San Antonio!

I am a San Antonian - born and raised. Every time I book a ticket to San Antonio online, I am given a choice of San Antonio, TX or San Antonio, Chile. Never did I ever think I'd one day go to San Antonio, Chile.
It started like this.....about a week ago I looked at map and realize just how close I was to San Antonio - so I searched Couch Surfing for any San Antonians - of the Chilean variety. There were four and the most recent login was about a month ago. So I posted a question to the general Chile forum. (it might be worth noting that I'd searched the Internet and come up with very little touristic information) The response to my question on CS was dismal - everyone said it wasn't worth it. So I threw the idea out of my mind and focused on Isla Negra. A few days later, a CS member from France, Cassandre, sent me a message asking if I wanted to day trip to the Isla Negra / San Antonio together. And that is how I ended up going to San Antonio today.....
Maybe I am biased, but I loved my experience in San Antonio! Actually Cass really liked it to, so I'm not totally biased.
It started with a pastry. We bought and split a pastry called Colegial. The conversation with the sales girl went much like this: (en Español)
Us: What is this?
Her: Colegial.
Us: Yes, but what is Colegial?
Her: Cake.
Us: What kind of a flavor does it have?
Her: It tastes like Colegial.
So basically we had no idea what we were getting....but it was good! I'm pretty sure it was sweetened with Manjar.


We walked around a bit and the impression of San Antonio was just so-so.... But then we decided to find the beach...
Well actually we found the port.
We found the life of San Antonio! The port had vendors, performers, lots of people, a fish market and more...












The most surprising part though were the animals! Pelicans and seals! I took about a million photos.... They were crowded around the port, eating fish heads thrown to them by the fish market, sleeping and playing. The seals (or are they sea lions - I'm not sure of the difference) are amazing creatures! Huge, loud and expressive... You knew when they were happy and when they were not, I heard a noise something between a growl and a roar and saw teeth that could probably take off a hand without even trying. But mostly they appeared to me to be content and cute.

Cassandre and I took a boat tour of the harbor. It was really interesting and we learned a lot. For example, San Antonio was the first major port of Chile. The port of San Antonio is the third largest economic industry of Chile (copper is number 1 - no idea about 2) and was integral in rebuilding after the earthquakes of 1985 and 2010 because it sustained little to no damage. It's an active port. Fishermen fish for fish, frequently catching anchovies, barges come in from around the world carrying products for the entire continent and tourists appreciate the blue water and beautiful view. Yes, San Antonio is worth visiting!












Now that I have visited two San Antonios, I want to visit the other ones in the world. I know there are at least 3 in South America - Chile, Argentina and ummm... Bolivia? Guess I need to make some travel plans!

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Location:San Antonio de Chile

Fútbol fever!

Ask anyone who knows me, I'm not a big sports fan..... I can't stand the stoooper bowl, and baseball bores me - BUT give me an international soccer (or as the rest of the world says: football, Fußball, fútbol etc) game and I am engrossed! It's easy I cheer for: Germany, the home team of where I am, or the hosting country's team. Oh yes occasionally I cheer for the USA as well, but let's face it, it's just not our country's strongest sport....

I've been privileged enough to be in Germany during World Cup 2006, Austria during the European Cup of 2008 and South Africa during the World Cup of 2010. right now I am in Chile during Copa Americas which is being held in Argentina. That's practically next door!

Tonight was the Chile vs Mexico game. It is said that Mexico sends it's B-team to this tournament. It is also said that whichever team wins the finale is guaranteed a spot at the World Cup.

A group of us from Ecela went to El Bar de Moe. (in case you are wondering, it's Moe as in Moe Syzlak from The Simpsons.) The place was packed. We were sitting outside in the cold, not minding the cold air. The beers were huge (1Liter bottles) and cheap..... The environment was exciting...

The game began slow.....after a bit the Chileans around us began their cheer:

Chee Chee Chee Elleh Elleh Viva Chile!

Mexico scored.
We cheered louder.

And about 60 min into the game, Chile scored!!!!
The fans went wild. Jumping and stomping. I wondered if the balcony we were on would hold..... Excitement filled the air and you could feel the energy from person to person.

About 82 min into the game Chile scored again!!!!! Chile 2 v México 1. The crowd broke into songs and cheers again...

