chile has many national parks, which is great…and starkly different from the other countries i’ve been to (excluding costa rica, perhaps). i decided to camp out in one….but with so many nearby i wasn’t sure which. i ended up going to parque nahuelbuta. the drive up was beautiful, although it did break my exhaust pipe. that was the second reminder of some of the downsides of driving (the first was that i spent almost $100 between gas and tolls today). i was the only guest at the park, which was pretty cool. it has some strange trees, including araucarias (many of which are barren and moss-covered). it has a beautiful view to the pacific and some volcanoes (such as the one near pucon, which i’ll visit tomorrow).

the only really annoying part of today is that i’m recovering from (well, in the middle of) a cold, so my sinuses are clogged up. this would normally just be a nuisance, but the pressure difference at the top of the mountain (a mile up) caused me a severe headache….which took a couple hours to dissipate. it’s cool, but uncomfortable, being a walking barometer.

it’s nice to be back on the road…i feel refreshed and confident after my long break in santiago. surrounding santiago is a toll road which works on those electronic devices you put on your windshield. if you don’t have one, you’re not supposed to go on the road. i tried to avoid it, but i think at one point i may have been on the road…and there may now be a fine on the sentra — oh well.

it’s incredible how different the environments surrounding santiago are. to the north, you have the atacama desert (the driest one in the world, i believe); to the west, the pacific ocean with ports, fishing villages and penguins; to the east, the andes and some fun skiing; and to the south, forests, waterfalls and glaciers. along the way, i decided to stop by salto del laja, a waterfall which was much nicer than i expected…and a great introduction to my renewed journey.

note: location is santiago, chile

after much waiting, i finally got a job offer today…well, actually two. one was at universidad catolica helping to study/improve the system to control oxygen levels in fish farms ($700/mo). the other was to teach english ($15-20/hr). i ended up turning them both down and, after a long long break, will resume sentradiaries with my drive south tomorrow.

it’s been fun hanging out in santiago and i was fortunate to be at a hostel with a few other long-term residents…all with exciting lives. paul is a physics professor sailing around the world on a 25 foot boat by himself…and he had some pretty crazy near-death experiences. i went rock climbing a few times with tom, a british exchange student (from bath) at universidad catolica, and colin, an australian MechE grad interviewing with BHP (a mining company). I also hung out and went skiing with roberto, an ecuadorian american who quit his job at citi and has been traveling around south america for 15months. it’s interesting how quickly friendships can form when you’re stuck in a new, foreign place with shared living quarters. of course, along the way, other interesting people have drifted in and out of the hostel….the brazilian girls who were here for a psychology conference, the crazy chilean who slept during the day and partied all night (and would come in at 6am, drunk and talk on his cell phone in the room), or the aussies who took me out for my first outdoor climbing experience (and nearly died in the process). it’s also been fun meeting all the chileans and learning a new city…but i think it’s time to move on.

today i went out rock climbing with some australians. they’d been to this outdoor place once before, and it turns out weren’t as sure of the directions as they originally thought. we spent about 1hr driving through some nice neighborhoods on the outskirts of santiago before finally finding the spot. once there, it’s a 15min hike through some private property before you find this shaded area with some cool rock faces. there were about half a dozen other climbers in the area too. it was fun and quite challenging. the most exciting moments were when one of the australians fell ~3m before being caught by the rope (he was lead climbing) and when another climber fell about the same distance before hitting the ground (right next to a sharp boulder….but he was stupid and was climbing with a rope that was too short).

well, i finally made it up to the slopes today. how were they? it was fun, and cheaper than the us, but i prefer tahoe more.

the cost: because we went during the week (and off-season prices just started), it was ~$60 for transport (1hr each way), lift ticket and equipment rental. the board was in pretty bad shape (and the smaller binding broke midway through the day), but it was still a good price.

the view: the terrain is pretty interesting. just 20min away from the slopes there are cacti. the slopes are treeless….just white with some rocks. looking towards santiago there is a low-hanging haze with the tips of mountains peeking out. it’s beautiful….until you realize those aren’t rolling clouds….but smog.

