Depending on the Kindness of Santiago Strangers
Never have I met so, so many strangers willing to help a tourist! I was stunned by it frankly and it warmed my cynical heart. Perhaps humanity is not so doomed after all...
The bus journey to Santiago from San Pedro de Atacama was grueling, lasting nearly 24 hours. I entertained myself by watching Season 1 of "Breaking Bad" on my iPad and reading spy/espionage short stories. But still, it was excruciatingly uncomfortable once the sun came out for the bus was inadequately ventilated. I practically stuck to my seat due to the heat. Okay, not really, BUT...it was definitely a hot time, summer in the
Finally I arrived at about 6 PM at the bus terminal and, due to my unfamiliarity with the city (Hey! It had been 8 years since my last visit after all!), I decided to take a taxi to my accommodation, the Hostal Luna Calypso, in the Providencia barrio. Taxi, shmaxi. The drivers are all a bunch of poopie heads. When it comes to discussing my thoughts on taxies, I revert to childish words/behavior and would stomp my feet and stick out my tongue at them all if I could. Anyway, the driver who took me did not possess a city map nor did he have an office with which he could call to get directions to the hostal address so he ended up stopping the taxi on a busy street for a few minutes trying to find someone who knew the location of the street. All with the meter still going mind you! Later we did circles in the actual neighborhood until finally finding a lady who knew how to get there. What further added to my frustration was the fact that I'd even provided him with the telephone number of the place so he could call and get proper directions, but the doofus didn´t recognize that the first 3 digits were the city code for Santiago so he dialed incorrectly and told me the number was wrong. By the time we made it to the hostal, I was a bit hot under the collar and berated him in my butchered Spanish for his inadequacies and the hostal owner heard me from inside (because the windows were all open, not because I'd actually been shouting). She literally rushed to my defense like a white knight on a steed, or in this gender case, an amazon goddess, and started bawling the guy out in Spanish so fast it sounded like a machine-gun firing. I fell in love with her and the hostal straight off the bat! When she came upstairs after annihilating him, she even gave me some of my money back which she'd retrieved from the driver. Seriously, my heroine!! So one more time folks, major plug, plug for HOSTAL LUNA CALYPSO!!!!
But what about Santiago? Had it changed much in the interim since my last visit? Did she miss me while I was gone?!? You know, I actually didn't sense much of a change since the last time I'd been there (unlike in Lima,Peru). On the following day, I visited most of the stereotypical touristic sights: climbed to the hazy lookout point in Santa Lucia, had a refreshing beverage while people-watching in the Plaza de Armas, plugged my nose to lessen the stench encountered while walking past the fish vendors in the Mercado Central, admired the unbelievably colorful raw creativity of the grafitti on display in the Bellevista Barrio,and oohed and aahed over the cleverness of a B & W photography exhibit in the Contemporary Art Museum. Frankly I walked, and walked and walked until my feet could take it...ouch...no...OUCH...more.
The second day, Wednesday (Jan 4), I settled down to business. For weeks and weeks I'd been mentally preparing for Santiago, figuring that it was the best place to take care of some matters seeing that it was a huge metropolitan city. At the top of my list was seeking out a Lufthansa office to make some changes to the dates of my ticket. I found the address of their ticketing office using Google and made my way there that morning. It was naturally located in the affluent financial district of Las Condes, an area I´d previously not visited, so I was game to go. Patricia, the lovely Lufthansa lady who assisted me, handled everything and within an hour she´d managed to change the dates for my flights from Bangkok to Honolulu and then onwards to LA. The only disappointment was finding out that in order to "miss" the flight from Santiago to Buenos Aires and travel by overland instead, I would be penalized $125 as this was seen as a route (rather than date) change. However, if I had simply chosen to literally miss the flight without bothering to notify the airline, I would have negated all subsequent flights -YOWSA!!! Thank goodnes (vast understatement) I chose to make enquiries first about this!! Talk about a costly mistake being averted. Gulp.
On Thursday, I skipped town with a German biker sporting a mohawk.
