, crap. A stroke of luck--somebody left, leaving me a bed; and, this hostel has private rooms, so I had a queen bed in a private room that night. I napped.
At about 815, I went exploring. (It stays light out until around 930). And...whatta ya know, I stumbled across the Carnival Cultural de Valparaiso, a massive festival celebrating Chilean culture, held in Valparaiso (the cultural capital of Chile). I stopped to listen to the band, which played on a serious stage--mulitple screens, lights, effects etc. I ended up staying for two more hours, listening to the next bands, and the crowds came booming in around me. I have pictures. I left to find some food around 1130; I had my first 'Completo' from an old couple/street vendor for 500 pesos (a buck). A completo is a hot dog in bun, with saurekraut, mashed avocado, tomato, maybe something else, and mayo. Next time I'll skip the mayo, but it was good enough, I was hungry. I slept. Well, I slept after enduring some ninos y ninas running and screaming throughout the house (it was like 1am, wtf!?)
Sunday I roamed Valpo. I'm lost for words to describe this city, but I'll try. Multiple 'cerrros' (hills) rise steeply behind the flat port area of town. These cerros are drenched with a spectacle of colored houses, muraled walls, and spidery staircases. As my guidebook says, not even the most gifted cartographer can capture the erratic hills, roads and stairs of this place. Crumbling mansions and perched shacks, artists' studios and cafes, and of course, endless happy stray dogs that navigate what feels like an MC Escher drawing in Crayola come to life. Multiple 'ascensors' (elevator things) that were built in the early 1900's take you up the near-vertical sections of the cerros for 300 pesos. Half the acsensors dont work, which I found out the hard way after hiking up the hill to take one down.
Then I realized I left my passport and wad of cash between the mattress at the hostel. ****. Luckily, Orlando, the owner had given me his info, so after asking a local about the local area code, I called him. I asked him about my things (my spanish is improving by the second), he said he'd look, and I called him back in 5, and he had them. First, however, he informed me that I have a 'cabeza de pollo'. I said 'si, es verdad.' I went back and got my passport and cash, to my releif.
That situation had inturrupted my plan to eat lunch up on the cerros. So I went back, and entered 'Valparaiso, Mi Amor', a resturaunt. It too catered to tourists, who can afford the food. In other words it wasn't that cheap. But, it was a cool little place. I ordered (crap I can't remember how to say it...maripochos something?) Chilean clams with parmesan and butter and I think a green leafy herb that looks like cilantro but isn't, I gotta figure out what its called. And house white wine, I couldn't quite make out from the waitress what it was called. They start you with awesome bread and a pico de gallo like salsa for it. The clams came, all 20 some of them on the half shell, with a rose made from tomato skin in the middle. They were incredible. Unfortunately, I had to eat more quickly than I'd like to, cause I had a bus to catch.
I scurried down on the acsensor, and had to get a cab, or else miss the bus. The cab cost only a little less than the whole ride back to Santiago, but at least I made the bus.
I met Shay when I got back, and we went to 'Lider', a big Chilean grocery/everything else store. We got groceries for me, and another new phone for Shay, and some wine and chocolate for Anjelica. Anjelica had us for dinner--bread, salami, cheese, avo and vino. I headed home around 12.
We are going back to Valparaiso.
Today I haven't left the hostel. I slept as much as I could (the last week has been a battle against snorers, kids, travelers in and out, etc), and made myself breakfast-croissant, avocado, tomato, salt, and Via instant coffee. That stuff has been a godsend. As has the rest of the travel accessories, btw, thank you!! That little chico-bag...(a re-usable grocery bag that stuffs into an attached pouch and clips onto you) ...so rad.