(feet stomping) Olé Olé Olé Olé! Chile! Chile!

Now it was up to the team to block Mexico from any more goals, to hold their lead for the last few minutes.... The clock hits 90. 3 minutes are added on because of penalties/yellow cards earlier in the game... 1 minute, 2 minutes, 2 minutes 52 seconds......Mexico goes for it. A silence falls over the bar as breaths are held. Chile blocks! Chile runs the ball away from the goal. Chile has won!!!!!

Ganamos!!!!!

A flag waves, people cheer and sing, car horns honk....

It's impossible not to be taken in by the reverie, by the enthusiasm and excitement! I love football - just not the American variety!




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Location:El Bar de Moe, Viña Del Mar, Chile

A day at the beach

Today was a beautiful, sunny winter's day, so I bundled myself up and went to the beach.....









I've always had the idea that the beach was a summer place, deserted in winter - but in Viña it has a life of it's own in winter. Complete with a boatload of characters.....

- swimmers: yes that's right, people actually swim in this weather! Today I saw a young man in his blue underwear, wet from the water - walking all around. A girl in her bikini, enjoying the water and teenagers with their pants rolled up, letting the waves lap at their feet.

- vendors: their booths set up, or just a sheet on the ground.... Selling handicrafts, food, and more. They range from old to young, they are male and female, friendly and gruff..... Some sit there and make more of their products.... But today most were listening to their radios: Copa America in Argentina.

- couples: the beach is a paradise for couples to cuddle up to each other...

- friends and family: Eating, laughing, playing....taking photos - enjoying the beach. Some flying kites...

- the sand artist: always there, sculpting in the sand. Today he was working on an alligator (or maybe a crocodile)

- solitary folk: people such as myself, sitting enjoying the view, the feel of the sun....watching the waves, reading a book, napping

- the dogs: like Santiago, Viña has a ton of strays as well. They enjoy running and playing on the beach and resting in the sun.



A lovely day at the beach....
Just behind the beach is a grassy area where students play soccer and parents buy a pony ride for their young kids. Typically the kid is put up on the pony (small horse - slightly bigger than a pony really) and is walked around for a ride.
I don't know what exactly happened, I was sitting on the bench, engrossed in a book when I heard screaming. I turned to look and saw one of those aforementioned ponies running wild. Had it been spooked? Where was the man who typically leads it around? A young boy was on it's back. He was about 4 or 5 years old and terrified. As the pony ran wildly, he couldn't hang on, and he fell off. The horse kept running. People watched, stunned for a moment, then ran to the boy. A man flying a kite let his kite go and ran to help. Others tried to catch the horse - it ran and ran, towards the road. The boy lay on the ground, not moving, not crying. The boys Mother began to scream in terror and ran to her son. At this point the boy began to scream and cry out. He was moved to the grass. The horse continued running, at first I thought it was going to run right into the high trafficked road, but it knew better and turned away. He turned and ran towards a group of people, who jumped in a panic out of the way, but the horse veered right and ran on. He ran a distance, out of sight.
First aid was being administered to the boy who luckily lived through the ordeal with nothing more than bruises and scratches (gaining perhaps a fear of horses?) and was picked up and comforted by his mother, who herself needed comforting. In the distance I saw the horse was captured and tied up to a tree.
After a few minutes, people went back to doing what they had been doing before, the man with the kite went to look for his kite, and to my utter disbelief a man comes by walking a pony (not the same one) with a little girl on its back.... Life has returned to normal on the beach.

The afternoon ended and the sun set, another spectacular sunset in Viña.










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Location:San Martín,Viña del Mar,Chile

Meanwhile back in Santiago....

Catching up on some things I want to say about Santiago.....
I was walking around downtown near the governmental buildings and I saw a very striking mural on a wall. what really caught my attention was the fact that looking at the mural it depicted the buildings and statue facing it. I thought "wow, cool" but didn't know why it was like that.
Fast forward a few days, I'm on the tour.... The tour guide takes us into the city hall and has us look up through the slats in the roof at this mural. He points out the three locations depicted on the mural: the supreme court, the governmental offices building and a poor neighborhood in the middle. Running through the middle is a river. Now it all appears black and white, but originally it was red. The redness signifies blood. The mural represents the plight of the poor. This mural is from the 1970's and stands still today as a reminder.....















