Santiago de Chile!

 The replacement plane arrived on time yesterday, and left JFK 16 hours late, but made up one hour in flight, so arrived only 15 hours late…..  which was 10:30pm….  So a bit late for sightseeing.   Indeed, Santiago was very quiet at that time, which made for an easy drive to our hotel and in our very comfortable bed before midnight which, while way past our normal bed time, is almost civilized.   Since we are meeting our group for dinner this evening, it left the entire day to see Santiago itself.   I have learned in our travels that, when in a city for only one day, the best option is to take the “hop-on, hop-off” bus, listen to the guide and indeed hop on and off when things look interesting. Or, if feeling lazy, just stay on and you’ll still get a lot of sights, history, etc.

So that’s what I did, while Joe took it easy, enjoying the lovely Ritz-Carlton….  About 90% of the history that was discussed on the tour was post colonization - which happened in the mid 1500’th.  The city center still displays the original grid of 8 blocks that were laid there.   But very little remains in terms of historical buildings (in part because it was destroyed more than once by earthquakes…..  I’m feeling a bit nervous…).

The early inhabitants, called the Pincuche, had settled along the Mapuche river, and into the Central Valley where Santiago sits since around 10,000years BC.  Just before the Spaniards arrived, they had been taken over by the Incas, but their culture is the one whose remnants are still maintained here and there.  They had done a great job at developing agriculture in this semi arid climate (between the Andes and the western range), and stopped production when the Spanish arrived, almost starving them (because they did not know how to deal with the climate).  Well… you know the story…. Guns, small pox and horses eventually won….

Greater Santiago is now home to about 7 millions people (more than 1/3 of Chile’s population) and it extends as far as the eye can see - an the eye can see far from the top a couple of the volcanic hills that pop out through the valley. 

The most famous of these hills is San Critobal’s, where a statue of Mary stands.  You can take a cool cable car to the top of it to take in the views.   In the distance, when it is very clear, you can see the snow covered Andes.   Today was not clear enough, and I could only get a glimpse of snow in the far distance (not obvious on the picture).  There are a couple of other cable car that go from the valley to some hills - here is one (the cars are black instead of red) passing under the one I was on, and I saw another one under construction.  These are obviously commuter ones, as there are not at all advertised in the touristy literature.   

Instead of taking the same cable cars down, I took the funicular - which is much older (built in 1925), and much steeper!
 

The other hill I stopped at is San Lucia, which has treacherous and slippery stairs carved to the top of it, and rather incongruous architecture - but in a cool way (It was a fort at some point, but I think a lot of what is there today was added more recently)   It also has the only reference to the Pinuche people I saw during the entire tour.  

It has also fountains and nice gardens and walking trails and a nice view of the funicular I took earlier.  It is one of the many urban parks that dot the city.

AT the bottom of it is a large market with local artisans, which I strolled through.   Lapis Azuli is the stone of choice for jewelry in this area - I may get some when we get inland…

Santiago itself is not a particularly pretty city.  It has few buildings of architectural interest, and is a mishmash  of 1800 century architecture, 1960th brutalismes, and shiny new buildings - that is at least in the center.   From the cable car, where you can see some of the extended city on the other side of the hill, there are clearly some neighborhood with much shabbier houses, with tin and corrugated roof, etc.  (See pictures at end of blog)  

This is the only pre- 18th century church we saw, and even that one had to be reconstructed recently because it was destroyed by the recent earthquake of 2010.  

However, at least the center part of it, seems very livable and pleasant:  it is VERY clean (I did not see a single piece of trash on the street the entire day), has traffic, but not crazy (did not hear a single car honk it’s horn), is very walkable and has pleasant terrace restaurants and cafes everywhere you look. Also, It has tons of parks and recreational areas and interesting sounding museums - but we don’t do museums unless it rains, and it was not raining.  And it feels really safe, in spite of the fact that every guide we have talked to so far have warned us to not wear any jewelry, and wear any bag or wallet in the front   I did not get a hint of an issue with that today.   