I opened a new bank acct with Charles Schwab--it refunds all ATM fees, so I don't have to shell out 6 bucks everytime I get out money. umm mom? can you send me the check card and checks that are coming to your house?? and the camera charger I forgot??? :) i'll call ya.
after that and writing all this, quiero almozar.
i'll try to update y'all more often. and i'll get the pictures up.
best,
el cabeza de pollo
By now, Shay calls me and I make my way over to Plaza Nunoa, a district away. We did some errands for Shays phone, it was broken, and then the new one broke, now she cant turn on the other new one she bought (very annoying :( ) We had some lunch at a resturaunt; it was much better than the Chilean hard rock cafe, but still catered a little to 'us folks'. We visited Corrie's homestay (Corrie lived in Ridge house, too, and is here for the same time/thing shay is). She lives on the 13th floor of an apt building in Los Condes, an upper-middle class neighborhood. The view was spectacular, if a bit smoggy. Tons of Apt buildings, backdropped by the snow topped Andes (its like 85 degrees out here!?) and the other surrounding mountains (Santiago is basically surrounded by mountains). I have pictures of the view.
Friday. I met Shay for lunch at Anjelicas house (homestay). She made us a typical Chilean lunch: salmon, with (i'm pretty sure..) just oil, lemon and salt, and some rice, and avo and tomatoes and bread. This place is overflowing with avocados! We thought Carpinteria was home to avos...here theyre a staple, and hella cheap, I got two big ones for something like a buck. And lunch is the main meal, dinner is small. Lunch was incredible; better than what I had at that resturaunt on Thurs. (You'll hear a lot about what I eat and drink lol....)
Then Shay left for the weekend :(
She had an orientation for her program at a resort (it might have been a resort ten years ago she says, but half was closed and/or crumbling..) between here and the beach. So I stayed at the hostel on Friday night, for a BBQ the owners were hosting. We all hung out on the back porch, with Chilean wine, and had kababs of veggies meat and...hot dog peices? also two tables of salad options, and steak. Tranquilo, muy tranquilo. I talked with a cool Australian couple, and somebody from LA, and listed to their stories/suggestions for Macchu Picchu.
un poco vino, y puedo hablar espanol! Herman (pronounced kinda that way, maybe spelled German), who owns the place, and I talked in Spanish about how he came from the poor regions of Chile and realized his dreams to live in Providencia (where we are, a nice area in Chile), while his friends wound up selling drugs.
Then, off to Bellavista! We went to a matte grey fronted building with a doorman, and entered into, apparently, one of the hipper clubs in the area. Some more talking (or screaming over the music), and we headed home. I reeked of cigaretts because people smoke in there. Honestly, there are other things I'd prefer to do in my travels, but it was fun.
I pulled myself together the next morning in spite of the late night, and left for Valparaiso on my own! Valpo is the cultural capital of Chile, on the beach about an hour and half bus ride from Santiago. So the Metro and public buses are incredible. Then theres the Tur-Bus (and other companies like it), which are even more incredible. I took the metro from my hostel (it stops a block away), to the Terminal de Buses, about 15 min. I bought a round trip ticket to Valpo for like 6800 pesos. Thats like 13 bucks! The bus was exactly on time; its a legit tour bus--reclining seats, air-conditioned, movies, and it drives fast. They sell you refreshments on board. They ask where you need to get off. All with efficiency and ease. I left at 230, (I mean 1430) and got there around 4. I had made a reservation on hostelworld.com for that same night, so I made my way to the hostel. It's a single door in an alley that leads up two floors to a big flat, and the owner and his family lives there too. It was the wrong hostel. Same name and owner, but wrong hostel, crap. A stroke of luck--somebody left, leaving me a bed; and, this hostel has private rooms, so I had a queen bed in a private room that night. I napped.
At about 815, I went exploring. (It stays light out until around 930). And...whatta ya know, I stumbled across the Carnival Cultural de Valparaiso, a massive festival celebrating Chilean culture, held in Valparaiso (the cultural capital of Chile). I stopped to listen to the band, which played on a serious stage--mulitple screens, lights, effects etc. I ended up staying for two more hours, listening to the next bands, and the crowds came booming in around me. I have pictures. I left to find some food around 1130; I had my first 'Completo' from an old couple/street vendor for 500 pesos (a buck). A completo is a hot dog in bun, with saurekraut, mashed avocado, tomato, maybe something else, and mayo. Next time I'll skip the mayo, but it was good enough, I was hungry. I slept. Well, I slept after enduring some ninos y ninas running and screaming throughout the house (it was like 1am, wtf!?)
