Cold in Santiago

Cold in Santiago

Wednesday, Feb. 1, Santiago, Chile

Everywhere I have been in Chile so far has been cold at night and until about 1:00 p.m. This is summer here, so I am surprised about that. I guess it´s the winds coming off the Pacific Ocean. I can´t put on my windbreaker or my jacket because of my hand being too big with the splint. So every day I have to just be cold until the sun comes out and it warms up in the afternoon.

It was a long bus trip from Vicuna to Santiago. Next to me was a young man who was mostly still, but it was still difficult to sleep for long. I really didn´t rest.

We arrived here at 6:30 a.m. I took the metro to the area of the Hotel Paris which both my guidebooks recommended (but which they said there could be a problem during the summer months getting a room). I lucked out. All they had was a double, but the man let me have it at a bit of a discount. I am paying a little more than for a single room, but I have a big bed to stretch out on. So I´m happy. It´s a central location making it easy for me to come and go and to get to anywhere I want to go in town.

I was so tired that I went to bed immediately. I slept about two hours. Then I forced myself to get up and explore. I stayed outdoors, though. I knew I was too tired to concentrate on exhibits at a museum. I returned to the hotel area at 2:00 for lunch, took another 2-hour nap, and then went out to explore another area. Lunch was great--the menu executivo at a place full of people. It included the salad bar (one trip only), the main course (I had roast beef with mashed potatoes which is what 90% of everyone there was having), juice, and a choice of desserts (I had flan).

Santiago is a nice city. It´s clean and modern. It could be in Europe or the U.S. There is a problem with too many people in the center, however. It has pedestrian-only shopping streets, a nice old market, wonderful buildings from the late 1800s, various styles of neighborhoods, etc. It is difficult to walk down the sidewalks with so many people on them even though the walks are very wide. It´s a case of constantly trying to avoid bumping into people. Tuesday, I wandered the downtown area and the Belavista area (the more bohemian area with narrow streets and lots of nightlife but nothing much happening in the daytime).

I took a pile of laundry to a place near my hotel. I´ll pick it up this afternoon and have a nice clean wardrobe to begin wearing. I almost bought some new clothes in La Serena the other day. Two big department stores were having sales with nice polo shirts for $3-8 and with shorts, swimsuits, etc., also on sale. But I would have had to throw away something, and everything I am wearing is still quite nice.

Being so tired last night, I just ate hotdogs (bun, hot dog, chopped tomato, mashed avocado, dashes of hot sauce) near the hotel and went to bed early. And even with that, I am still feeling tired today.

I spent this morning doing two things. I watched the changing of the guard at the Presidential Palace. Like all such ceremonies I´ve seen, I found it to be too slow and boring. Even the band that was playing played as if it were half dead! Then I walked nearby to the Museum of Pre-Colombian Artifacts. It´s fantastic. Every item is of high quality, and they have items representing what seems to be all civilizations from Mexico to the tip of South America. I spent about 3 hours there wishing I could do it in parts returning daily for several days.

I had a big lunch today. It started with a tomato and onion salad. Tomatoes are so tasty here, since it is summer. Then I had pastel de choclo again. Unfortunatly, it wasn´t as good as the one I had the other day. I had a glass of juice and fruit salad for dessert.

Now, I plan to return to my hotel room to rest. I am tired.