Friday--February 11--Santiago, Chile

Friday--February 11--Santiago

First thing on the agenda today is:  get more Chilean Pesos, get a SIM card for my GSM phone and change hotels.

I walked over to the mall figuring there would be phone company kiosks and I could buy a SIM card for my phone.  The first place I stopped and asked if he spoke English, he said no.  I asked in Spanish if he had a SIM card for my GSM phone and he told me to go to another kiosk.  I went to the other kiosk and the girl there also didn’t speak any English but I attempted to talk with her, also in Spanish to get the SIM card.  She put a SIM card in but it wasn’t working.  Fortunately a young man came to the counter and he did speak English.  It turns out the SIM card she put in my phone would not work.  She tried something else and that didn’t work either.  I guess I won’t be able to use that phone after all.  Pity, I would have been nice to have a cheap phone to use instead of relying on my Blackberry.  However, I am glad to have the Blackberry when I need it.

I only had one night at the Marriott and had arranged to go to a B&B, Vila Franca for Friday and Saturday nights.

My check out time was noon so I returned from the mall at noon and checked out.  I took a taxi to Vila Franca which is much closer to downtown and in a nice residential neighborhood, Providencia.

Vila Franca B&B

Gloria, the owner of the B&B checked me in.  She said the room wouldn’t be ready until at least 2:00 p.m.  That was o.k. I told her as I was hungry and I would go get something to eat.  She gave me a map and recommended a restaurant a few blocks away on the main Avenue, Providencia.

Before I left we had a nice discussion about America.  She told me her sister lives in Redlands, California as well as several cousins who live in and around the same area.  She has traveled to California many times.  She was the one who told me why I had to pay the $142.00 to enter Chile.  She explained how difficult it is for a Chilean to get a VISA for America.  First they need to pay $10.00 to make a phone call to get an appointment.  Then when they get the to the appointment they have an interview and need to pay $150.00 for the VISA.  They she said she paid $16.00 for a courier to deliver the VISA.  So this is the reason I’m not going to Brazil.  They are very strict with giving VISA’s to Americans because America is so strict with them.  I didn’t have a ticket to Brazil so I knew they wouldn’t give me a VISA.

Gloria also told me that Pinochet was not so bad.  He helped the Chilean economy get it’s start for where it is today.  Interesting--eye opening for me to meet someone in favor of Pinochet.

Student Driver I found on my way to lunch

After our little chat I walked over to the restaurant she suggested on Providencia Avenue.  When I walked in I saw a young girl (20ish) holding an English Chile guide book.  I asked if she spoke English and she said “yes, are you American?”

“Yes”, I answered.

We started talking and I asked if she was alone and would she like company.

She invited me to sit with her.

I asked how she’d found the restaurant and she said she was staying in the neighborhood at a hostel and had seen it last night.  “It was hopping, she told me, so I decided to come back and try it”

I discover, Emma, is a nice jewish girl from Cheviot Hills in Los Angeles.  She is in Santiago for a Junior semester abroad.  She had just spent two weeks volunteering outside of Lima teaching English and had one week before her courses started.

We talked about growing up on the westside of L.A., with all the comforts and luxuries and how traveling on her own she didn’t have any of that.  But she was here in Chile to try and get a new experience.  Good for her.  

She is fluent in Spanish so it’s easy for her to get around and she is going to take her courses in Spanish.  She admitted she was a bit nervous about that and of meeting her host family.

I didn’t share some of the host family nightmares I hear from my students at Kaplan.

We had a nice lunch together, although the food wasn’t so good.  I decided we must have ordered the wrong things.

When we were nearly done, the boy sitting behind Emma started to talk to her in English.  He asked how old she was and if she had a boyfriend.  She told him the truth, that she was 20 and didn’t have a boyfriend.  This boy asked if he could contact her and take her around the town. It was kind of sweet.  He told her he had a car and could come pick her up.  I was very amused with this interaction but she wasn’t so much.  They tried to exchange names on facebook and he left.  

I took a photo of Emma and told her about my blog.  I gave her a hug and walked back to my hotel.

My room was ready and I rested for a bit because I was going on a night bike ride with La Bicicleta Verde.

http://www.labicicletaverde.com/

I had read about this company on Trip Advisor.  It said that it was a great way to see and learn about Santiago.  I liked the idea and signed up.

The ride started at 7:30 p.m. and I was to be at some metro station by 7:15.  Gloria told me I needed to leave at 6:30 so I would be there on time.

I met Ricardo, the bike guide and there were three other people besides myself on the ride.  One woman, originally from Sweden but living in London and a couple from New Jersey.

me in gear

The ride was great fun.  The weather was nice now, no rain!

Ricardo was a very informative guide.  He took us through several (of the nicer) neighborhoods:  Las Condes, Vitacura, Providencia and then we ended in Bella Vista.  He explained the differences between the neighborhoods.  I was so shocked at how similar to an American neighborhood they looked.  I could live here.  The houses were very nice and they have great parks.  

One of the best parks is the newest one just built for their Bi-Centennial.  It isn’t completed yet but it’s fabulous.  

There was a lake with black neck swans and koi.  

Also a building that was build in the shape of a ship in honor of O'Higgins who was a navy hero for Chile during the (I think) the Pacific War?  Anyway a great building.  Also a few shots of the sunset.

Town Hall of Vitacura in the shape of a boat

Bi-Centennial Park at sunset

The areas we rode in were basically flat so it was an easy ride.

Ricardo explained the great divide between the rich and the poor in Santiago.  Although I think there is a growing middle class.  He said the rich people live toward the mountains (alta) and the poor people live toward the sea (baja).  

The dividing line of the haves and the have not’s of the city is at the Italian Plaza.  He felt this was a problem for the city.

Gabriela Mistral

We saw this statue of Gabriela Mistral.  None of us on the ride had ever heard of her.   Ricardo told us about her and of her importance to Chile.  Her face is on the 5000 Chilean peso bill and the only woman who has this honor.

Gabriela Mistral (April 7, 1889 — January 10, 1957) was the pseudonym of Lucila de María del Perpetuo Socorro Godoy Alcayaga, a Chilean poet, educator, diplomat, and feminist who was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1945. 

When we came to this fountain and I saw the sculpture I said, “oh it looks like a Botero”.

Ricardo said, “how did you know that?”  He was impressed.

“I don’t know it just looks like one.”

“Yes, he said, it is.

The woman from New Jersey suggested I pose for this photo.

me and Botero

Then I looked across the park and saw this man sleeping.  Great photo op.

One last park before we got downtown in Providencia.

Fantastic light show on the fountain.

We ended the ride at a restaurant in Bella Vista actually next store to Pablo Neruda’s house.  This was also where I tasted my first Pisco sour, the national drink of Chile.  We also had incredible cerviche, which is also very popular here.

I was a bit drunk after having two Pisco sour’s and took a taxi back to my hotel.

The bike ride was lots of fun.  A great way to see the city and learn about it too.  Ricardo told me there were two tours tomorrow and if I wanted to join the one in the afternoon he didn’t think it would be a problem.

O.K.

When I got to the hotel, I got in bed and went to sleep.

A great full day!

I like Chile.