Chile #2 - Working It Out On My Own

Well, I narrowly avoided getting scammed while getting to my hotel!  The hotel provides a free transfer but someone with an official looking card for the provider TransVIP collared me, took me halfway round the airport to a cab that was gonna charge me £30!  Common sense kicked in and I walked away and back to where I needed to go for my free transfer.

Luckily there was a room available when I got to the hotel despite it only being 10:30 which meant I could shower and changed properly.  This was when I found out that Chile doesn’t have European chargers (TV had a USB port for a temporary fix) and also that I should have reset my unused Uber account while still in the UK.

The nerves kicked in just around them.  Can I do this?  In a foreign country on my own where I really don't speak the language?  I had to push myself out of the hotel and into Santiago.  I was sure I could get the hotel to get me a taxi in but I had no idea how to get back as the hotel was in an industrial estate with no public transport.  I’m sure I’ll find a way…

This was where I was starting to realise how little English is spoken here.  You would expect a reception for an airport hotel to have pretty good English but this one is minimal.  Taxi drivers, restaurants, museums, Metro – as I was to discover there really is very little English and my attempts at learning Spanish had definitely not succeeded!

I did manage to communicate that I wanted the taxi driver to take me to Plaza de Armas which seemed to be the centre of everything.  I think he was (very kindly) trying to arrange a time to pick me up and take me back but we just couldn’t communicate.  I’ll pay for a black and yellow cab – I’m sure it will be more expensive but if it’s the only way back I’ll have to go with that.

Anyway, Plaza de Armas. It IS the centre of everything!  Quite a large square with lots of trees and benches.  A real hubbub of activity, especially on a Saturday.  Kind of Santiago’s Covent Garden or Las Ramblas.  Street performers – a traditional band, a man dressed as a giant rock, a Michael Jackson impersonator, a puppeteer.  Despite the misty morning when I landed a few hours earlier and the forecasts of rain (it’s been raining all week apparently) it was a gloriously sunny day.  I wondered round, sat for a bit in the centre and then decided I was hungry.  Yo soy una turista, so I chose the tourist trap restaurant on the square.  It wasn’t bad actually.  Had an Italiano sandwich – thin sliced beef with tomatoes, a huge amount of mayonnaise and what seemed like a whole avocado!  Also a very full, rather large single glass of red wine.  I sat on the terrace absorbing the square.  No Wifi – there was something lovely about being cut from the strings of the internet.  I’ve never been much of a people watcher but I indulged a little.  I noticed lots of people carrying their babies (and it occurred to me how rare this is in England where we would automatically take them in a pram).  I noticed lots of slogan T-shirts, almost all in English.  I noticed that the men’s bodies seem disproportionately long legged with short, stocky chests.  I giggled at some of the locals wearing thick coats and gloves while I sat in a t-shirt!  I listened to the band and watched the rock-man fist bumping passing kids (in exchange for a few pesos).

I seriously considered taking the open-top bus tour but decided to venture for a while on foot instead.  I bought an ice cream (chocolate and lucuma, an Andean fruit which tasted rather like caramel) and wandered south down Paseo Ahumeda.  It was full of market stalls – well, people had laid out their wares on the pedestrianised street.  I had thought about finding an electrical store to by an adaptor but I managed to find one for about £1.20 (which surprisingly works and hasn’t blown anything up yet!)  This brought me out at Avenida Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins, the main route through Santiago. I turned left / east along the road, nipping into Iglesias San Francisco before crossing back over and going north again.  I zig-zagged back to Plaza de Armas, passing Teatro Municipal, Palacio de la Moneda and then going into Iglesias San Agustin.

San Agustin houses the Cristo de Mayo.  Legend has it that in the 1647 earthquake this figure of Christ’s crown of thorns slipped around his neck.  When someone tried to move the crown back onto his head, the carved face began to bleed.  The crown has been left around his neck ever since and it is celebrated every year on 13th May – today!  I had tried to research when the statue was to be paraded and, assuming it was in the morning I assumed I had missed it.  It actually starts at 7pm – however that was 4 hours away and I was already sleepy (the wine probably didn’t help on that front!).  I did see the statue on his carriage waiting for the evening.  It’s possibly one of the ugliest effigies of Christ I’ve ever seen…

I was still pondering this for the next hour.  I visited the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolumbino but I had to resist the temptation to lie on the viewing bench and have a kip!  I returned to Plaza de Armas – I’m presuming it was a particular hive of activity because of the imminent celebrations.  Women had baked cakes to sell outside the cathedral.  I had a walk around the cathedral – although I don’t believe in god I love the peace of churches and cathedrals, especially in countries where people are actually using them for worship.  There was a service occurring in the nearest chapel to the open door – a real contrast of the peace inside against to noise outside.

I considered again doing the tourist bus just to stay for the parade but tiredness and worrying about getting back to my hotel forced me to choose not to.  It was a hard decision to make – if I was staying in the city I would definitely have made an effort to see it.  I had two choices back.  I figured I’d try to get a price on a taxi all the way – it was 13,000 pesos in so I presumed on double that for a city cab.  I spoke to one taxi driver who basically said he wouldn’t drive to the airport.  So plan B – get the metro to San Pablo (which at 4 miles away was the nearest metro stop to the hotel) and try to get a cab from there.  If all else failed I’d walk back (although without internet and maps that would prove very tricky!)

And this is where the language barrier really frustrated me – my lack of understanding more than anything else.  I should be able to understand but my aural comprehension is terrible.  Eventually I decided just to get a single ticket - I could have got a Bip card, like a London Oyster card given that I was returning to Santiago next weekend but I decided to sort that out next weekend.  Got to San Pablo, lots of taxis here – yay!  First one had no idea about the hotel – I did at least work out he wanted to take me to the airport and said no.  Then I realised I had the address on the calendar on my phone – second taxi driver seemed to understand and I was on my way.  I was very glad I didn’t have to walk through here – there was a sense that this is “real” Santiago.  Not quite shanty towns but lots of small, temporary looking buildings.  Interesting to see from a car, I’m glad I wasn’t walking through it.

Safely back at the hotel at about 6pm!  Cheap adapter works!  And – AND – I found Eurovision on the TV!  I missed all the performances but relaxed with the results on a Portuguese station where they sounded rather bemused as the votes rolled in for their song.  I love having a tiny bit of home when I’m away.

All that was left was to pack (again) for my early departure.  A mixture of not much sleep on the plane, the time difference and living on adrenaline for the day has taken it’s toll and I was asleep by 8:30pm.  Given the alarm was set for 3:30am I didn’t mind too much and the clocks going back gave me another hour.  I’ve not had 8 hours solid sleep for weeks!

So now I’m checked in and waiting for the flight to Easter Island.  I’m very glad to have five days where someone is holding my hand on a tour!  I’m also looking forward to four nights in the same bed…