December 20, 2005
Day 83

I started my day by making my way to the Plaza de Armas again. After sitting on a park bench and soaking in my surroundings for awhile, I decided that it was time to do something slightly more productive. I took the lazy man's choice and went to the Museo Historico Nacional, located right on the Plaza. The museum was really big and contained a detailed history of Chile. I finally found out why every town seemed to have streets named "O'Higgins," "Pratt," and "Montt:" They were all war heroes. I also found out that nearly all of them were executed by a firing squad. Winning battles and getting killed appeared to be the secret formula for success in Chile.

The only other big attraction in Santiago that I had heard about that wasn't a museum was the zoo, so I went there next. It was a lot bigger and better than the zoo I had seen in Oruro, Bolivia. At least there were no house cats on display this time. This zoo featured animals from all over the world including lions, monkeys, elephants, lizards, and birds, but most of them were rather lethargic in the Santiago summer heat. I had read that animals escaped from there constantly, to the point that they had the police department's number on speed dial. I kind of liked the idea of being on the set of Jumanji, but unfortunately, it didn't happen today. In fact, I think even if some liberator had opened all of the cages in the zoo and invited the animals to come out and play, most of them would have simply peered up momentarily before returning to their slumber.

When I returned home from the zoo, I got antsy to see something completely unlike anything I had ever seen in the States, so I headed out to the Alto Las Condes shopping mall. Dubbed the "Most Modern Mall In South America," I figured it would be straight out of The Jetsons. Instead, it was more like the zoo I had just come from. Thousands of shoppers eager to get their last-minute gifts had piled into the mall, reminding me once again that Christmas was near. It's still difficult for me to get into a festive mood considering that it's the middle of summer here. I didn't feel like competing with the crazy parents in their frantic bids to find something their kids would like, so I took the long walk back home without buying anything.

Tonight, four guys from Brazil joined me at Katty's place. It was strange to hear her suddenly switch to Portuguese when talking to them. The Portuguese language is frustrating for me because it always seems so close, yet so far away. Half of the words are almost identical to Spanish, but the other half are completely different. I understood the gist of their conversation, but when it came to speaking it, I had no idea where to start. I think some Portuguese classes will be in order once I get to Brazil.

The photo album for this entry is here.

December 19, 2005
Day 82

This afternoon I met Morad and Helene at their hotel. We walked down a long pedestrian walkway to the Plaza de Armas. The entire path was crowded with thousands of people. It was hard to believe that it was even possible for that many people to be in the same small space at the same time, but somehow everyone managed to avoid crashing into everyone else on their way to business meetings, shopping excursions, and leisurely lunches near the Plaza.

Finally, we swam through the sea of people far enough to make it to the Plaza de Armas, at the heart of the city of over five million. It was over 30 degrees Celsius (85 Fahrenheit) without a cloud in the sky, and I needed to get some shade before turning into a lobster. We stepped into a small cafe for some lunch. It was a pleasant place to eat until an employee played some songs on the loud, annoying jukebox located right by us. There must be a law here that you're not allowed to go more than two minutes without being subjected to having one of a handful of popular songs being blared into your ears. Still, given the choice of either being baked to a crisp in the relentless sunlight, or having to listen to the "gasolina" song for the ten billionth time, the restaurant was a no-brainer.

After lunch, we took the metro over to Cerro San Cristobal, which overlooked the city from the foothills of the Andes. An ascensor pulled us and a bunch of other tourists to the top of the hill. At the peak of the Cerro, the temperature was noticeably cooler, and the gentle breeze finally provided some relief to my dehydrated body. A great view of the city accompanied the mild climate, and I could even see all the way to the horizon, something I didn't think would be possible due to the high levels of smog I kept hearing about. For a change of pace, the virgin Mary guarded the city instead of Jesus, making the cerro visit worthwhile in all aspects.

After we descended the hill, Morad, Helene, and I met Pablo, one of the crazy Chileans with whom we sang karaoke two nights ago, for a drink in Bellavista. Morad and Helene had to catch a flight to New Zealand in a few hours, so the reunion was a short one. Besides New Zealand, they are going to travel around Australia, southeast Asia, and India for the next several months to finish their round the world tour. We said our goodbyes, and I made my way home.

