Ola from South America!!

Yesterday it was brought to my attention by three different sources that I am yet to submit any sort of bog entry.. Who would have thought I would have three different people wanting to read this thing?! Prior to leaving, I promised my Grandma Harri that I would keep this blog while I travelled for the next six months throughout South America.  I trust that I am now in the “dog house” for my lack of entries but am still convinced they will be the only ones who religiously follow.  So... sorry Grandma! 

January 4th, I left on an overnight flight to Santiago, Chile only stop being Toronto. When I landed in Toronto it was announced that the flight to Santiago would be slightly delayed. I got to the terminal only to find out that the plane need repairing and it would further be delayed about 2 more hours. It was now mid night at the air port. The flight was large as it was supposed to land in Santiago, then on the Buenos Aires.  Later, we were told that the plane could not be fixed and we were assigned a new plane that needed to be boarded ASAP or out flight would be cancelled. Finally around 2:30 am we were on our way!  The flight was direct, about 10 hours of travel.

I landed in sunny Santiago in the afternoon and hopped in to a van on route the Passi residence where I met my friend Amanda.  Amanda has been in South America since mid October, spending the majority of her time in Peru. She travelled to Chile to meet her friend- the Passi family, who graciously took me in as well. Stepping foot out of the airport was shocking. It was about 33 degrees that day and very humid.  The drive to the Passi's was very interesting. We drove through the slums and I noticed that Santiago had smog hanging over the city.   Later it was explained that the smog gets trapped over the city by the mountains and gets much worse in the winter.  There is a river that runs through the city that is very brown with banks covered in garbage. Stray dogs in which I refuse to make friends with are very common in Chile as well.  

The Passi’s house was beautiful. The floors were tiled, and the doors were large round frames.  Amanda and I had rooms in the back detached from the rest of the house. In order to get a hot shower I had to turn on carbon monoxide and light a burner in the washroom.  We’ll just say showers were limited in Santiago due to the my fear of blowing us up.  Some of the family friends came over that night and introduced us to fanta (orange) and beer- this is common for Chileans to drink.  At that point I started to wonder about the Chileans – why would anyone want to dilute beer? My skepticism was soon relaxed once I saw the size of the beer bottles, 1.5 litres!!  It is common for Chileans to share a bottle (or more) over dinner.  That night the father took us for a ride around Santiago and when I commented on how nice the roads were he explained that the freeways have all been developed within the last 4 years.  They are comparable to the American freeways. However, the same can not be said that the Chilean driver’s.. Apparently some will still reverse out of exits when they realize they taking wrong one – yikes!! 

Chilean and Argentinean cities are all developed around Plazas. The next day we got up to visit Plaza de Armes.  This is the main Plaza in Santiago. There are many smaller ones as well, which are vibrant at night.  After touring around, we went to a Chilean restaurant with the family. This restaurant was particularly interesting because it didn’t have a sign anywhere on the building. It was in the middle of a residential neighbourhood.  It was extremely large and apparently always full of people. Before every Chilean meal food is brought to the table, often its bread and salsa type toppings.  At this Chilean restaurant, they made corn and potato patties served with a spicy sauce and fresh salsa… At that moment, I fell in love with Chilean food. This love would continue for the rest of my time there. Most dishes are made with corn, often mashed.  Copper is the largest industry here. There is copper in the jewelry and all over the markets, as well as stands of goods made from copper that provide a nice blinding reflection as you drive by them on the side of the road.

The rest of the day we toured BellaVista. This is a common tourist area also filled with locals.  It has a more traditional look to the neighbourhood. The sidewalks are filled with patios where everyone is sitting across from someone splitting a 1.5 litre bottle of Cristal (Chilean beer – cheap too!).  We walked towards the mountains to Pablo Neruda’s house.  He won the Noble Peace Prize for Literature. As I continued to travel throughout Chile I realized how influential he was and still is. 