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Location:Santiago, Chile

A pack a day

Flying over Santiago, as I said in an earlier post - I thought I was seeing a beautiful fog over the city, but actually it was smog.
Walking around in town, you don't see it from the ground level, but oh you feel it...... I sneezed frequently and my eyes were irritated at times.
When I watched the sunset from above, I could see it settling over the city. The night sky lit up in beautiful colors - pollutants do that to a sunset/sunrise!






During the tour our tour guide talked about the smog. He told us that breathing the air in Santiago is like smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.
Then he told us the following (joke?):
Why do so many Santiagans smoke?
Because they need the cigarette filter to filter out the pollutants in the air!

But after it rains, the air is crisp and the sky is clear - these days provide a short relief and allow the blue skies above to be seen....
Santiago is lovely - smog or no!


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Location:Santiago, Chile

Sunset on the beach

Living next to the beach I try and take advantage of it.....the sound of the waves, the beauty of the water and the amazing sunsets. I have 2 weeks of this privilege. Oh it is amazing.





My favorite time of day is sunset. The sun begins it's descent and the water is painted orange. Despite the cold, the beach is alive...kids play soccer barefoot. In the sand, vendors sell their wares, couples cuddle up to each other, tourists take photos and locals run along the shore. A brave few (or a crazy few) go in the water...
The water is painted orange, blue and white. The horizon begins to glow. Birds circle overhead in the sky that is becoming deep blue - almost the color of a sunny summer's day. Occasionally birds dive into the frigid water for food. The sun sinks. Ships come in and out of view on the horizon, gliding silently in and out of view. They are barges, laden with cargo containers bound for ports unknown. As I look at them, a familiar tune passes through my head
.....out of my window looking in the night, I can see the barges flickering light....barges I would like to go with you, I would like to sail the ocean blue......
Crash! The sound of the strong waves cresting brings me back to the scene at hand. Crash! The waves pound the shore as the sunsets further. The water no longer has an intense line of orange, but rather a general orange tint. The horizon glows orange, more and more intensely. The sky is darkening, blue slowly changing to black.
The people begin to depart, the lights on shore twinkle more intensely, the sky glows bright, but almost suddenly, as if someone blew out a candle, the sky is dark, and I am left with the sound of the waves and the lights of the barges and of the city behind me. Sun has set on another day in Viña del Mar, Chile.












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Location:San Martín,Viña del Mar,Chile

Coffee with legs

A quick story from my tour in Santiago ......
Coffee in Chile is, well, quite bad! It is almost always instant - and I even had a mug of "Cafe con Leche" that was microwaved so long, I had to peel off the hardened skin of milk to be able to drink it!
Well on our tour, the tour guide admitted to the fact that coffee in Chile is pretty darn bad. Then he drew our attention to some nice looking coffee shops in downtown Santiago. One example of which is Cafe Haiti. He told us tha these nicer looking coffee shops still "brewed" the same Nescafé, but they charged more for it... So what is the draw you may wonder - why would anyone pay 3 to 4 times as much there?!?!?
The answer is "Cafe con Piernes" or "coffee with legs" .....
These shops hire young, pretty women to serve. Back in the 1920's til about the 50's at an 'unofficial' set time of the day, the shop would be crowded with businessmen being served by these women.... Then the owner would lock the door and draw the curtains for a minute or two or maybe five. The shop was closed and during this "happy minute" as it was known, those leggy waitresses would do a quick strip routine on the tables of the coffee shop. Then the music stopped, they got dressed, the curtains were opened, the door unlock and it was back to business as usual.....coffee with legs
Now the question is, do they still do this today? I don't think so, but the history of the cafe certainly draws in many individuals to drink overpriced really bad instant coffee. Of course, if you are reading this and really want to find out firsthand - then come visit Santiago!


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Location:Santiago, Chile

Santiago....4.5 great days!

FIRST IMPRESSION
I flew into Santiago just as the sun was coming up. The whole flight had been bumpy - but I had three seats to myself so I slept some. As we began to sink for landing, the Andés came into view. I looked out the window of the plane and saw what I thought was fog settling around the villages below. It was an amazing sight, the ground seemed to shimmer and sparkle as the sun poked it's head out over the clouds. I would later learn it was actually smog.....









