Month: November 2010

We had two great days in Santiago. We start with a picture of Chilean president Salvadore Allende. Forgive my incomplete rememberance of history, but he became president in the late 60s. He was assassinated in the military coup that put General Pinochet in power on the original and far more tragic September 11th – 1973. Social progress in Chile halted, the “Chicago Boys” brought in Friedman’s (horrendous) economic policies including “shocking” the economy and privitization of the country’s greatest assets and resources. Chile lost a generation of progress and suffered under a really repressive dictatorship.

We moved on to Santa Lucia park in the midst of downtown. It’s a large hill offering great views of the city. You can see the Andes in the background through the ever-present smog.

Next we headed to Cerro San Cristobal, a 600m hill overlooking the entire city. We did not climb this; we took the cable tram (built in the 30s) to the top for a few bucks each. Here’s a look up the hill; the wall on the left has a level top (that gives you an idea how steep this is).

The park features a statue of the Virgin Mary overlooking the city.

Here’s a view back over the city. Santa Lucia park is in the middle of the frame.

The classic self portrait.

All those hills gave us a healthy appetite, so we took a lunch break at a restaurant favored by locals. Great vibe in the restaurant, but everything was in Spanish. We did our best figuring out the menu, then went for Pisco Sours, and two specials of the day: ceviche de local and causeo de patitas. We know ceviche — it’s basically Latin sushi, though we didn’t know what fish it would be. We had no idea what causeo de patitas was. The verdict? Pisco sours: sour, delicious and refreshing. Civiche: fresh, and a bit meatier than most we’ve had. We asked and learned it was trout. Causeo: mysterious cubed meat squares with cheese and olives. Is this blood sausage? Sweet breads? Not bad. We looked it up later: pig leg.

The alarm went off at 4:30a to catch our 7a flight this morning from Santiago to Buenos Aires. Ugh. Check in was a bit nervy as we were told there was “a problem with the ticket” but they somehow squared it away. For Chile, you have to go through immigration both ways. They asked for a form we filled out on the way in. Uh, do we have those? They magically appear for us and we sail through.

Right by our boarding area was a bar called “The Last Pisco Sour.” True, but 6a is a bit early.

We cleared immigration and customs in Buenos Aires with no problem. I then go to the bank to change money. I change Chilean pesos, then a large sum of US dollars. I get back a huge stack, and must admit, I didn’t want to count it with a large line behind me and in such a public space.

We find a cafe with wireless and settle in for a 6-hour layover. I discreetly count the money. It’s 50 pesos (~$12.50) short. I check carefully. It’s short. It’s not a huge deal, but I decide to head back over to the bank. I tell Leena I have zero chance of getting the 50 pesos, but I’ll feel better at least letting them know. What’s to stop me from just taking a 50 out of the pile and giving it to Leena?

I hand over my receipt and the bills and tell them it’s short 50. It’s counted. It’s short. The teller who helped me is called over. She counts. She then hands me a 50 with no questions asked. It takes all of 90 seconds.

Sweet, right? I have this nagging doubt about the whole thing. Like it’s intentional, but if you catch them, they have to make it right lest the transaction get audited somehow. Anyway, I have my 50 pesos.

Shout out to… Niraj! We have cash. He wired it. Thanks.

Shout out to… Shannon! First comment on the trip. Nice.

I am not into the day-to-day update as Drew is. So, instead, here are my observations about what goes on in sud america:

Fashion
You all know that I have nothing to say about fashion, considering what I wear. But the women are ridiculous here – bright, tight clothes that are about 2 sizes too small. Shredded tanks and T-shirts with leggings and gladiators are the norm. I know, right?

Dogs
They are all small.

Priorities
Love a country where you can get on wireless anywhere in the city to post meaningless FB updates but can’t flush toilet paper due to the poor infrastructure. I think they have their priorities right.

Cars
They are also all small.

Drinks
Everyone drinks all day. They carry liters of beer on the streets. It is awesome.

Cleanliness
Pretty much everyone smokes in Chile, yet they all know how to dispose of their cig butts appropriately. Also, there are many street dogs, but no poop to be seen. BUT…in Argentina, it is disgusting – trash everywhere on the streets and poop everywhere.

Hostels
French people skype all day.

Language
I find it much more difficult to communicate in Chile. They drop their S’s, have different words for things than I am used to and speak much, much faster than the Argentinians. It took us a half hour to buy sunscreen! It’s also an adventure every time we go to a restaurant…mmm pig leg.

Personal space
Forget about it.

Transportation
Buses are way more comfy than planes. Bus seats recline all the way back, are plush and there is even on-board entertainment!

Today was supposed to be an easy day. Catch a noon flight to Santiago, find the hostel, orient ourselves and make some plans for the next couple of days here.

