South America: Feb. 3 - Apr. 1, 2017. Part three: Chile

The boat docked bright and early in Valparaiso, the first stage of our Chilean adventure.   Sunny, warm weather greeted us, a welcome change from the damp cold of our sea voyage.  We quickly taxied to our funky hotel (Da Vinci), where we ran into Cathy and Gerry, our trivia teammates.  The hotel is in a terrific location on a steep street (there aren't any other kinds) in the heart of the "street art" neighbourhood.  Our room was rather "different", as my father used to say when he was being polite about something he didn't particularly care for.  The room had a twin bed on the main floor and a steep (there's that word again) staircase up to the loft which housed the other twin bed and the bathroom.  The ceiling on the upper level was very low, so Jeff opted to use the lower twin and I slept in the lofty upper.  The staff at the hotel were so wonderful (Suzanne was ill most of the time we were in Valpo and they took good care of her), and the breakfast was great, so one night of minor discomfort was not a problem.


Speaking of problems ... after checking in, the four of us wandered around, had lunch, and were biding our time in a busy square, when suddenly someone stuck his hand in Jeff's front pocket, and ran off with about $20!  Jeff dropped his backpack and tried to run after them, with me running after Jeff.  Chaos and arguments ensued.  I almost packed it in right there, but we cooled off, collected our wits, and decided to chalk it up to a bad experience.  We were more insulted than anything, I think, since we are careful travellers.  Luckily, the thief chose the wrong pocket - his other front pocket held the $100 Jeff had just withdrawn from an ATM as well as his credit and bank cards.

The day was saved by our walking tour - Tours4Tips.  Our "Wally" guide led us up and down staircases, alleyways, funiculars, and steep roads.  Valparaiso is built on 42 hills (no, we didn't climb all of them).  Amazing street art!  The murals/street art culture was started by Pablo Neruda, Diego Rivera, and their cronies.  Three hours of fun.  Aside from petty crime, Valparaiso is a very cool place to visit.

We stopped to sample alfajores, a local confection.
And we loved the vintage fire truck in the volunteer fire department.

Dinner with Cathy, Gerry, Suzanne, and Robert at Via Via.  Excellent food and pisco sours.

The following day, Jeff and I  did a second Tours4Tips tour along with Cathy and Gerry.  This walk highlights "offbeat Valparaiso".  A local bus transported us up the hills where we spent three hours walking and learning about the sad history of Chile.  One of our stops was the infamous prison (built in 1917), designed to hold 400 prisoners.  During the time of Pinochet's junta (which began on 9/11/73 when the Chilean fleet was pointed at Valparaiso), up to 1000 political prisoners were kept there, tortured and beaten.  The prison was finally closed in 1998, and the facility is now used as a cultural and artistic centre.  How ironic.  I suppose I was too self-absorbed in the 70s to pay any attention to what was happening in South America, but so much of the CIA's involvement in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia was hush-hush, that the truth was not evident until decades later.

Later that afternoon, the six of us shared a minivan to Santiago.  We checked into Vilafranca Petit Hotel, our favourite of the entire trip.  The hotel is located in the leafy university neighbourhood of Providencia, with restaurants, bars, banks, services, and the metro nearby.  The owner of the hotel was extremely lovely and helpful.  Highly recommended!

Santiago was a breath of fresh air compared with Buenos Aires.  Wide boulevards, clean, and lots of green space.  It is certainly more prosperous and modern than BA.  Perhaps our positive view of the city had something to do with the location of our hotel, but overall, the city is really beautiful and much more modern.  It has a tower that made us stop in our tracks - it looks exactly like IFC One in Hong Kong!  Of course, both buildings are designed by the Argentinian architect, César Pelli, who also designed the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

The following morning, we joined a free walking tour.  Tours4Tips has guides in Santiago, but we opted for a different company.  At our meeting spot in front of the cathedral, we were happy to run into Rob and Cathy, Canadian friends from the boat (we exercised together at 7 am each morning).  After an hour, we had had enough of the tour, and escaped to do our own thing.





What we liked in Santiago:

Libraries in the park and in the big Metro stations.

Statues of Pedro de Valdivia (the founder of Santiago) and  Salvador Allende (whose death was claimed to be a suicide ...).

The Museum of Memory and Human Rights.  Very disturbing, but very important to the education of the next generations of Chileans.  We spent several hours going through the excellent exhibits which detailed the rise of the junta under Pinochet and the ensuing murderous years.  Chile has put its tragic past into perspective, in the same way that Germany has confronted the Holocaust.  The museum honours those who perished, and does not in any way extol the Pinochet government or its allies (CIA).