Yep. I do like to shock my readers (sorry Mom!). But I´m actually not kidding. You see there was this really cool guy staying at the hostel named Helmut who was traveling around South America on his motorcycle and we´d bonded over a bottle of vino the first night I arrived (and then the following evenings besides). He then invited me to join him on an overnight excursion to the Cajon del Maipo. I said, but of course, "HELL YEAH!", but with one small hiccup: finding a helmet to wear as required by the law of the land and common sense. Thursday morning we set off in search of the shop I'd found online which apparently rented out helmets but we found it closed so we were forced to go cruising around Santiago looking for motorcycle shops which could help us out. Eventually we found a place which SOLD them and after a fair bit of wrangling over the price (my time spent haggling in the UAE paid off), talked them down to selling it to me for about $24. I considered it money well-spent for it provided me with a thrilling experience. I ended up leaving the helmet at my hostal afterwards for some needy soul to pick up. So suitably geared up we....
...headed off into the (sunset) and out of the city. And can I just say how HOT I felt riding on the back of that motorcycle, holding on to Helmut (who's like 6'4" or something; we´re talking massive and male) for dear life with the wind whipping against my face since I had my visor up. Plus, it all came so, so naturally to me as if I´d been born to ride. Who knew I was meant to be a biker chick?!!? By the way, I am currently accepting all suggestions as to what my new biker chick nickname should be.
We stopped for snacks in San José de Maipo at an incredibly friendly Mom & Pop type establishment named "El Wiken" and then continued all the way down a dusty, dirt road to the Baños de Colina (2000 pesos) where I briefly adorned a bathing suit in order to try the thermal pools there. Unfortunately, upon dipping my right big toe into the water I discovered that it was a far cry from hot and much closer to cool so I dipped no further and hastily changed back into my clothes. Helmut was much braver than me and managed to fully immerse himself in the strangely orange-colored water. All in all, I´d most definitely skip these thermal springs if I were ever to return to the area.
That evening, Helmut and I found a room with twin beds (Hate to disappointment those looking to read ALL about a torrid romantic encounter but this trip was strictly between pals) for 8000 pesos each and dined at a pizzeria where we consumed not 1 but 2 bottles of red wine. The conversation, like the wine, flowed freely and continued back at the hostal where we finished the evening up pleasantly inebriated me with
I was loathe to return to Santiago the next day and could have ridden all the way to Tierra del Fuego if Helmut had asked me to but noooooo. Just no. Instead, he "ditched" me at a bus stop on El Florida Avenida where I caught a bus using a BIP card that was generously provided to me (Free of charge ya´ll!) by a stranger of the female persuasion. I was back at the Hostal Luna Calypso by 11 AM and spent the rest of the day walking around Providencia. I even got a much-needed sassy haircut at a salon that afternoon for roughly 5000 pesos.
My final fantastic experience in Santiago happened over that last weekend, on Saturday evening to be precise, when I dined with an old friend of mine named Cindy as well as her lovely family. You see I had met then 17-year-old Cindy during my first trip to Santiago back in 2003 when I was walking around the vast Cementerio General looking for the grave of Salvador Allende (the former President who mysteriously and conveniently committed suicide, cough cough, after the Pinochet coup d'état on September 11, 1973). She helped me find his grave and we simply bonded in a way that rarely happens. All these years later we were still in touch on Facebook and so naturally I was determined to see her again when I was in town. She met me with her 2 cutie patootie sons in tow at her mother´s flower shop near the cemetary and off we went to her cozy casa. Her home was typically American in one significant way -there were TVs in practically every room of the house!! I teased her a little about this, you betcha. The vegetarian dinner was lovingly prepared before me while I snacked on fresh olives, cherries and strawberries and nursed a glass of white wine. I truly felt honored by all the time and care she bestowed upon me as her guest. Even her mother shocked me with her extreme generosity when she gifted me with a huge flower bouquet upon my departure!! Wow. I planned to repay Cindy´s generosity the following day by treating her to a lunch in the Brazil Barrio but unfortunately we made a grievous error when communicating the exact time/place of our meeting. To my understanding, we were to meet above the Baquedano metro station at 2 PM, and I was there from 2-2:30 but couldn´t find her. She posted a message to me on Facebook saying she´d been there but I never showed up (??!!?). Say what?!!? She´s ignored all my subsequent attempts to contact her so I still have no idea what went wrong. :( Frankly, I´m incredibly dismayed that she has not replied to my messages. It´s frustrating because...I...WAS...THERE! A looong, drawn-out.....sigh...and sniff is in order. At least I have the beautiful memory of our dinner together to cherish.
So that pretty much wraps up my time in Santiago. I came...conquered the public transit system...and can´t wait to get a third helping of what this incredible city has to offer!
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