Another Country - Another Tour

Friday 9 February

We were both woken around 04.30 this morning – Colin, I think, a little before me. I was aware of the windows rattling loudly and the bed and whole room shaking gently. Colin said later that it was soft droning noise that woke him – a bit like a distant drill. This was a minor earth tremor, such as Daniel had told us about on our expedition – but it was all a little disconcerting at the time, as you wondered just how large this tremor would be. In this instance, it probably only lasted fifteen seconds or so, but that was quite scary enough. We had moved the mirror out of the bathroom to be near a plug for the hairdryer, so it was balanced on the radiator – luckily the shaking wasn’t strong enough to send it crashing to the floor. In the morning we looked around the bedroom and the dining room at breakfast and there were several shelves with pottery and ornaments, and lots of pictures and photos hanging on the walls – so we assume that the tremors here are not usually strong enough to displace any of these.

We then slept till the alarm rang. We had to have an early breakfast today, as a taxi was coming to take us back to La Serena airport, to fly to Santiago – not our most favourite place. The morning was very cool until the sun came up over the mountains – usually around 08.30, just before we would be leaving - so we had to eat our meal indoors – more rolls and apricot jam! The long, winding journey to La Serena was very quiet – the driver didn’t speak any English, and Colin was not very comfortable in the back of the car – we needed to use the front seat for a suitcase, as all our luggage wouldn’t fit in the boot of the taxi. Halfway through the journey Colin discovered he still had the key to our room in his pocket!!!

We arrived at the airport around 11.00 and were able to make the driver understand our plight with the key – his face lit up in a big grin when he understood what we were trying to say, and he took the key - I think he was trying to tell us he would return it – let’s hope so.

Lots of people were milling around the departures hall by the time we arrived, but we soon booked in – no trouble with the luggage as I had managed to get my case down to 22 kgs and Colin’s is only a few grams over the 20 kgs limit – but our hand luggage is bulging!. Soon after midday the plane arrived, disembarked its passengers and we were boarding. The flight only took 45 minutes, and we were fed another bag of mini ham flavoured breadsticks and a soft drink. The “trolley dollies” have their work cut out to even complete handing these snacks out and collecting the resulting rubbish before the captain is announcing landing in just a few minutes. A guide was there to meet us, and took us speedily away to our hotel – about half and hour’s drive to the centre of the city. We were staying at the Crown Park Plaza, a five star hotel – perhaps like other tours they use the best hotels as the first and last stopping places! Our room was very nice – largish with all the accoutrements - though strangely we were only provided with one toweling bath robe and one pair of slippers!

We decided to explore the city a little, find a telephone to speak to the parents, and then look for a laundry. The telephone was easy – there are several options in the main thoroughfare, Avenue Providencia, where there are lots of shops, department stores and cafes. I did look in at a couple of hairdressers, to see about getting my hair cut, but no one spoke English, and I was a bit wary of leaving the cut and style to them – they were all into “brushing” in a big way, which costs about half the price of a cut! - I suppose that because all the ladies out here wear their hair long. We had been given a street map, which showed laundries (!), but on exploring we walked around for some time (missing the sign very high up on the wall) and returned to the hotel determined to try again tomorrow.

The hotel is situated in a tranquil tree lined street, with other hotels, very large expensive apartment blocks and a couple of Embassies. Everywhere there are tall gates with key pads for entry, grilles at the windows and doors, making the buildings look like fortresses. All the streets in Santiago seem to be one way, and the traffic is only manic in the main streets where there are lots of buses adding to the congestion. There is a metro system here, which apparently is a good way of traveling around, and while we were walking in the main street, one train passed underneath us – there are huge metal grilles in the pavement, obviously leading directly down to the rails, and the noise as the train passed was quite deafening. Everywhere you go in Santiago you can see the high peaks of the Andes surrounding the city, almost like the bowl of La Paz, except much larger. The city is expanding all the time, but so far still has plenty of room in the wide valley.

When we returned to the hotel, we managed to purchase a code for internet connection and spent an hour posting blogs and answering emails. It was then time for drinks in the bar and dinner. I changed into a “posh frock” tonight – the first time since arriving in South America – and found the other guests were all similarly attired! We enjoyed a welcome drink of “pisco sour” – still without the egg whites, but whisked so much in the blender that it had a frothy top – in the small, almost intimate bar – there was only just enough room to get chairs round the small tables, and it was quite cramped. Dinner was served in the formal dining room and we chose from a large menu – there was a buffet option, but we thought we might be getting a lot of buffets on the tour! We chose salmon and trout carpaccio with lamb for Colin, and prawn and scallop cerviche, followed by duck for me. There was a huge choice of Chilean wines, and we selected a very fruity Cabernet Sauvignon. Because the service was so formal, dinner was quite a protracted affair, and it took well over two hours to munch our way through two courses. But the food was delicious, well cooked and presented. We had nothing else to do once we had eaten, but to retire to bed. Tomorrow we meet the rest of the tour group and we had a note from Mike Brady, the leader, to say he would be taking the group on a tour of the city at 13.30 – which gives us the morning to find that laundry!