I heard the Green Bay Packers were going to play on Monday Night Football, and Katty had cable TV, so I figured it would be a good idea to watch the game tonight. That was a really bad decision. I quit watching when they were down 14-0 after the first five minutes. It was just too painful to see how bad the once great team had become. I don't think they'll be playing on Monday night again for a long time.

December 18, 2005
Day 81

Considering that I was out until 6:00 AM today, I didn't get much done. I slept until noon, but that still wasn't enough. I called Morad at his hotel, and he wanted to get together later, but that never happened. I did take a long walk through the neighborhood, which is very nice, and I got a few blog entries and photo albums taken care of, but that was about it for the day. Otherwise, it was a day of rest.

December 17, 2005
Day 80

Before I left Vina del Mar, Shannon and Cote felt that they should give me a little reminder of home, so we went to Ruby Tuesday's. It's an American restaurant like Applebee's, TGI Friday's, Chotchkie's, and Shenanigan's. There was lots of flare everywhere, and there was even an NBA game on TV. Just like at home! I got a big juicy BBQ cheesburger and fries, and then I found out about the best part of the restaurant: free refills on soda! It was a great way to say goodbye to a town I really enjoyed visiting.

In the afternoon, I took a bus to Santiago. The capitol city is about 90 minutes from Vina, and the area between the cities is filled with vineyards. Somehow, I had always pictured Valparaiso being a suburb of Santiago, but it's actually quite far away.

When I got to Santiago, I took the metro all the way across town. It was really nice and clean, and it felt safe, unlike some of the other metros I've visited. I had to change to a brand new line toward the end of my trip. It looked like it came straight off the set of Star Wars.

I'm staying with Katty, who has a great apartment in Las Condes, an upscale neighborhood just outside of central Santiago. Katty is another great CouchSurfing host. I'm officially hooked on the website now. Katty had to do some major studying for an exam, so I left her alone to go and explore the town.

A month or so ago, Morad, who I had traveled with for the first three weeks of my trip, returned to South America. He worked his way across the continent from Buenos Aires, and he was now in Santiago with his girlfriend, Helene. I went to meet him at his hotel room.

Morad and I did some catching up, and he told me that some friends from Santiago that he had met in Buenos Aires were going to meet him tonight as well. They turned out to be really fun people, and we spent several hours hanging out in Bellavista, a trendy neighborhood with lots of bars with outdoor seating. Eventually, we went to a karaoke bar, where we proceeded to slaughter a dozen or so pop songs in both English and Spanish. I had a great time, and it was a good way to begin my stay in Santiago.

Santiago Photos
Karaoke Photos

December 16, 2005
Day 79

I only wanted to stay in the area for one more day, and considering that I hadn't even seen Valparaiso yet, my decision for what to do today was easy. As soon as I got done eating breakfast (around noon), I hopped on a bus to take me to Valparaiso, which borders Vina del Mar.

Right away, I noticed that Valparaiso had a very different feel to it than Vina. The city was much dirtier and everything seemed older. It was as if the city passed a law around 1950 that nothing new could be built there from that point on.

The main attractions in Valparaiso are the ascensors. Built around 100 years ago to take citizens to the top of the hills surrounding the bay, the ascensors are rickety old elevators that are still being used today. The first ascensor I rode was called "Lecheros." I paid a little money, got in a large wooden cart, and was carried to the top of the hill. There was a decent view of the city, so I walked around a bit and went back down. I didn't see what the excitement of riding it was.

Next, I went to Ascensor Polanco, the only one that is totally vertical. I had to walk through a long, damp tunnel with water leaking all over just to get to the entrance. This ascensor was no different than an actual elevator as I went straight up, looked around a bit, and went straight back down. For me, the tunnel leading up to it was better than the actual elevator.

I was a little sick of going up and down hills all day, so I walked to the center of town next. Cote had recommended a restaurant called Cruz Malbran to me, and even though it was at the end of a seedy-looking alley, I found it without much trouble. I was told that it was more like a museum than a restaurant, but once I saw all the decorations on the walls, I immediately thought it could've been the first restaurant that the founder of Applebee's opened back in the early 20th century. I got their standard lunch, which was a huge plate with meat on top of onions on top of eggs on top of French fries. It tasted great at first, but so much grease had dripped to the bottom that midway through eating, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I just couldn't eat/drink the whole thing.

