Chilling in Chile

I left Buenos Aries with a measure of regret – I had had a great month in the city, and met some great people, but the knowledge that I would return ensured that the cheesy grin I’ve had on my face since landing in South America did not fade. I crossed into Chile via a 20 hour bus ride – which some of you may balk at the idea of – but I actually quite enjoy long bus rides in South America. The buses are bloody comfortable, you get to see some of the country (and let me tell you, the views crossing the Andes mountain range were pretty incredible) and you have plenty of time to think…actually a bit too much time to think – your mind wanders all over the place and you always exit the bus at the other end with more questions about your life than answers…but it’s all good!

I met Oscar, my Chilean amigo, when I arrive in Santiago after a swift ride on the impressive city subway system, and was treated to the same incredible hospitality I received from Agus & Fran in Buenos Aires (mucho gracias to Oscar, Marisol and Pedro!). I kicked around the city for a few days, taking in the main sites, including a park – San Cristobal - I had missed on my first visit to this city 5 years ago. San Cristobal is situated upon a series of large hills and has breathtaking views over the whole city…and the nicest outdoor public swimming pool I have ever seen – Guildford Lido “eat your heart out”! I also visited, purely out of cultural interest (!), one of the institutions in the city of Santiago: a “Café con Piernas” – literally translated “Café with Legs”. They are basically cafes, come strip joints, that are frequented by businessmen for coffee inbetween meetings (they are open during daylight hours only). There is no actual nakedness, but the waitresses wear the smallest bikinis I have ever seen, and are paid to “chat” to you! It was actually quite an uncomfortable experience – there were just two businessmen and me inside the café and the waitress was chatting away to me in Spanish – I didn’t have a clue. I downed my coke, made my excuses and left: “Café con Piernas”: tick!

Last weekend Oscar and I went for tour of a vineyard about an hour outside the city in a beautiful valley. I consumed wild boar (much the same as pork, unsurprisingly!) and drank wine! We then moved on to the coastal town of Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar for the rest for the weekend. Valparaiso is an intriguing port town, with sharp hills rising up from the waters edge, creating some interesting problems for the “town planners” – the houses are stacked on top of one another, coated in metal sheets and brightly coloured, providing lots of photo opportunities. On Saturday, after dinner in one of the smallest, cutest and nicest restaurants I have ever been to (only 6 tables!) we frequented one of the local nightclubs…and immediately felt incredibly old – I don’t think there was anyone over the age of 20 inside! Still, they had a salsa room so I showed Oscar and the rest of the Valparaiso how to dance before retiring for the night! On Sunday we pushed on to Vina Del Mar – a bit like Brighton (in terms of proximity to the capital city) – but with a nicer beach, nicer food, nicer weather and nicer girls…!

For the last week I travelled South to the “Lake District” region of Chile for some hiking and chilling. First stop was Pucon – a popular vacation destination for Chilean families and “hipster” crowds alike…and I can certainly understand why. The town is on the edge of a stunning lake, with a large black volcanic beach, surrounded by mountains and dominated by a large, classically shaped “cone” volcano! This very volcano I set off early one morning to climb…only to be forced to turn back half way up due to ferocious winds and ice…I’m sure we experienced worse conditions on Snowden when doing the 3 peaks for wannabeamazin last year – but the guide insisted we turned back – annoying, but I was still presented with some incredible views of the surrounding area.

It was while in Pucon that I did something that I’m still trying to understand myself – I’ve joined the “over-sized sunglasses” posse! I’ve always silently laughed at people that sport sunglasses that cover half their face – I just think they look ridiculous. They are also one of the cheapest forms of Plastic Surgery – you’re never quite sure if the wearer looks like Nora Jones or Nora Batty! But, on my eternal hunt for the perfect pair of (cheap) aviators, I succumbed and purchased a pair of giant ones – the kind you see in joke shops for fancy dress evenings! I don’t know what came over me – I think it was the fact that they are bloody comfortable and, as anyone with a funny (or large) shaped nose like mine will know, its bloody difficult to find good fitting sunglasses, indeed aviators are about the only style of sunglasses that look reasonable when placed upon my honk. They looked big on the stand – they look even bigger on my face…they look ridiculous…but they’re comfortable, and at $4 I’ll roll with them for a while – if nothing else they give me a laugh everytime I catch my reflection in a window whilst wearing them!

After Pucon I moved another 3 hours South to a pretty, little University town called Valdivia on the edge of a tributary of a large river. Spent a couple of days meeting some nice people, dancing to regaeton and Salsa in a random”local” club and attending a “mini-festival” to gorge myself on local delicacies and watch a display of dancing from all over South America – nice.

As I prepare to depart this land I’ll just give you a quick rundown of my observations of Chilean people & culture…like Argentina, the focus is on family & friends – people live at home until they are in their late 20’s or, more commonly, until they get married. They vacation with their families regularly and even when they move away from home they remain close, returning for family meals most weeks. The racial mix is still heavily dominated by a “European Look” but you definitely notice a stronger mix of indigenous Indians here than in Argentina. The boys all have mullets (Harris – if you weren’t ginger you would fit right in) and, when young, bad moustaches! The girls are nice…but not as nice as Argentina – indeed I’m still confused as to how the girls in Argentina look so good when the diet is so bad (steak, pizza and empanadas (pies) are the staple) – the diet seems better in Chile – more vegetables and salads…but somehow the bodies are not as good…could be something to do with the amount of plastic surgery in Buenos Aires…!

Ok, so if you are feeling down at the moment don’t read the final sentence of this entry…

…On Thursday I fly to Rio. It’s Carnival. ‘Nuff said. Waahhhhhooooooooooooooooooooo!