today i came closer to finding a job here. first, i met with some people at innovo (the technology transfer organization of Univ of Santiago). The director is quite nice and basicaly made up a small consultng gig for me over the next month. it’s not much work, and probably not much money, but i might take it. this afternoon, i found my first product design firm! (thanks google) actually, i found one industrial design firm, and one product design firm. it’s nice knowing that these kinds of creative jobs and people do in fact exist here. it’s also interesting seeing the technology that they do (and don’t) have. for instance, 3D printing is a very powerful tool….especially for product designers, as it allows them to develop cheap, quick prototypes which they can touch and show to their client. however, one firm sends their parts out to the us to be printed! …seems a bit ridiculous, no?

well, it looks like i might be staying in santiago for a month, exploring jobs and better understanding the product/technology development industry here.

today, i reached two huge milestones. first, the car reached 160,000 miles! well, actually, it’s gone a bit further, since the odometer was inactive for about 50 miles in huaraz, peru. second, i finally found a decent bakery here! it was completely by accident, but the bread is surprisingly good. the gps point associated with this post is at the bakery, so i can find it again. i’ve already eaten two loaves today…and part of a third with my dinner. their beer bread is not actually like beer bread…my mom’s is much better.

i also visited the jewish museum….well, i tried too. the museum was listed in the guide book from the tourist center here, but the museum doesn’t even have a sign….it’s just a black steel gate and an address. also, they wouldn’t let me in. instead, they said that i had to call up, get interviewed and make an appointment….and, of course, they wouldn’t let me just talk to them in person there. kinda turns people away from judaism, and can make a jew turn self-loathing. i understand their security concerns….but they should either make it easier (and explain the steps in the guide book) or just take themselves out of the guide book completely. from now on, i’ll just stick with the catholics…who have beautiful cathedrals, which are always open to the public.

that’s about it for today….i’m still waiting to hear back from some people….but it seems like if it’s this hard to find an exciting engineering job…even if i did find one, it might not be that great. on the plus side, i’d be one of the few entrepreneurial engineers in santiago (tons of opportunity). on the down side, i’d be one of the few entrepreneurial engineers here (few tech entrepreneurs to work or hang out with). one exciting thing about the bay area is the entrepreneurial spirit. in san francisco, there are several companies doing exciting engineering work (from startup to multinational corporation). here, it’s been almost two weeks…and i’ve had several meetings, but haven’t heard of one company yet.

note: gps location is santiago, chile

this morning i started off by watching a running race get started on the road next to the river. tbere were (at least) three things that made the race specific to latin america. can you guess?

next, i headed off to a tour of cerro santa lucia, one of the three hills in santiago. the park may not look like much, but it has an interesting history. forinstance, it was designed about 150 years ago…but features a hodge podge of different pieces. because santiago was poor at the time, they got sculptures and pieces of art which were in fact leftovers that were just lying around. some had been destined for other locations, others were donations. it was interesting heaing the unique background of the park.

from there, i took the train over to the franklin metro station, where they had a huge market. kinda like a flea market, only a bit more structured….and with everythng from cool furniture to puppies. why would anybody buy a puppy when there are so many stray dogs around? well, maybe that’s the problem.

finally, i returned back and cooked some dinner. at the supermarket, they had a few selections of olive oil…none were on sale, but the pricing was interesting (stupid). for the same brand, 250cc was 1500 pesos, 500cc was 1900 pesos, and 1000cc was 4200 pesos….see the error? anyway, the three things specific to the race were: 1) it started at 10am (most races in the us start at 8am, or earlier…but people wake up later here); 2) the race started a bit late (…only 30sec, but still); and 3) there were some stray dogs on the road with the runners.

this morning i discovered that the hacker returned…this time posting a malicious virus on sentradiaries. i think i’ll just use blogger instead….it’s a bit harder for me to use on the road (bandwidth) and doesn’t incorporate the gps, but oh well. after messing around with the site a bit, i drove back to santiago and found myself a new hostel in another neighborhood. this one is more modern. i walked around a bit, stopped by a random two perosn play at the italian culutral housse and then continued my walk around the neighborhood.

i also worked on sentradiaries a bit…i found a couple pretty big security flaws….but since i don’t know much about hacking, maybe i’m still missing the most obvious ones. either way, i think i might go back to hosting sentradiaries myself. i think einstein once said that being crazy is doing the same thing again, expecting a different result. well, i changed a couple things….but i wouldn’t say i’m too sane either.

note: no gps data, but in-between santiago and refugio lo valdez

well, i woke up this morning to snow — both on the ground and in the air. i wasn’t too worried, until i learned that the employees their were conerned (apparently another car had gotten stuck up there for 4 days earlier this week). so, i quickly hopped into the car and started the drive down. luckily the car made it without any issues. i’m now in cascade de los animes. there’s not too much to do here, but i hiked up several miles to the mirador (the only trail open, because of the snow). it was nice, but pretty wet (snow on the ground and a light rain). luckily, earlier that day horses had gone up to the mirador, so i was able to follow their tracks (otherwise, i almsot certainly would have gotten lost). unfortunately, the combination of rain and horses made the trail pretty muddy.