Our last day in Santiago Amanda and I went back to BellaVista market to look around before catching an afternoon bus to Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar.  These are sister cities, Valparaiso being an older, more preserved look, where Vina is flooded in the summer with the city slickers of Santiago and tourists looking for a beach getaway.  We met Jill Enns and her boyfriend Mike Renaud in Vina later that night. Jill and Mike had just arrived in from Peru to rent an apartment in Vina for the next 4 nights with us.  We toured Vina and Valparaiso, and enjoyed the extremely warm weather and beautiful beaches. Valparaiso is famous for a clock made from flowers in a garden. It was very pretty. The highlight was definitely the day trip to Zapallar.  This is a ritzy beach town where wealthy Chileans spend their summers. Zapallar is only an hour from Vina, but when we read online that it is too expensive to stay overnight we opted for a day trip to the beach and bus back to Vina for the night.  The weather was beautiful all of these days- it was good to be at the ocean!

Zapallar

Although the weather was hot, Chileans still opt to wear pants and shoes all the time. No wonder North American’s stick out so much!  Another strange thing we noticed in Chile is that Canada Dry Ginger Ale is extremely popular. Often it will be stocked on the shelves of stores even when there are no other imported drinks. When you tell someone we are from Canada they always respond with “OH! Canada Dry!!!” … yes??? And another one of my favourites is telling people we are from Winnipeg. “Weeney-peg??” yep! That’s the one! Weeney-peg!

We went out one night and tested out Pisco sours in Chile.  We had to get to the bottom of a Peruvian/Chilean debate over who actually makes Pisco.  This is a very strong alcohol made from grapes. I will have to try it when I go to Peru, but I sure got a good taste of the Chilean drink!  We spent the next few days at other beach towns along the coast (Algorrobo and El Quisco) before heading back to in Santiago. Jill and Mike flew home after about a week and Amanda and I hopped a bus to Mendoza, Argentina!!  The drive was supposed to be 6 hours through the windy roads of the Andes, but it became more like 10.  We arrived in Mendoza at 11 pm where the temperature was still 28 degrees and extremely humid. In Chile, it cools down a lot at night, but just a short ride in the Andes and you are in a desert where the temperature only changes 6 degrees at night. 

Mendoza is in wine country. Amanda and I toured two wineries the next day and an Olive oil factory.  On our wine tour we learnt that Mendoza produces 70% of Argentina’s wine, many of the higher end wines are not even used for export.  We also learnt about the city’s very interesting water system developed long ago. Because Mendoza is in the desert, they built trenches along the sides of the roads used to irrigate their vegetation. As new developers looked at ways to adopt a more modern system of irrigation, they found that the previous way was still best.  A large damn was built outside the city to release the water in to the trenches when needed.

We spent a few more days in Mendoza, walking and walking and walking.. So much that both of Amanda’s sandals fell apart! This conveniently happened on a Sunday, as we found out that stores are not opened in Argentina on Sundays. Actually, stores in Argentina also close between 2-5:30pm everyday as well.. Yet the reason for such slow growth is still uncertain in this economy??

Amanda and I decided to catch a 17 hour bus south from Mendoza to Bariloche.  Bariloche is the gateway to Patagonia, lying in the lake district.  There are so many activities to do here. Most people stay here for over a week. Hiking is most the popular attraction, as well as other activities like rafting, biking, and climbing.  Amanda and I are staying in a great hostel with a beautiful view of one of the lakes.  We have met many people in our hostel because you get free dinner with your rental fee.. sweet! Everyone eats together, so it’s a great way to meet people. The town of Bariloche has a Banff feel to it.  We have learnt and experienced that this town is the chocolate capital of Argentina! There are so many chocolate and ice cream shops here, thank goodness the town is full of activities that help justify our indulgences!!

Bariloche Hike

We have gone on two hikes. One short hike over looking many lakes and one full day hike to Tronador!  Tronador lies within the National park.  We saw a black glacier (one of only two in the world) and a beautiful glacier waterfall in the mountains. 

Tronador


We will be renting bikes tomorrow to bike 60 km around the lake, then I’m sure we will visit our favourite ice cream shop afterwards.  The weather is still nice here. Today is the first day there has been an over cast, but it is still very warm.  I will be in Bariloche until Monday, January 23^rd when Amanda and I will split as I will catch a 26-hour bus to Buenos Aires and she will travel back to Chile.  Buenos Aires is been the destination that travelers rave about.  I am excited to see what is in store for me there as I wait for Colin Parsons to fly in a couple days after my arrival.  Colin and I will travel together for about two months… or until he gets sick of me!

Hope everyone is doing well! Ciao!