First I´ll give you a quick update on our current whereabouts. We are in northern Argentina, in Salta, a lovely oasis in the dry karoo like landscape. The Fonzizle is not with us in Salta, as he is in Cordoba for the moment. Na and I have come down with some nasty illness, and thus we are recooperating in Salta. My head is full of the many medicines I am taking, and this, combined with general flu-disorientation, may cause some Blog Irregularities, such as misspelt words, inappropriate observations, and the occaisional sentence that goes nowhere. Just a warning.
Right! The last blog ended with us on the way to Santiago I think? Even if it didn´t, this one is starting with us on the way to Santiago. Santiago was the place 
where we had agreed to meet Miss Jackie Ralphs, who had flown from Joburg to travel with us for three weeks. We arrived at her airport hotel in the wee hours of the morning, and after putting our bags down in her room, we all went for a breakfast in the hotel restaurant. After eating too much, we decided to get down to it and begin our Santiago adventure, so we began waiting outside for a taxi to take us to the subway. While we were waiting, Jackie was welcomed to South America by a small dog, who tried to make love to her leg. Her next introduction to South American life was the insanely pactlikesardines subway right across the city, which thankfully took us practically to the front door of a goodlookin hostel, Andes Hostel. Andy was not there, but someone else managed to check us in to our dorm room, and soon we were free of our horrid packs and roaming the streets of Santiago. 
where we had agreed to meet Miss Jackie Ralphs, who had flown from Joburg to travel with us for three weeks. We arrived at her airport hotel in the wee hours of the morning, and after putting our bags down in her room, we all went for a breakfast in the hotel restaurant. After eating too much, we decided to get down to it and begin our Santiago adventure, so we began waiting outside for a taxi to take us to the subway. While we were waiting, Jackie was welcomed to South America by a small dog, who tried to make love to her leg. Her next introduction to South American life was the insanely pactlikesardines subway right across the city, which thankfully took us practically to the front door of a goodlookin hostel, Andes Hostel. Andy was not there, but someone else managed to check us in to our dorm room, and soon we were free of our horrid packs and roaming the streets of Santiago. 
After climbing a hill on which stood an old castle, 
we got our first look at the spectacular setting of Santiago, which sits at the foot of some rather high and snowy Andean peaks. From this viewpoint we managed to appreciate the strange beauty of the place - dirty and polluted yet somehow modern and full of buzz. We also took a moment to realise that the hilltop had serious potential as a good spot to search for dogging hangouts, and thus realised that it probaby was just that. We left the hilltop and explored the city some more. That night we went to have some cheap chinese food, and then went to see the new Indiana Jones movie, which was good up until Steven Spielberg decided to vomit all over it.
we got our first look at the spectacular setting of Santiago, which sits at the foot of some rather high and snowy Andean peaks. From this viewpoint we managed to appreciate the strange beauty of the place - dirty and polluted yet somehow modern and full of buzz. We also took a moment to realise that the hilltop had serious potential as a good spot to search for dogging hangouts, and thus realised that it probaby was just that. We left the hilltop and explored the city some more. That night we went to have some cheap chinese food, and then went to see the new Indiana Jones movie, which was good up until Steven Spielberg decided to vomit all over it.The next day we hung out at one of the many lively squares in Santiago, doing some people-watching from a cafe on the square. We spent some time in a PJ shop, but left because Fonz cracked a glass table with his bum (by sitting on it). Nadia then got an icecream.
That night we rounded up some Engineering students from the states (Jax affectionately named them M.I.T, which I dont think they liked, but its ok because they turned out to be very annoying), and hit the town, enjoying some cocktails and Chilean beer in a bar. Later that night the girls grew weary (probably from the energy-sucking baastards from MIT), so Fonz and I continued to hit the town, and somehow made our way into a private party, thrown in celebration of someone´s birthday (we did this by loitering outside and looking confused, and then making friends with the owner of the place, rather than the person who´s birthday it was - happy birthday whoever you are). We mingled with the local Santiagons (Sandiegons? Santiagoites?), until we met a Chilean Palestinean who was perhaps the Strangest Person in the Entire World. He tried to come across as someone who new everyone at the party, but after everyone he spoke to ignored him, and we found out it was his birthday too but no one knew it, we realised most people found him very odd. He kept introducing us to people as members of the Springboks, and though we tried to explain to him that not everyone in South Africa is a Springbok rugby player, we relented an went with it, spending the rest of the night as world cup winners (albeit slightly small ones).The next day we decided to have two very different cultural experiences in the same day. The first was learning about the native cultures of Precolombian Mesoamerica and South America, by visiting a museum which displayed sculptures, textiles and a few preserved mummies (eeewww). Turns out certain S.American native cultures were into mummification before the Egyptians were (imagine that!). Along the way, Jax proved her worth by haling down a guy driving a bakkie so that we could ride in the back of it across a flooded street. Nice. The second cultural experience was visiting Santiago´s biggest (and only) theme park, seductively named FantasyLandia. We then spent the rest of the day going on some utterly terrifying rides, all the while wondering about Chilean standards of theme-park saftey. Not all the rides were quite so terrifying though. In fact, some were just plain boring. & All in all however, a fun and interesting time was had, and we returned back to our hostel reflecting on both the early textiles of the Incas, and a bright yellow rollercoaster which played 90´s dance hits while you screamed for your life.