i’m also camping here tonight. the rooms are about $40/night…which seems very expensive to me. camping is $12…which is also relatively expensive, but it covers the hiking too. because of the cold, i decided to sleep in the car. because the front passenger seat is in the us, i was able to make a relatively comfortable bed extending from the back seat to the front. a little cramped, but better than sleeping outside with the snow. unfortunately, it was dark and raining when i was setting up the makeshift bed. i took off the rear seat cushion and used that as part of the bed, along with the rear back cushion. hopefully i’ll get another chance to make a more comfortable bed….but at least the bonding ritual between the car and myself is complete.

after dropping off the german couple at the bus station (they’re taking a 24hr busride to buenos aires, $60 for a first class ticket), i tracked down the chilean automotive club. last night, the germans had told me that police checked their car insurance papers every day (nobody has asked to see my insurance papers yet). my international insurance through AIG covers most of latin america, but does not include argentina…so i need some argentinian insurance asap.

it turns out that the chilean automotive club may be the most incompetent organizaation in chile. why? well, i didnt expect them to have insurance for me, but i thought they might be able to help out a bit. turns out they don’t even have map of santiago. and when i asked for suggestions, they had none. even the security guard at the garage was more helpful.

next, i tried falabella, which is a huge chilean store….selling everything from clothes to car insurance. for $130, i now have auto insurance for all of south america for another 6 months.

from there, i continued my trek for the best bakery in santiago, but didn’t have much luck. so after an hour, i took off for el cajon del maipu.

the area is very nice and, at an altitude of about 2k meters, i reached refugio lo valdez. well, almost. at the end, things started getting kinda snowy. the main road was fine, but the last 500m of the private road to the refugio was covered in snow. i made it up about 5m before slipping. i then got stuck and had to put on chains to get out. this took about 30minutes. it would have been easier if i) i could move the car; ii) there was another person; iii) the chains fit the tires (they’re a bit big, and thus fall off); and iv) i wasn’t on a hill. anyway, i finally made it out…and decided to try the hill again….probably a stupid idea, but that’s me. this time i made it 10m. i didn’t get stuck, but couldn’t go further up the hill. so, i just left the car there and walked up to the house with my stuff. i hope the car is still there tomorrow morning.

note: gps location is santiago, chile

today i had another meeting with another innovation organization. there are so many government committees pushing for innovation…but when i ask if they know of any innovative mechanical engineering companies, they’re at a loss. maybe i’m just too early in the process (…although a perfect time if i were more ambitious and chilean). it’s a little bit frustrating, because every day i’ve had a meeting…and each meeting ends on a promising note….but usually results with another meeting, instead of somebody saying ‘yes, you should consider company x’ or ‘no, chile has nothing to offer you’. i’m gonna give this gray area till monday, and if there’s nothing concrete, probably move on (probably south a bit, since the mountain pass up here is currently closed due to snow).

this afternoon i walked around the newer part of santiago. it’s quite different, featuring newer buildings and trendy bars/restaurants. part of my meanderings were in search of a good bakery. after hunting down a few red herrings, i came across a restaurant that sells whole wheat bread. it was good, but nothing special. i’ve got a few more names to check out tomorrow on my way to cajon del maipo, where i’ll stay for a couple days before returning to santiago. i also met a german couple who have been going around argentina, chile and bolivia for the last 9 months in their camper — they were able to provide some good recommendations of places to see….although the big question now (assuming i don’t find a job here) is where to cross into argentina:

option 1: cross from santiago to mendoza. the pass is beautiful, goes by some good ski resorts and is close by. however, it’s a high-altitude pass (3,500m) and at times is closed because of snow (like today).

option 2: drive further south a few more days and cross down into bariloche. this option allows me to see some more nice parts of chile and argentina, plus the cross is at a lower altitude (1,500m). however, it will extend my trip a week or two and apparently the weather is pretty miserable down there (rain, snow, cold)…none of which are too good for the sentra.

some pics:
-an interesting oil candle…the wick doesn’t float, but is inside a bent copper tube.
-a modern building
-bambu (where i got my bread)

know a good immigration lawyer? (not for me, but please read the third paragraph below)….

driving the sentra is a bit interesting with a loose transmission. i’m getting better at it….but to a passenger, it would feel a bit like i was learning to drive stick shift. when i’m driving (foot on the gas pedal), it’s fine. but sometimes when i stop, the gears will disengage and i’ll have to rev the engine (to 1.5 to 3 thousand rpm)…..then, the gears will pop into place and the car will jolt forward. i’m learning how to make the transition smoother, though. one trick is to press on both the brake and gas pedals when at a stoplight (thus the gears don’t disengage).

this morning i met with some more people about finding a cool job here, and have a meeting with chile’s office of innovation tomorrow morning. it’s surprising how much MIT is thrown around by the people here. i’ll be introduced by MIT, then by name. as my friend suggested, maybe they’re ‘name whores’ here.