the slopes: the resorts seem to be really really small. we went to el colorado, which had just one peak. right next to it are two neighboring resorts, which you can easily ski into (but you can’t take their lifts up without a pass). two or three of the resorts would make up one in tahoe. because there are no trees, there are also no real boundaries, which is kinda cool. in the states, you’re often forbidden to go off the trail, but there aren’t ski patrol here and it’s much easier to go off trail (no trees and nice powder). so basically once you get to the top, you can do whatever you want coming down, which is pretty cool. i was a bit disappointing with the low-difficulty of the slopes at el colorado, though.

the lifts: el colorado only has a few lifts and they are very slow. the resort does have quite a few tow ropes, though…which are equally slow, plus a bit challenging on snowbards. one time, i drifted into the fence and had to bail. another time i fell off the side of the path (which was narrow at times) and had to hang onto the tow while i was dragged back up. by the end i got the hang of it, and started playing games with my friends, like rolling snowballs to each other (which are hard to pick up when being towed on a snowboard.

before the chile vs. brasil game today, i visited the main cemetery here in santiago. it was not very pretty, but was interesting. like the rest of santigo, the cemetery does not seem to have much in the way of urban planning / zoning. instead, it’s a hodgepodge of structures housing the dead….from traditional underground tombs to above ground lockers featuring stacks of bodies 10 high. these lockers are sometimes walls that line the paved pathway or are sometimes built into large pale-yellow buildings (with stairs) which are vaguely reminiscent of a public middle/high school. across the street was the catholic cemetery which was cleaner, nicer and featured a more uniform architectural theme….but in the end, you were still just walking down body-lined hallways.

for the game, i joined the brazilians and a few other folks from the hostel at ‘after office’ (aka el castillo). every wednesday, this organization rents out a cool event hall on the top of cerro santa lucia and transforms it into a club. i wore my brasil shirt and even got my face painted. i missed two goals, because i would sometimes turn away for a minute…and nobody said anything when the brasilians scored — seriously, there were a few hundred people there, and i think just 5 of us supporting brasil. it was a bit awkward going into the bathroom after the game (brasil won 4-2), being semi-heckled in a crowded bathroom full of semi-drunk, disappointed chileans.

this morning i searched (and found) the bakery for le fournil (the other places just sold the bread). the bakery is near the airport, in the outskirts of the city. the business park features organizations like FedEx, Rolex, FlowValve, etc. the area outside the business park is probably one of the more dangerous areas of santiago….but to me it looked like one of the safer areas of panama city, teguicigalpa, etc. instead of finding a quaint little bakery, i found a massive steel building with the logo of Breden Master. Le Fournil’s bread is still good, but it’s lost some of that charm. Breden Master sells their products under a number of different labels. i tried getting a tour or a job….but i was rejected. finally, after loitering around the reception for 30min, i got a phone number and email of some higher ups in the Breden Master bureaucracy. this afternoon i went to an indoor rock climbing gym. there were some very good climbers and i expect that this is one of the better gyms in Santiago (and thus Chile). The bouldering section was nice and big. The climbing area, though, had a few surprising differences from those in the US (and australia, according to the guy i went with). first, you don’t have to take a test to begin climbing (for liability reasons, in the us you always have to prove that you know how to belay, tie the knots, etc.) second, the climbing section had no floor padding (in the us, they always have some sort of foam/rubber). third, the gym was surprisingly cheap ($5 for an all-day pass). granted the gym was not as big or nice as the ones i’ve gone to in the states, but it was still fun.

happy birthday mamae!

today started off pretty ordinarily. a few of us from the hostel went out to grab a sandwich in bellavista. sandwiches are quite common street food here, but are different from the traditional kind you find in the states. the most common are either grilled/sauteed beef or pork (pigs are very popular in chile) on a typical chilean roll (white bread, soft in the center and a hardish crust, but not crunchy like french bread) with some toppings (for instance, an italian is: guacamole, tomatoes and mayo). they’re greasy and good.