TO BRAZIL?????
Santiago is huge, but well connected. The central downtown area is easily walkable as are all the barrios around. Between the metro and my own two feet I covered ALOT of ground.
But my first task was finding the Brazilian consulate - so that I could get a visa for my trip to Brazil mid-July..... I found it on a map and went to the San Lucia metro station - I left the station and began walking. I couldn't find the right street, but I found a Chilean government office and asked security there. They pointed me in another direction.... And their directions took me to a police station.....the officers there gave me directions to a theater and at the theater a random woman outside gave me directions to a shopping area. Obviously no one knew. I looked on the map again, oriented myself and headed off in that direction. As it was well hidden, I actually walked past it several times - but now I know *exactly* where it is! Once that was taken care of, it was time to be a tourist...

AROUND TOWN:
There is so much to see and do in Santiago! On the first day I went to Plaza del Armas (central part of town), San Lucia hill - great lookout, and Las Monedas (governmental offices). I also walked across the Mapucho river to the San Francisco Cathedral and through the nearby barrios (neighborhoods). My couch-surfing host, Pato took me around his barrio. I loved the 1920's feel of the area and the graffiti murals around the area. Especially clever was the one of cats waiting to pounce on fish in the sea. Near and dear to my heart was the one for Guias and Scouts. It has the WAGGGS logo!












My second day I slept in a bit later than planned and missed the tour I was going to take - oh well! So instead I went back to Plaza del Armas and to the main post office. This was the fanciest post office I've ever seen! After getting some stamps for postcards, I realized it had a museum inside of it. I've been to the postal museum in Washington DC before and am just enough of a nerd to like it! So my first tourist attraction of the day was the postal museum. I mean it was interesting to look at, but only the first room was actually translated into English and I was just too lazy to spend time reading every Spanish caption. (Although it is worth mentioning that I have spoken very little English or German since landing in Santiago - I am doing a decent job of communicating in Spanish.) Then I met up with Pato and we went to eat - I had fish and my first pisco sour (yum!) He took me to the fish market, the fruits and vegetable market (my favorite) and a textile market. It was all really amazing to see!













My third day I finally made it on that tour! The tour guide was great (I think some of his comments are worthy of their own post) and I really learned a lot about Santiago. Plus in the middle of the tour, there was a stop - for pisco sours! That evening I switched to my new couch-surfing hosts, Mario and Jessica. They treated me to an amazing meal that Mario cooked: oysters with lemon juice, muscles with cheese baked over them, soup made of Congrio (a traditional fish) cooked in a clay pot and oh yes, more pisco sours..... Amazing!






My fourth and final day as a tourist in Santiago, Jessica and Connie showed me around to some of the places I'd not yet been. We started out at Los Dominicos church - but it was closed, however the market next to it was not... Lots of great craft items. Plus there I enjoyed the Chilean version of sopapillas. Whereas the ones we get in Texas are flour-based, pillow shaped and meant to be filled with honey; the Chilean ones are round, flat corn cakes. I ate mine bare, but they can be topped with cheese or beans. Loved em!





Then we went to the zoo. I've been to the world's highest zoo before - in the Alps in Austria, but as this one was up on a hillside within the Andés, it must be up there among the highest. It was a cool zoo with great views of the city.









After the zoo, we rode the funicular further up to San Cristobol. At the top is a statue of the virgin Mary. Think of the famous one in Rio - then reduce it in size.... We watched the sunset from the top and then rode the funicular back down. Before returning to their house, we walked through the artsy Bellavista Barrio. Un día perfecto!











GOING TO THE DOGS????
Santiago has street dogs EVERYWHERE! Some of them are cute and small, others look mean and large. They live nowhere and everywhere. They belong to no one and everyone. Literally. The Santiagans feed the dogs and even provide some of them with jackets. But no one takes them in. The dogs know their place, they do not bark or attack. They follow runners, but only to join in the run. They do not beg, but they accept gratefully. When walking by, they pretty much ignore you. The dogs are everywhere - but cats are almost non-existent....



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Location:Santiago, Chile