Right next to the restaurant was the natural history museum, so I poked my head inside. There were a few animal skeletons and aquariums, but it was pretty much the same thing as the top floor of the Fonck museum that I visited yesterday. Still, I figured I might as well go as long as I was there.

I decided that I still had a little time left before I had to go back to Vina, so I went up one more ascensor called "El Peral." This was by far the best-looking one I had seen all day, but it was also the most touristy. At the top of the hill, there were a lot of big houses along with cafes and hotels for tourists. I also noticed that I could see all the way across the bay to the buildings I'm staying in. I felt rather proud that I was actually able to find something without having to ask where it was a million times.

Valparaiso was a very old-fashioned city, but not in a good way. When your main attractions for tourists are a bunch of old elevators, it's time to build some new attractions. A lot of people seem to be hellbent on preserving the city, but why even bother when it was just a poor, rundown, dirty place to begin with?

The photo album for this entry is here.

December 14, 2005
Day 77

I got into Viña del Mar very early today, exhausted from my overnight bus ride. I took a walk around town and discovered what a charming place it is. Located on the coast, Viña has lots of beach resorts, parks, a casino owned by the city, and the biggest shopping mall in South America. Among many other things, the mall contains a huge Wal-Mart like store that has 68 checkout lines! I couldn't believe how big everything was there.

I decided to try couchsurfing again, and just like last time, it has been a great experience. Shannon, from California, and Cote, from Chile, are a young married couple living in a nice condo on top of a hill with a great view of Viña del Mar and Valparaiso. They almost constantly host people. In fact, a girl from Argentina named Juliana is also staying there now. In February, Shannon and Cote will begin their own RTW trip, beginning with Easter Island.

I was too tired to do much of anything today other than walk around town for a bit, so I just had a relaxing evening with Shannon, Cote, and Juliana, and called it a night early.

Viña del Mar Photos
Condo Photos

December 13, 2005
Day 76

Vicuna sits at the gateway to the Elqui valley, a region of Chile famous for making pisco, the national drink. This morning, I bought a bus pass to go to a few towns in the valley, eager to take a tour of a pisco distillery and sample some free pisco.

My first stop was Pisco Elqui, a village of about 500 people that is surrounded by vineyards and mountains. It felt like I was in Italy than Chile when I saw how many grapes were growing all around me. I walked around the central square for a bit and went to the Solar de Pisco Elqui, Chile's oldest distillery. Unfortunately, the distillery was closed to the public due to remodeling. Undeterred by this unfortunate occurrence, I decided to go to Los Nichos, a private distillery 4 KM outside of town.

When I got to Los Nichos, I was given a free tour of the small, family owned distillery. First, I was shown the pisco being bottled and labeled. Next, I was led to the wine cellar, where hundreds of bottles of 100-year-old wine were being stored. When I asked how much they were worth, the girl giving me the tour only would tell me "a lot." I wasn't aware that they also made wine, but it made sense when I found out because both pisco and wine are made from grapes. Next, I saw about six kegs where the pisco was aged to perfection. I asked why they made so little pisco, to which the girl responded "lower quantity means higher quality." This was confirmed to me a few minutes later when I got to try some of their pisco and wine. It had a great strong-yet-sweet flavor. I was impressed enough to buy a bottle of it, anyway.

It was getting late, so I started making my way back to Vicuna after visiting the distillery. However, I still had enough time to make one more stop at Montegrande. The town was the childhood home of Nobel Prize winner Gabriela Mistral, a fact which became obvious as soon as I saw the town. Absolutely everything in town was named after her: restaurants, hotels, the main square, the church, and I think even her tomb bore her namesake. I had never heard of her before today, but after seeing her name plastered everywhere, I still felt the need to saunter around town for a few hours to respect her memory.

I originally just left La Serena to see the observatory and head back the same night. The only reason I stayed in Vicuna overnight was because I wouldn't be able to catch a bus back to La Serena when the tour ended at 1:00 in the morning. Still, I'm glad I was able to spend some time in the area. It's full of some beautiful scenery and has a great small-town atmosphere to it. Of course, getting to drink free wine and pisco in itself made visiting the area worthwhile.

