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Santiago, Chile

Can you take us to Waikiki Beach? No. Can you take us to Waikiki Beach? No. Can you take us to Waikiki Beach? No. Finally after a couple of attempts a taxi driver took us to Waikiki Beach, a surf beach about 10 minutes drive from the heart of Lima. Taxis only travel in the direction ‘they’ are heading, not where the passenger is heading. Lima and the towns along this coastline are highly volcanic so it wasn’t surprising there were tsunami emergency exit routes signs all the way along the beach. Of course, Dave wanted to go surfing, as he has wanted to in every continent we’ve been to. The beach was packed full of surf schools, surf rentals but no coffees shops for the wives, so Ash and I chilled out on the rocky beach with soft drinks and chocolate. Dave’s never surfed at a beach with rocks the size of saucers before. I asked him for a photo and in doing so the waves came crashing in and hit him with rocks. Oops.

I’m thankful these last 2.5month in South America weren’t all about the capital/large cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, La Paz, Lima and Santiago. We’ve seen some incredible small villages and been immersed in and amongst the South American culture. For those wanting a South American experience, I’d say go to Bolivia, Chile or Peru. Brazil and Argentina were fantastic places but western influences and money have taken away from the rawness. So saying, Lima one of the biggest South American cities, exceeded all expectations. All countries in South America that were invaded by the Spanish have a beautiful pedestrianised plaza. A plaza marks the centre of the city and has a water fountain, gardens and seats. It’s like a gigantic roundabout. Surrounding that is an elaborate stone town hall and churches. Peru’s towns and villages have the best plazas in South America so there was no question that the capital city had to be the most beautiful. Lima’s town square or plaza is a warm yellow. Street lights hang over head and reminded me of Vienna. The white horses and carriages reminded me of Central Park, New York. Lima is a port city and has a third of Peru’s population living there. It fascinates me how the world in the present day looks because of the world’s past events. Every city around the world has a story to tell and to see and feel.
The afternoon’s mission took us for a three hour sightseeing mission around this very, very large city. We didn’t have time for a walking tour around the city but three taxis later we saw all we needed to. We got back to the hotel in time for a farewell dinner with our group and an introductory lesson to Wolf Juice in the hotel foyer before midnight, I mean bed. Four hours later we were in the taxi and on the way to the airport. Farewell Peru, farewell group travel.