We planned to leave at 10a for the airport. At 9:15a, we were packed, had eaten breakfast, and were just winding down the stay over coffee. I had one errand to run: cash up to pay the hostel bill (there’s a 10% surcharge for using a credit card). I headed out a few blocks to a cash machine we’d used a couple of times, and it promptly ate my card. Nothing. It just sucked it in, just out of reach, but kept blinking away its happy greeting to insert a card. Nothing would make it come back. And it’s a Saturday, so banks are closed until Monday.

I raced back to the hostel and asked if there was anyone they could call to get the card out. Or, could you give me a screwdriver (or even better, a crowbar)? Then I called the number on the back of my credit card (the card is a Visa from Bank of America; my checking account is also with B of A). I explained the situation and asked how I could get a cash advance with the credit card. (I assumed I could do this at an ATM, but I don’t know the PIN for the card.)

The woman took the time to scold me for not alerting them that I was travelling in a foreign country, and asked how long I would be gone. Really? Then, she advised me that they can only mail PINs. Can you email one? No. Is there any way I can get cash with this card? No. REALLY? I tried to stay calm, but definitely stressed the urgency of the situation and asked to speak to a supervisor. Five minutes on hold. The supervisor was only helpful enough to tell me to call 1-800-VISA-911.

I called. The first prompt told me to call the international number, or I would be charged a bunch for the call. I guess it might have been nice to either be told the international number by the supervisor, or, to include the international number to call IN YOUR MESSAGE TO USE IT!

We paid the hostel by credit card and bolted for the airport. The hostel was really no help either — they didn’t call anyone about the lost card (they couldn’t even track down a phone number for the bank two blocks away!). And they have the lousiest pillows ever, but that’s another story…

We checked in for our flight, cleared security (though not without losing our new sacacorcho!), and got to the boarding area about 45 minutes ahead of the flight. I called B of A again realizing that I should cancel the debit card. I got someone much more helpful who took care of that, and suggested that my best bet if I could make it to Monday was to go to a bank in Santiago, get wire number information, then log in to my checking account and wire myself funds. She also gave me the international Visa 911 number. She was even nice enough to tell me that they were very difficult to work with! The honesty was refreshing.

I called Visa 911 and explained the situation. There was much confusion. They just couldn’t understand that I had lost a debit card, and was requesting emergency cash through the credit card. They kept saying “Please confirm that you have lost your card and we will deactivate it and send you a new one.” NO! PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS! I’ve already lost one card, please don’t cancel this one. (We have a Visa for Leena as well, but really, I don’t want to be down to just one option.) After about four tries explaining this (where it still was not clear how I would get this “emergency cash”) I gave up.

OK, now the better news. Chile seems much more credit card friendly. And we have a little over 200 bucks to get through until Monday, so we should be fine. But we will need the wire transfer to work in a day – we fly out really early Tuesday so we wouldn’t be here long enough to wait until then.

And the good news: the empanadas are huge here, and the beers are cold and tasty. More soon!

Just a quick note on our great fortune with the weather. Two years ago, we nabbed a flight to San Francisco on the way to Sydney that left the Saturday before Christmas around 8a. PDX shut down that day at noon – they ran out of de-icer for the planes (our plane had to be de-iced twice). Our trip would have been really messed up if we’d missed that flight.

Two weeks later in New Zealand, we started our 3-day trek on the Routeburn on something like the 15th straight day of rain. It tapered off that afternoon and we then caught 3 perfect days – 2 to finish the trek and the next to see Milford Sound (the second rainiest place on the planet).

Last year, it snowed in Portland while we were in Mexico for Christmas with Leena’s family. This year, it snowed in Portland again a couple of days after we left for Argentina. It only snows in Portland a couple of times a year (at most). Some years, it never snows.

And we’ve had perfect weather here so far on this trip. Hopefully this keeps up. We just looked at the Portland 7-day forecast: rain and highs in the low to mid 40s. And we (I) need to buy sunblock tomorrow…

We splurged on the high-end wine tour today, and I have to say it was well worth it. We caught a small bus with our guide Jose and 3 other couples for a 30-minute trip to Lujan de Cuyo, the oldest wine region in Argentina with over 1000 wineries. We toured and tasted at the first two wineries — both fantastic — then had a 5-course lunch at the third winery with wines paired to each course. The meal was outstanding, and we had a lot of fun getting to know the other couples on the tour. One couple from Honolulu, another from Atlanta, and another from Europe. We wrapped up at a final winery and promptly fell asleep for the ride home. Just another siesta.

Barrel room at Alta Vista, first winery of the day:

Pulenta, winery #2:

Second course served on a plank from a wine barrel:

We’re off to Santiago de Chile tomorrow. It’ll be country #16 for me (Drew), and something like #28 for Leena. I can’t beat her at anything… except golf, maybe.