Sunday I roamed Valpo. I'm lost for words to describe this city, but I'll try. Multiple 'cerrros' (hills) rise steeply behind the flat port area of town. These cerros are drenched with a spectacle of colored houses, muraled walls, and spidery staircases. As my guidebook says, not even the most gifted cartographer can capture the erratic hills, roads and stairs of this place. Crumbling mansions and perched shacks, artists' studios and cafes, and of course, endless happy stray dogs that navigate what feels like an MC Escher drawing in Crayola come to life. Multiple 'ascensors' (elevator things) that were built in the early 1900's take you up the near-vertical sections of the cerros for 300 pesos. Half the acsensors dont work, which I found out the hard way after hiking up the hill to take one down.
Then I realized I left my passport and wad of cash between the mattress at the hostel. ****. Luckily, Orlando, the owner had given me his info, so after asking a local about the local area code, I called him. I asked him about my things (my spanish is improving by the second), he said he'd look, and I called him back in 5, and he had them. First, however, he informed me that I have a 'cabeza de pollo'. I said 'si, es verdad.' I went back and got my passport and cash, to my releif.
That situation had inturrupted my plan to eat lunch up on the cerros. So I went back, and entered 'Valparaiso, Mi Amor', a resturaunt. It too catered to tourists, who can afford the food. In other words it wasn't that cheap. But, it was a cool little place. I ordered (crap I can't remember how to say it...maripochos something?) Chilean clams with parmesan and butter and I think a green leafy herb that looks like cilantro but isn't, I gotta figure out what its called. And house white wine, I couldn't quite make out from the waitress what it was called. They start you with awesome bread and a pico de gallo like salsa for it. The clams came, all 20 some of them on the half shell, with a rose made from tomato skin in the middle. They were incredible. Unfortunately, I had to eat more quickly than I'd like to, cause I had a bus to catch.
I scurried down on the acsensor, and had to get a cab, or else miss the bus. The cab cost only a little less than the whole ride back to Santiago, but at least I made the bus.
I met Shay when I got back, and we went to 'Lider', a big Chilean grocery/everything else store. We got groceries for me, and another new phone for Shay, and some wine and chocolate for Anjelica. Anjelica had us for dinner--bread, salami, cheese, avo and vino. I headed home around 12.
We are going back to Valparaiso.
Today I haven't left the hostel. I slept as much as I could (the last week has been a battle against snorers, kids, travelers in and out, etc), and made myself breakfast-croissant, avocado, tomato, salt, and Via instant coffee. That stuff has been a godsend. As has the rest of the travel accessories, btw, thank you!! That little chico-bag...(a re-usable grocery bag that stuffs into an attached pouch and clips onto you) ...so rad.
I opened a new bank acct with Charles Schwab--it refunds all ATM fees, so I don't have to shell out 6 bucks everytime I get out money. umm mom? can you send me the check card and checks that are coming to your house?? and the camera charger I forgot??? :) i'll call ya.
after that and writing all this, quiero almozar.
i'll try to update y'all more often. and i'll get the pictures up.
best,
el cabeza de pollo
Thursday, January 21, 2010
another dying animal in the dorm last night, but i slept well anyway. breakfast was the same, and free. as for the rest of today, i'm on my own....
i like and need my coffee, so i'm off to find some on JM de la Barra, a little stretch of cafes in the centro. i'll take some pictures today. (and hold on tight to my camera...)
i like and need my coffee, so i'm off to find some on JM de la Barra, a little stretch of cafes in the centro. i'll take some pictures today. (and hold on tight to my camera...)