After visiting Montegrande, I began a long night of riding buses. I had to ride a bus back to Vicuna, pick up all of my stuff, ride another bus to La Serena, then catch an overnight bus to Vina del Mar, which is next to Valparaiso. I know I've said this before, but Chile is so big that getting anywhere seems to require riding a bus for at least eight hours.

The photo album for this entry is here.

December 12, 2005
Day 75

About the elections:

Chile probably has the most stable government in all of South America, so there were no roadblocks or riots from yesterday's election. In fact, it looks like Chile will have its first ever female president next year. I say "looks like" because they have to have a runoff election in January because nobody got over fifty percent of the vote. It seems strange to me because the woman got forty five percent, and the other two major candidates got around twenty five percent each, yet another election will still be required.

A lot of people here seem mad because they have to cancel their vacation plans to vote in the runoff. Everyone who's over 18 is eligible to register to vote, but once they do, they are required by law to vote in every election from that point on. They also have to vote in the city in which they registered, so the people who were going to be on vacation at the beginning of January have to cancel their plans to so they can come home and vote. I guess that also explains why the buses were still running yesterday, even though everything else was closed.

About my day:

Early in the afternoon, I took a bus to Vicuna, which is about an hour inland from La Serena. The main reason I decided to go there was because it was near Marmalluca, the only pubic space observatory in Chile. The area has a small population and enjoys 300 clear nights per year, which makes it perfect for looking at the sky. I signed up for a tour of Marmalluca as soon as I got situated in town.

At around 10:00 PM, after the sun was long gone, my tour began. I was loaded into a van with six or so other people, and we drove up a large hill near town to the observatory. Our guide, who was also an amateur astronomer, led us into the dome-shaped building where the telescope was. On the walk to the dome, I noticed that it was so dark, I could barely see the path in front of me, despite the fact that the moon was nearly full. Light pollution is the main concern of the observatory, so there are virtually no lights in the area.

When we got to the top of the dome, our guide pushed a few buttons, and the dome opened a bit. At that point, there was just enough light for me to see the big telescope in the middle of the room. Our guide pressed some buttons on the keypad hanging from the telescope, and it suddenly turned around and pointed toward the sky through the slot in the roof.

When I looked through the telescope, I saw Venus. I was surprised to see that it was a crescent like the moon because it looked like a circle with the naked eye. I leaned that Venus and Mercury have phases like the moon because they are between us and the sun. Right now Venus is only 23% full, and it will disappear completely in a few months. It takes so long for Venus to change its appearance because it rotates very slowly. In fact, a Venus day is longer than a Venus year!

Next, our guide entered another code into the telescope and it pointed toward the other side of the sky. This time, we got to look at Mars. Although it is commonly known as the "red planet," it looked more orange than red through the telescope. We learned that a few weeks ago, Mars the second closest to us that it's been in 60,000 years, so it's a great time to see it. The closest approach of Mars was just a few years ago.

It was at this time that I asked how smart the telescope was. I was told that all you have to do is tell it, for example, "Mars," and it will find Mars automatically. It will even slowly move automatically as the sky moves around us! The telescope was very impressive, indeed.

Next, we looked at the moon. To me, it looked amazing because it was very bright and was full of craters. However, to astronomers, it was the worst object in the sky because of its brightness. I then realized that going on an observatory tour when the moon was almost full probably wasn't a great idea because so few stars were visible. At least the moon was bright enough to attempt to take a picture of it.

After seeing the moon, we looked at a series of nebulae and star clusters. Each time, our guide pointed the telescope to an area of the sky where I couldn't see anything, yet when I looked through the telescope, gas clouds and hundreds of stars appeared. In fact, one of the clusters that we looked at contained around 400,000 stars! The universe is mind-bogglingly big.

After an hour or so of looking at the stars, our guide told us a story he had of an exciting experience he had awhile back. He got together with some friends and drove twelve hours to San Pedro de Atacama in northern Chile, where he was able to get some time on the local telescope. When he got there, he finally saw something he had never seen before: part of the Big Dipper! One day, he dreams of going to the northern hemisphere where he'll be able to see the whole thing. At first, I laughed at him because I had seen the Big Dipper a thousand times in my life, but then I remembered that I had never seen the ubiquitous Southern Cross until this trip, but it's no big deal to the people who live here.