Thanksgiving started with a 5:15 alarm to make the trip to Mt Aconcagua for some trekking. It’s the highest peak in the world outside of the Himalayas at close to 7000m. We met our guide for the day, Mario, and caught a quick cab to the bus station.

The bus was surprisingly nice. We were on the top floor of a double decker. The seats were plush and reclined way further than any coach airline seat. There were bathrooms on the bus (though we didn’t make use of them), and even a kitchen. We slept for most of the 4-hour ride.

We checked in with the park rangers and set off for Confluence Station. We started around 2900m and climbed for ~3 hours to 3400m. The altitude kicked our butts! Leena had some nausea and I had a killer headache, both early (and mild) signs of altitude sickness. We later learned that you should stay 2 days in the base town to acclimate before you start climbing. No time for that!

Mules cross a river by the trail:

We had a 4:30 bus to catch home, so we started down about 2p after lunch. We got back to the ranger station at 4:20 and learned that the return bus no longer stopped there, but stopped in town. We started down the highway on foot. It was all downhill, but after 20 minutes we weren’t even half way.

What if we miss the bus? Is there another today? Do we have to try and find a place in town? Mario started looking back every time a vehicle came down the highway. We all did. I didn’t know if we were looking for the bus (to try and convince it to stop?) or trying to hitch a ride. A police car comes into view, and Mario puts out a thumb. He stops. So here we are, hitching a ride on a main highway with the local police. Of course! He was super nice and dropped us at the bus stop. Even though we were 10 minutes late, the bus hadn’t arrived. It rolled in half an hour late – Argentina time!

As we get off the bus, Mario continues chatting with the girl he sat next to. They start exchanging info — I say to Leena, I think he got her number! Sure enough, he comes over with a big smile. He says her parents are Nepalese, but raised her in France. He has her number.

We flew from Buenos Aires to Mendoza on viernes. We had a bit of trouble with the ride to the airport. We’d arranged for a 9a taxi the night before, and called at 5 after 9 to inquire. After some confusion about the arrangements, we were told it would be there in 5 minutes. They signed off with “take it easy!” We called again 10 minutes later and were assured it was just a block away. By 9:30 we were told that the car was there waiting. When I assured them it was not, the English got suddenly worse and I was told something about how the police wouldn’t allow a pick up there and that there would be no ride. Fortunately, the hostel got a car for us in 15 minutes and we’d built just enough time in the schedule to make the flight.

Mendoza’s a beautiful town a few hundred kilometers east of the Andes. We spent the first afternoon arranging activities for the next three days. Day one – today – we hired a local driver to take us wine tasting. We started at the largest producer in the region, La Silva. We took a tour of the winery including a museum with tools used for making wine going back to the 16th century. We tasted a single Malbec. The second winery featured a sparkling Chardonnay and a flight of 3 Malbecs. The third winery had a beautiful balcony overlooking the vineyards.

We tasted a Rose of Malbec, Tempranillo, Syrah, Malbec, Cabernet Savignon, and a blend. Good thing we share each taste! The final winery was a small producer who only distributed through their tasting room. They featured Cabernet Savignon and Malbec.

Tomorrow we’re off at 5:30a to hike on Aconcagua, the tallest peak in the world outside of the Andes. We’ll just hike to a base camp – nowhere near the summit! Then we’ll do some more wine tasting on day 3 and head off to Santiago, Chile for a couple of days.

We learned today that LAN pilots (domestic airline) went on strike today, but the strike only lasted half a day. All of our domestic flights are on LAN, so hopefully everything goes smoothly!

¡Hola y buenos dias! The trip down was smooth, which is to say, flights were on time and uneventful. Sleeping on a red eye is more like intermittent napping for me; I think Leena did a bit better. She awoke to see the moon set over the Andes a couple of hours before we reached Buenos Aires.

We got a few shots of the Andes (the flight path traced the west coast of South America as far south as Buenos Aires before turning a la izquierda para la última hora).

We’re staying at a hostel in the San Telmo neighborhood. We arrived a little after 10a, then took off for a few hours since official check-in is 2p. We explored street markets in the neighborhood and sampled the local brew Quilmes in one of the oldest bars in Buenos Aires.

After check-in, we enjoyed a nice siesta and were glad to have set an alarm to keep it to just 2 hours. We set out on foot to explore the neighborhood some more, and grabbed dinner at a spot the hostel recommended. As expected, plenty of meat to choose from.

Day two started later than expected — we slept right through breakfast at the hostel. Oh well. We explored the Recoleta neighborhood today.

Evita’s grave:

We went for the 7 peso ($1.75) copa de vino de la casa. It looked promising!

But, it tasted like a cheap glass of wine.

After many miles on foot, we made it back to the hostel just 10 minutes before it started pouring. Tomorrow, we’re off to Mendoza to explore wine country and find some of the good stuff. ¡Hasta luego!