Museo Ralli in the swanky neighbourhood of Vitacura (gated homes with servants entrances at the back; the only people on the street were "helpers" walking dogs).  This is one of five Ralli Museums sponsored by the Harry Recanati Foundation.  Mr. Recanati was born in Salonica, Greece, and made his fortunes as the head of the Israel Discount Bank which had been founded by his father.  The collection in Santiago features gorgeous pieces by famous Latin American artists, as well as sculptures by Dalí and paintings by Magritte and Chagall.  We are looking forward to visiting the Ralli in Marbella this winter.

Teatro Municipal - an excellent concert by the Orquesta Filarmonica de Santiago.

Cerro San Cristobal.  Funicular up the hill to view the statue of the Virgin Mary.  As I walked back (6 km), I was treated to beautiful views of the city.

Pre-Colombian Museum.  I have to confess that I left Jeff at this excellent museum for a few hours, and had coffee at a nearby Starbucks while he toured the collection.  He has a much bigger appreciation for ancient artefacts than I.

Cerro Santa Lucia.  Peaceful walk up a shaded path.  Old fortress, old church, and good views.

The most special moments in Santiago were shared with old friends and acquaintances.  On the Friday evening, we took an Uber (well, maybe it was just a random driver that our hotel owner arranged) to attend Shabbat services with Diego, our Chazan from Hong Kong, who is now the Rabbi of a very warm, welcoming community in Santiago.  We almost didn't make it to our destination:  the driver's GPS ran out of juice, so he had to use my phone (which was also running out of juice).  Then he made a wrong turn, and Jeff had to redirect him.  To top it off, he ran out of gas and had to refill.  We paid him half the agreed amount, and he didn't argue.  Services were terrific - Diego is famous for his Latin melodies, and we sang along.  Diego and Laila hosted us for dinner afterwards, and it was great meeting two-year-old Hannah.

The next day, we had an excellent dinner with Carolina, Jorge,  Augustin, and Benjamin, friends of our daughter and her family.  They live in a beautiful home in the suburbs.  Lots of security - gated home in a gated community, as well as two fierce-looking German shepherds.  Carolina prepared lots of Chilean specialties, but the best part was the pitcher of pisco sours.  So glad I wasn't driving!

The Atacama Desert
A three-day side trip from Santiago.   Another early morning - up at 3:30 for a 4 am taxi to the airport.  Flight to Calama, met by our taxi driver (he was operating on mañana time), and an hour later we were in the dusty town of San Pedro.  We literally dropped our bags at the hotel's reception, and dashed into town to find the Tours4Tips that was beginning five minutes later.  Made it!

Our guide was a young university graduate who recounted the modern history of this place.  In the 1950s, a Belgian priest found traces of an ancient civilization (including mummies, ceramics, and textiles).  He kept these findings in disarray, and did not turn them over to the Chilean authorities.  Very controversial.  We also learned that the Atacama region was won by Chile in the War of the Pacific (1879-84).  Bolivia was allied with Peru against Chile.  Chile was victorious, claimed the resource-rich Atacama, and Bolivia became a land-locked country.  However, Bolivia still has a navy which patrols Lake Titicaca.  Many of the inhabitants of San Pedro are of Bolivian descent.  Most of the cheap souvenirs in San Pedro are made in Bolivia.
We passed by a brand-new soccer field.  Although there are only 5,000 inhabitants, San Pedro boasts 20 boys teams and 16 girls teams!

We had a magnificent late afternoon tour of Valle de Luna et Muerte.  Absolutely spectacular. It also included a steep climb, which made me very happy.

The next day was also interesting, and filled with more wondrous sites.  A small town with an old church (the statue of Jesus is in a small room off the chapel, unlike most places where it's front and centre).  Salt flats (Salar de Atacama).  Lagoons with flamingoes.  High altitude, lots of mountains, and lots of vicuna.

A not-so-good day followed.  Jeff's allergies (to what we don't know) kicked in.  We had to be up at 4 am yet again.  Sleep-deprived and very grumpy.  Bus to to the geysers to see the sunrise.  The geysers were not interesting (we've seen better in Iceland - yes, spoken like a bored traveller), and there was no "sunrise", since the geysers are completely surrounded by mountains.  Plus, it was really cold!

Later that day, on the way to the airport, I asked the driver to stop at the Disappeared Memorial about 15 km from Calama.  People were tortured and murdered here during the junta - in a deserted area where no-one could bear witness.





We returned to Santiago for one more day before journeying onto our final destination: Peru.

A memorable last supper in a beautiful city at Bar Liguria.  The food was excellent, the decor was kitchy, and we were serenaded by a band of oldsters who played tango music and other favourites.  As we were leaving, the band struck up Auld Lang Syne, a fitting departure to our trip.