then, we drove over to los dominicos, which is a small, enclosed area with artisan and pet shops…a strange combination. The area is also near a wealthy suburb with some more nice houses and views.

then, one of the guys, let’s call him roberto, suggested a visit to the a cafe piernas. ‘max’ and i had never been, so we figured we’d give it a try. cafe piernas are an interesting chilean past time. they’re typically open from 8am – 10pm and serve coffee, tea, etc. they don’t have any chairs, but they do feature scantily clad women. i guess it could maybe be described as something between an x-rated coffee shop and a g-rated strip club. some cafes are more liberal than others….but they’re all relatively cheap ($2/coffee), dimly lit and filled with cigarette smoke. we visited a few and, at 11pm, i finally broke off from the pack. the cafes were an interesting experience, but not my cup of tea…..as max and roberto can attest to, i was blushing a fair amount of the time. so, i caught the metro home while they entered a strip club.

the rest of my night was pretty tame, there was a good group of us at the hostel….including a group of brazilian girls who i was able to practice my portuguese with…..turns out i can understand portuguese ok, but can’t speak too well. as i learned the next morning, though, max and roberto had a much different experience. at this point i should probably mention a few things. both max and roberto are pretty smart and have/had good paying professional jobs. max is french-canadian and cannot speak any spanish. roberto is half ecuadorian but is an aggressive drunk. both had drunk quite a few rum and cokes that evening.

the pair paid a $10 cover and stepped downstairs to the club. they sat down and ordered some beers. the server requested the money, but max realized he had no more cash, so instead offered his credit card. they asked for his passport, which he didn’t have. the two sides argued with each other. it was probably a simple misunderstanding, but between the alcohol and the language barrier, things escalated.

after about 10 minutes, max finally just suggested that they simply cancel the drink order and leave. management did not approve of this solution and six bouncers immediately restrained them physically. the bouncers tried to separate them and drag them to the basement below. max was hanging onto the railing with all his strength, but the bouncers eventually ‘persuaded’ them to come downstairs and give up their shoes and jackets. well, they continued to argue, roberto was punched and eventually max signed a credit card slip. they then ran out (with their belongings, but minus $70 for the 2 beers which they had not drunk).

i guess the story might have been better in the first person, but i’m glad that i left when i did.

another slow day in santiago…it didn’t help that it rained most of the time. walked around the city a bit. checked out a strange mdern art exhibit sponsored by telefonica. hung out at the hostel with an aussie, american, canadian and four brazilians. went to the supermarket. went back. watched some tv. went to sleep.

this morning i woke up to rain…there’s supposed to be a storm for the next few days here. not wanting to get soaked, nor wishing to do nothing, i drove around for a bit. it’s nice having the luxury of a car. i first went to the bakery and picked up about $8 worth of bread (1 pepper loaf, 1 olive loaf, 1 cereal loaf, 1 croissant and 2 smaller rolls) — no, i didn’t eat it all…but yes, i did eat most of it already. then, i randomly found a cool art museum. the ralli museum has very nice pieces of art, is pretty sizeable, encourages photography/filming of the museum and is completely free. it’s a bit out of the way (car required), but i enjoyed it more than many of the other art museums i’ve seen. the same organization also has museums in uruguay, israel and spain. from there, i headed up into the nearby hills…where there are some very nice houses (kinda like the woodside of santiago). it was cool seeing some other sides to santiago. finally, i returned back to the hostel and watched some world cup qualifier games.

i was hoping to go see the chile vs. venezuela game live tonight with some folks from the hostel (they’re playing here), but the rain kinda turned us off. instead, i went to watch the Symphonic Orchestra of Chile perform nearby. One cool thing about traveling, especially in a place like Chile, is that it’s easy to experience stuff that i wouldn’t back home. it’s partly because at home, you fall into a routine, but also because certain things are quite cheap here. for instance, the seats at the concert ranged from $8 to $15. granted the orchestra is probably not as good as San Francisco’s, but it was easily worth more than what i paid.