After seeing enough of Santiago, we caught a bus to the nearby b
each town of Viña del Mar (situated just next to the busy port of Valparaiso). Upon arrival, we realised that this was perhaps not the best time to be visiting a beach holiday destination, since it was cold and the rain lashed down like a beast. Jax had kindly agreed to put the weary Gringos up in hotel accomodation for the week, and thus the rough worn out gringos arrived at a lovely place on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. The only drawback, as far as we saw at that point, was that it was quite a way away from any shops or restaurants (or anything), and also situated on such a bend in the road that busses were unable to stop there. Nice planning, Oceanic. After walking in the pouring rain to the nearest shops, in Reñana, we became fed u
p with having rain constantly smacking us in the face and soon realised that the hotels location was a rather big setback. Thus the next day we set out to find a place in a more central location, Hotel Ankara, from where I wrote the last blog. From this central location we were able to explore Viña more, visiting its many Mexican restaurants, lively bars, and good shops. Thankfully the weather cleared up, and we enjoyed sunny, but still cold, weather. We also did a walk through at a drive-through-only McDonalds. Apart from that, we spent our days chillin out and basically having a holiday from travelling rough. I know this may sound a bit ridiculous, but the stresse
s of living in dorms out of a backpack had taken their toll, and we really appreciated being able to have a hot bath (with Jacuzzi spout thingies in it!)& rather than a lukewarm dribbly shower. We also took advantage of Viña being on the coast, and ate some good Sushi and other seafood, although we´ve discovered that ordering seafood from a menu you dont understand can be tricky. For instance, I ordered grilled calamari, and I got baked fish with fried shrimp on the top.
each town of Viña del Mar (situated just next to the busy port of Valparaiso). Upon arrival, we realised that this was perhaps not the best time to be visiting a beach holiday destination, since it was cold and the rain lashed down like a beast. Jax had kindly agreed to put the weary Gringos up in hotel accomodation for the week, and thus the rough worn out gringos arrived at a lovely place on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. The only drawback, as far as we saw at that point, was that it was quite a way away from any shops or restaurants (or anything), and also situated on such a bend in the road that busses were unable to stop there. Nice planning, Oceanic. After walking in the pouring rain to the nearest shops, in Reñana, we became fed u
p with having rain constantly smacking us in the face and soon realised that the hotels location was a rather big setback. Thus the next day we set out to find a place in a more central location, Hotel Ankara, from where I wrote the last blog. From this central location we were able to explore Viña more, visiting its many Mexican restaurants, lively bars, and good shops. Thankfully the weather cleared up, and we enjoyed sunny, but still cold, weather. We also did a walk through at a drive-through-only McDonalds. Apart from that, we spent our days chillin out and basically having a holiday from travelling rough. I know this may sound a bit ridiculous, but the stresse
s of living in dorms out of a backpack had taken their toll, and we really appreciated being able to have a hot bath (with Jacuzzi spout thingies in it!)& rather than a lukewarm dribbly shower. We also took advantage of Viña being on the coast, and ate some good Sushi and other seafood, although we´ve discovered that ordering seafood from a menu you dont understand can be tricky. For instance, I ordered grilled calamari, and I got baked fish with fried shrimp on the top.On one of our sunny days, we took a train along the beach to the 
nearby port of Valparaiso, which stood out immediately as being the complete opposite of Viña del Mar. Whereas Viña is a prim and clean beach town with fancy restaurants, Valpo is a rustic, busy port where you can buy fresh scallops from a fish market and wander the irregularly designed hilltop streets, admiring the rainbow of colours in the houses and wondering how they all live on top of each other in a haze of tangled phonewires and steep bumpy streets. That was a long sentence. For all its prettiness and clean beaches and streets, the sheer character, rustic charm and frenetic feel of Valparaiso made me prefer the latter. Check out the pics there are some good ones of both Viña and Valpo.