I got back to my hostel at about 1:30 AM. Even though the sky was polluted by the moon's light, it was a very interesting evening for me. Astronomy would be a fascinating hobby for me to get into, but I don't have much time for it now due to the whole traveling thing. One thing I know for sure is that I'll never look at the Big Dipper the same way again.

The photo album for this entry is here.

December 11, 2005
Day 74

Not knowing what the atmosphere around town would be like today, last night I stocked up on food and beverages, and prepared to sit in my hostel all day. It was election day today, and in order to allow everyone to vote, all businesses would be closed. There was a good chance that I'd have nothing to do all day.

For the first time since I got to La Serena, I was delighted to wake up to the screams of "Ovalle, Ovalle" over and over outside my window. My hostel was near the bus station, and all day long, employees would walk up and down the sidewalk shouting the name of the coveted destination to which their bus was heading. I had no idea where Ovalle was or what there was to do there, but it was good to know that at least the buses were still running today. Having nothing better to do, I hopped on a bus, hoping that Ovalle would be so good I'd be shouting its name all day, too.

Luckily, Ovalle was only about an hour away. For all I knew, it could've been ten. The first thing I noticed when I got off the bus was that the streets were almost empty. I guess they really take their elections seriously here. The next thing I noticed was that there were flowers everywhere. I'm not sure if a lot of botanists live in Ovalle, or if the city just needs to cover up the other plants that grew there, but wherever I turned, there seemed to be more flowers growing. The town was a nice, tranquil place, and after a few hours of walking around and taking in the scenery, I caught a bus back to La Serena.

There wasn't much else to do today. It seemed that the bus station was the only thing that was open on election day. Tonight, I ended up cooking the food I bought yesterday and chilling out in my room. Tomorrow I'm going to head out to Vicuna in the Elqui Valley. It's a prime location for space observatories and vineyards, so I should have plenty to do there.

The photo album for this entry is here.

December 10, 2005
Day 73

Last week, I lost my small camera. For awhile, I thought about not getting a new one and just using my big camera, but I soon realized that that wasn't possible. I didn't want to carry my big camera with me everywhere I went, and I already had missed out on many photo opportunities, such as last night when I ate fried fish with a bunch of random Chileans. I had to buy a new camera, and today was as good a day as any to do so.

The first stop in my search for a new camera was the mall, which had a bunch of stores with small digital cameras. Of all the cameras I saw, the Nikon Coolpix 4600 seemed like the best one for me. It was small, light, and somewhat inexpensive. In fact, I almost bought the same camera before my trip until I decided to go with a slightly cheaper model.

I still wanted to check out some more prices, so I headed downtown. I found a huge store that had clothes, furniture, electronics, restaurants, and an Internet cafe. When I started looking at cameras, the first one the employee pointed out to me was the Nikon Coolpix 4600, the camera I was most interested in anyway. I carefully examined all of its features and decided to buy it.

I'm glad the whole ordeal is over now. I have a new camera that I can always use for spontaneous and candid pictures. This time I'll be more careful not to lose it, too. As much as I like taking pictures at bars, I've decided that I'm not going to take my camera out at night with me anymore. Even though it could've fallen out of my pocket in a taxi in the middle of the day, I would've been more likely to find it then than at 6:00 AM.

This afternoon, I walked down to the beach. It took about thirty minutes to get there from the center of town, so it's not like Arica or Iquique where I could see the ocean from my window. There's also no swimming allowed at the beach, so I'm not quite sure what it's good for. There is a lighthouse at the end of the walkway to the ocean, so at least people have something to look at.

My other big news of the day is that I drank tap water for the first time since leaving home. I probably asked a dozen people if it was OK to drink the water, and they each said that unlike Peru and Bolivia, the water was purified here. Finally, I caved in and tried it today. Now I don't have to buy bottled water every day like I had been doing. Now that I can drink from the tap, I'll have my camera paid for in no time (as long as it doesn't put me in the hospital)!

The photo album for this entry is here.