Hello Chile, hello freedom! We wouldn’t swap the last few months for anything but I can’t express how nice it is to finally be on our own again. On our time. We only had 2.5 days left of our honeymoon so it was a rather nice that those days were just back to the two of us. Dave and I travel really well together. We enjoy the busy times and as well as the quiet times but most of all we are just in sync with each other’s needs. The original plan for our .5 of the 2.5 days was to chill. We joined lunch and dinner together, and had an afternoon of food and wine only a block from our hotel room before coming back and sleeping for 12 hours. We needed that so badly.
Dave could have quite easily have repeated that for the following two days but bloody hell that would have been a boring blog. When we finished breakfast the following morning at 9:45am and asked the receptionist when the city’s free walking tour started, she said 10am. So we got our A into G and we were off. We made it to the city as the free walking tour group were walking off. We made it. I’m so glad we did as it set the tone for the following 12 hours.
Santiago, our last city to visit. As we walked around we were very much underwhelmed with what we saw. If you compare it to the rest of South America it doesn’t have that beautiful Spanish influence, it just looks like a boring grey city. That’s because it was a failed Spanish invasion. The Spanish tried to build a relationship with the indigenous folk of the town. To prove this was the case they trained up a young boy, educated him and taught him all they needed to know about running a country. This young boy (age 20) escaped the Spanish power and formed his own army and returned with vengeance and kicked the Spanish out of the country. One of his strategies was weakening the Spanish army by nicking all their wives. It was a mental strategy.The Spanish didn’t put up much of a fight as there was no gold or silver anyway, or maybe they didn’t like their wives. After those early years, dictators took over and placed heavy sanctions on the people and their rights,in so far as mass killings and espionage. It was only 10 years ago they really got their rights back. Only last year they squashed the right of the army to arrest people because they looked suspicious. All culture was removed from Chile up until 10 years ago. Paintings, books, everything, gone! Now a days many people can’t read as books are just too expensive. There’s a 20% tax on books, making them unaffordable, yet a bottle of wine is nearly cheaper than water. They even have a saying in Chile, anyone can write whatever they like because no one can read it.
Chileans really have had to deal with a lot over the last few decades. On top of their dictatorship, they tri-monthly have to deal with natural events which cause distress. Earthquakes in Chile and Japan occur more frequently than anywhere else in the world sometimes three times a month, often getting as high as 8.5. It’s not really surprising that a country that has gone through so much would seek release through ladies or alcohol Nor is it really surprising that the tourists want to share in their frustrations with them… We befriended a Norwegian and Israeli guy on the free walking tour and spent the afternoon, then evening with them. Side note, that is what I’ll miss about travelling. The most interesting and intelligent people you come across. Everyone loves travelling, from doctors to police officers, professors, teachers, students, engineers. We have met amazing people along the way. An afternoon of conversation will quite often be around the world events, politics or economy. Worldly, open minded people ready to befriend strangers. More often than not a name or job position will not ever be shared but the travel stories are good enough for National Geographic. Anyway, we were told about three must- try drinks while in Chile. The Earthquake, The Aftershock and The Tsunami. Wow -wee they were as strong as an 8.5 earthquake. Wine, fernete and pineapple ice cream was one of them. Followed by Chilean food it made for a perfect afternoon. As for the evening, that was the fourth must try drink…. The coffee. Chileans are not famous for their coffee. In fact they don’t even produce it. Back in the day coffee shops or the concept of drinking coffee wasn’t popular so one, clever, man decided to fix that. He created stand up coffee shops. There was no need to sit down, just stand behind bar tables and sip coffee while being served by ladies in very skimpy, tight outfits. Coffee shops became popular and people didn’t think about the taste of the coffee. Over time the concept was getting old so it needed to be spiced up. The ‘classic coffee shops’ were replaced with ‘coffee with legs, coffee shops’, taking blondes with two legs to a new level, maybe even blondes with a limp. These shops had blackened out windows and ladies wearing skimpy bikinis. How long do you reckon it took before that got old? Not long! Now the city has three versions, the third being a ‘happy minute coffee shop’. Throughout the day, the manager will lock the door of the coffee shop and give the coffee drinkers a 1 minute NAKED dance on the table. The whole thing probably sounds like a brothel or a joke but it’s neither. It’s serious, it’s as common as seeing a Starbucks or regular coffee shop and busin
ess men go in as often as the tourists. The government take it seriously too, probably because they are men. There are rules in place. Only coffee or similar is to be sold, no alcohol. They must be in the business district of downtown area not it the suburbs and opening hours are to be normal coffee shop hours.
After the three crazy cocktails we had, we decided to go for a coffee. This proved to be the weirdest thing I’ve ever done. The first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth COFFEE SHOP we put our head into definitely didn’t look like a coffee shop. After the 7th coffee shop we realised they were all the same, a coffee is just a coffee isn’t it? Behind the blackened windows were neon lights, bar stools and the ladies who had string bikinis, although they were wearing them upside down and the bottom triangle on the g-string was smaller than a 20c piece. Oh and they weren’t ‘just’ grinding the coffee. If you ordered a coffee it was $2. If you wanted some grinding of the ‘beans’ it was $3 and you got your coffee for $1. I was happy with paying full price for my coffee, after all I have no beans worth grinding. If you can just imagine these coffee shops in your city and how weird they would be or how weird it would be to get your 9am coffee served to you by a lady in a string bikini. This is so much part of the city that a coffee shop moved into the ground floor of a building that had childcare upstairs. Believe it or not, the ladies from the childcare started disagreeing with the coffee shop waitresses. You would think they would have so much in common. The childcare requested them to leave, the coffee shop refused and the childcare took them to court. You guessed it, the childcare got asked to move, the coffee shop remained. It’s rather shortsighted because after a ‘1 happy minute’, the childcare may just be needed.

We woke up super early after our night out in coffee town, still shaking like an earthquake however. For our last full day of adventure, on our honeymoon, we took the metro and then the coach to Valparaiso and then the metro to Vina Del Mar. Our seats for the two hour couch journey were on the second floor, in reclining sofa seats with a panoramic view out. They are a far stretch from Santiago’s public buses that the public despise. So much so that the public “burn” one every time one breaks down, get stuck in a tunnel or when the bendy buses get stuck around corners – No one thought to measure the tunnels before purchasing the buses. Our whole point of venturing out was to try and find a beach to enjoy a leisurely lunch and wine. The sea fog was so heavy in the morning, we couldn’t actually find it. At the end of our last day, it made no difference what we saw. Hanging out with my Dave was enough. An earthquake drink and empanadas in bed, while listening to jazz buskers on the street marked the end of our overseas adventure. The 5 day trip home to Brisbane starts tomorrow. We’re ready.

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