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
si, gracias, quisiera algo vino. roja, por favor.
ok i didnt know how to say that (yes, thank you, i would like some wine. red, please) when they offered me a glass of wine with my suprisingly delicious-for-airlplane-food raviolis, but now i do, and thats how it came to my head when i started writing this. the wine wasn't half bad, and they even served it in plastic stemware. beleive it or not, they offered to feed us again later, with tacos de pollo, but we declined, still full from the previous meal and shaylas rediculous bag of candy she got at the airport. oh, and the cookies we brought.
we got in around 830, customs and immigration were smooth, as was the whole Copa airlines experience. outside the airport was a slew of cabbies who all had the 'muy most cheapest' cabs into the city, but we passed them to the cab we prepaid for at the desk inside. He managed to squeze all 6 or 8 or whatever massive bags into the sedan, using the front seat as cargo space. Then we cruised into Providencia, a district in Santiago (there are over 20ish i think). Our hostel was here, and its close to where Shay and Alisa meet their housemoms the next day.
we settle in the hostel, shower off the nastiness that acccumilates from 14 hours of planes etc, and make our way out to dinner. we asked the matrodee (or dude at the counter, matrodee is a little fru fru for hostels i guess) where to go. he sends us to Bellavista, which I think is just a name for an area of town, not a whole district, but i dont know. We walked along the ...dirty...river that runs along the central street of the area and a visitor joined us and led the way --a lone, confident, tagless pooch, who for whatever reason gave me an edge of comfort on my first walk through Santiago.
the place we ended up was a swankier area, full of clubs and resturaunts, but a lot of them in this central square looked engineered for tourists. we were hungry, so we just walked into one. the place was like a chilean version of the hard rock cafe or something, not what i want out of my chilean dining experience, but oh well, deal with it for the night. we ate, it wasnt horrible, and and Alisa tried the famous pisco sour, which didnt go over that well with us. nevertheless, we were in good spirits to have made it. we went home and slept.
except.....there was this old euro-dude who went to bed in his clothes on and with dirty feet who snored like a goddamn dying hog. i didnt sleep well.
but, i slept well enough to get our first full day of Chile started with gusto. breakfast at the hostel was white bread, cheese, instant crappy, i mean coffee, and some good melon juice. oh and corn flakes. we then reorganized our bags and left to meet the house moms. 
(shayla meeting the mom)
Shayla's house mom, Anjelica, kindly invited me back with them, where she made us pisco sours that trumped our mediocre first impression of them. she also fed us avocado, tomatoes, bread, steak and mashed potatoes, and a wonderful local rose. i had to take a small siesta after that lunch. 
shays room
then,Anjelica helped us buy Bip! cards (for the metro) and prepaid cell phones to use here. (i got a text from AT&T saying its 3.50 a minute here and 20 bucks/mb). Shay and I came back to the hostel, where I'm staying for the next week, for a pesto pasta and red wine dinner, on the house. it was great. the meal, and the whole day.
so, after accompanying shay home, and a couple hours later, i'm atop my bunk, pretty damn tired. oh, and its damn hot here (85-90 in the day, and still warm at night).
goodnight!
ps, sorry the pictures suck so far. didnt have much time to take any good ones yet. plus, its a pain to put em on this blogger thing, so i'll figure a better way to get them all up.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
SO, here we go, bloggin', my first time.
my stomach is acting up a little. I'm 85 percent sure its because of the chorizo and eggs and potatoes and onions and coffee I had for breakfast, but the fact that I leave tomorrow night for 7 months in Chile probably has something to do with it too. Today we are making lists of last minute stuff, like lady things, more underwear and socks, and a giant bottle of Tapatio for the (suprisingly) hotsauceless South America. Vital items.
Shayla: "i keep thinking of things and immediately forgetting them", seriously.
ok we're off to tie some loose ends.
my stomach is acting up a little. I'm 85 percent sure its because of the chorizo and eggs and potatoes and onions and coffee I had for breakfast, but the fact that I leave tomorrow night for 7 months in Chile probably has something to do with it too. Today we are making lists of last minute stuff, like lady things, more underwear and socks, and a giant bottle of Tapatio for the (suprisingly) hotsauceless South America. Vital items.
Shayla: "i keep thinking of things and immediately forgetting them", seriously.
ok we're off to tie some loose ends.
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