The time flew by, and before we knew it, it was time to leave Viña and all its luxury behind, and get on a bus to Mendoza. Mendoza is only a few hundred kilometers away from Viña, but to get there you have to cross over the Cordillera of the Andes, on a road which winds up and up and up and passes the base camp of the climb up Aconcagua (the highest mountain in the western hemisphere at a lofty 6970m). Needless to say, we ended up halfway through the bus ride, excidedly peering out the bus windows at the 2m of fresh snow that had fallen, and was still falling, all around. When the bus stopped at the ARG border, we ignored the immigration officials and ran straight into the snow, ignoring the cold like silly children. It was at this point that one among us, Nadia, got her first feel of snow, and even ate some (but thankfully it was not the yellow kind!). After descending the Andes very slowly, our bus arrived in the wine-crazy town of Mendoza. It was at this point that we had to part ways with the Fonz, as he was to catch another bus to Cordoba.
nearby port of Valparaiso, which stood out immediately as being the complete opposite of Viña del Mar. Whereas Viña is a prim and clean beach town with fancy restaurants, Valpo is a rustic, busy port where you can buy fresh scallops from a fish market and wander the irregularly designed hilltop streets, admiring the rainbow of colours in the houses and wondering how they all live on top of each other in a haze of tangled phonewires and steep bumpy streets. That was a long sentence. For all its prettiness and clean beaches and streets, the sheer character, rustic charm and frenetic feel of Valparaiso made me prefer the latter. Check out the pics there are some good ones of both Viña and Valpo.The time flew by, and before we knew it, it was time to leave Viña and all its luxury behind, and get on a bus to Mendoza. Mendoza is only a few hundred kilometers away from Viña, but to get there you have to cross over the Cordillera of the Andes, on a road which winds up and up and up and passes the base camp of the climb up Aconcagua (the highest mountain in the western hemisphere at a lofty 6970m). Needless to say, we ended up halfway through the bus ride, excidedly peering out the bus windows at the 2m of fresh snow that had fallen, and was still falling, all around. When the bus stopped at the ARG border, we ignored the immigration officials and ran straight into the snow, ignoring the cold like silly children. It was at this point that one among us, Nadia, got her first feel of snow, and even ate some (but thankfully it was not the yellow kind!). After descending the Andes very slowly, our bus arrived in the wine-crazy town of Mendoza. It was at this point that we had to part ways with the Fonz, as he was to catch another bus to Cordoba.
To read of our Mendozian exploits, stay tuned for the next blog. Hopefully it will come soon, in the next hour or so, but some very popular football team has just beaten some other very popular football team, and the inhabitants of this Oasis town have just collectively lost their minds, challenging each other to see who can hoot the longest or shout the loudest, breaking each others cars, and beating each other in the street. You cannot imagine the noise.
From here I see two paths: one is to dilligently type out the next long blog and put up with the noise, while the other is to run into the street and express just how grumpy I am by torching the place. Who knows....
Hasta Luego,
Chauchau
Pics from this blog are available on Picasa at the following addresses
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/steveo.zogg/Santiago
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/steveo.zogg/ViADelMar
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/steveo.zogg/CrossingTheAndes
From here I see two paths: one is to dilligently type out the next long blog and put up with the noise, while the other is to run into the street and express just how grumpy I am by torching the place. Who knows....
Hasta Luego,
Chauchau
Pics from this blog are available on Picasa at the following addresses
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/steveo.zogg/Santiago
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/steveo.zogg/ViADelMar
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/steveo.zogg/CrossingTheAndes
3 comments:
Awesome. A thank you for the generous blogging!
Judging by the photos, Viña Del Mar almost looks like a much bigger version of Cape Town. But I could be far off on that.
What's with all the funny faces?
Holy crap - that's some real snow on some real mountains! I'm most impressed. I think I'd like it there... Lucky buggers!
not sure if I am posting my comments at the correct place. Perhaps not. Anyway I loved the latest marathon blog and the pics of beach and especially deep snow.
Thanks guys.
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