from there, i drove over to the concha y toro vineyard just outside of santiago. i was the only one there for an english tour, so i ended up getting a private tour! the woman was very friendly….maybe too friendly? at one point, she told me a pretty tragic story about how she left the us (georgia) a couple of years ago….but has a 4 year old daughter still there. her baby’s father is a jerk, and she’s having trouble returning to the us (immigration) or getting custody of the child. if anybody knows of a good lawyer who can help her out…send me an email (beto@sentradiaries.com) and i can put you in touch with her.

along the way to the vineyard, i got a flat tire. that’s my fourth flat over the entire trip (well, sorta the third….since the second one resulted from a poor patch job that i had done earlier). after checking out the vineyard, i decided to get some new tires…my six full-sized tires ranged from missing rubber to surprisingly good quality. now i have four good tires on the car, and two poorish quality spares…but good enough for a backup. and guess where i bought them? at the supermarket for $25 a piece! go figure.

they also sell their used wine barrels for $10 each….imagine all the possibilities….wine rack, table, etc.

note: location is santiago, chile

One funny thing about driving in santiago…the hostal i’m staying at is in a small pedestrian plaza with narrow one-way streets. even after a couple days, the only way i know how to drive there involves backing up about 2-blocks on a one-way street.

today, i had a few more meetings re: finding a cool MechE company here. Still no luck, but I think that I am making progress (towards finding out if such companies exist here). i also checked out two catholic museums with some nice religious artwork. the museo la merced features a room full of baby jesus’, including one that appeared to be showing the middle finger. nearby, at the museo de arte colonial de san francisco, they had some more nice artwork….including one painting of a very homosexual looking saint francis (…no surprise there) and another where saint diego miraculously transformed bread into flowers (…which seems like a much less useful miracle than turning flowers into bread). there was also a unique painting from 1690 of a man in a bar beheading st. john the baptist. across the street, the national museum had a free concert. the first musician was a classical guitarist. it was funny to hear bach being performed in a nice little auditorium, while people chanted outside on the street (not sure what they were protesting*). this was followed by a very experimental saxophone duet — i think someone said ‘bless you’ before i sneezed.

*as i was heading home, i noticed that some streets were closed. i asked a cop what had happened, and he said that there had been a disturbance, with people throwing rocks, etc. why? well, according to him, because they were bored.

being scared that the storm might not be over, i drove around santiago a bit today. lonely planet says that driving a car is a pain here, but it’s been quite easy. all of chile is sorta that way…people here will warn me about pickpockets or crazy drivers, but it’s nothing compared to the places i’ve been so far. try driving in guayaquil (ecuador) in the middle of a rainstorm, at night, on a 4-lane road without lane markings (…or lanes, for that matter) and with huge potholes.

i started off by visiting a few museums. the museums are good, but even better is that they’re cheap and most are free on sunday’s. it’s great that chile makes their museums so accessible to everyone….the united states is very different. i was lucky too. at one museum, they had a special event going on, but let me sneak in….so i got to listen to a live pianist in the background while i checked out some awesome artwork (without anyone else looking at the exhibits). at another museum about Easter Island and it’s neighbors, they converted the floor of the atrium into a huge map/board game with huge foam dice — pretty cool.

because i love bread, i asked around for the best bakery in town…turns out all bread bakeries are basically the same (or so several people have said). the pastry place i went to was ok…but again, nothing too special. i also went to the supermarket today and spent about $10 on eggs, yogurt, bread, etc. the cheapest thing i bought was half a dozen kiwis….for about 30 cents….incredible! everything else is priced closer to what you might expect, many with similar prices to the us.

afterwards, i checked out the cerro (hill) of san cristobal. it’s much bigger than the cerro st. lucia (which i checked out earlier today) and even has a zoo inside (i didn’t get to see it). up top, i watched the sunset — according to a local, today was one of the best days of the year to see the sunset (just after a storm). i had not realized how close the andes (and skiing) were to santiago…granted, their size makes it a bit of an illusion, but the mountains look like they’re on the edge of the city (actually, the closest resort is just 30 miles away from the city).

from there, i started heading back to the hostal…but, of course, got a bit lost. i did find myself next to a theater, though, so i decided to see what was going on. i ended up watching La Negra Ester, which is apparently a famous play about a famous folk artist. it turns out that my spanish is much worse than i had earlier thought…since, after watching the play, that’s still about all i know. the audience thoroughly enjoyed the performance: laughing, applauding and even singing along a bit (there were a few songs). i enjoyed the very talented three person band (trumpet, guitar, drums, accordion, percussion, clarinet…yes, each could play multiple instruments).

and another two things about driving here. apparently it’s illegal (or, at least frowned upon) to make left or right turn on a red light. such a difference from the anarchy of some other countries. also, leaving the theater, i noticed many parked cars with their windshield wipers sticking up. i’m not sure, but i think it might be a signal from the driver that he wants the local street security person to watch his car (in many places in latin america, entrepreneurs will stake out streets and watch your car for a small price….in some of the rougher countries, failure to pay this individual will likely result in your car getting broken into or a slashed tire).