And it has, of course, all the international stores you’d expect, from IKEA to McDOnalds….

 It’s spring, so there are flowers everywhere, and it smells nice.   Plus, because of its arid climate, it has cool cacti!

We ended the day with pisco sours - because you - when in Rome….

And then had a very nice dinner with our tour group, where I failed to take pictures but had a nice time.

Tomorrow, we are actually making it to Patagonia!

Here are some random pictures of building/architecture.

..`  

Are we there yet?

Nope, we are not there yet….. After spending 7 hours at JFK yesterday, the flight was cancelled.   The annoying part about that is not in fact that the flight got cancelled.   Shit happens.  Airplanes get problems and need to be fixed.  I get that.  BUT - it was obvious by about 8pm that the flight was going to get cancelled.  So why wait until 11 to tell us about it and send us to a hotel?
Particularly considering that ALL of us were sent there, making checking at the hotel completely insane.   Well at least it was an OK place (the Doubletree) with very comfortable beds to sleep a few hours before coming back to the airport. 

LATAM check-in was completely crazy!  There was one person and an entire flight that needed to be rebooked….. I honestly don’t know how they are going to just issue boarding passes to every one on time…..

But the replacement plane was on-time…..  of course, since we now leave at noon, it means arriving in Santiago at 11:20pm….  Which is not very late, but also means we won’t see any of it today….  Oh well, the tour doesn’t officially start until tomorrow afternoon, so things may work out at the end…… 

We go more nice views of the Manhattan Skyline from the plane, and then of the beaches of Long Island.  But of course none of Santiago when we arrived, because it was night.

Ww are staying at the the Ritz Carlton, where the beds are very nice and comfy……. We are going to sleep well tonight and try to see some of Santiago tomorrow, since that’s the only day we have here.   

Here is a pretty picture of Manhattan from the ski….

Because its there….

 I talked to my 103 year old mother a couple of days ago, and told her we were going to Patagonia.   She asked, not unreasonably, “but why”. Honestly, that’s not a bad question.   So the answer is - first and foremost, and to quote Sir Edmond Hillary “Because it’s there” - and we have not seen it yet, and it’s supposed to be very beautiful.   The second reason is that in 2014, we went to Antarctica, and before boarding our ship in Ushuaia, we took a quick bus ride through the National park at the very southern tip of Patagonia.  And since then, I have regretted not spending more time there.   So now is the time!

The trip started, as always, with the long and painful car ride to JFK.   On a pretty day like today, the view of the Manhattan skyline from the Whitestone bridge is always a treat, and always spectacular.  To no one’s surprise, we were very early at the airport, and - I think this is an actual consequence - our flight is delayed by 4 hours, and is now leaving at 11:50PM……. Which is way after our bed time…..

At least, we get to hang out at the Delta lounge, which is objectively stunning!   The food is VERY nice, fancy restaurant worthy, and free!  (So is the wine…).  So, while bored, we are not suffering….

We have a full day in Santiago before our tour starts, so this should not be a huge problem.

Hopefully, we will make it out of here tonight…..

A beautiful - but longer than planned- train ride back to Vancouver

 Since we arrived late (ish) last evening, and left by 7:00am, we did not see much of Kamploops, but I don’t think there is much to see. It is however a growing city of over 100,000, with many parks and many outdoors activities (for instance, Sun Peaks resort, where we stayed on our way up is only about 30 minutes away). It also has a large and beautiful lake, where there are many little lake communities - again, everyone who is around waves and smiles at us as we pass, it’s very joyful! The picture above is of the Mountaineer local crew waving us goodbye.  

 The lake empties in the Thompson River, and we followed it for a long time, including its impressive gorge. The landscape is very dry - we are in a desert (the same desert that extends to Wyoming). But it is striking, particularly along the river. Note the inverted tree line - where trees start at higher altitude (instead of  “normal” mountains, where trees stop when you get high enough). That’s because there is not enough humidity farther down to sustain them.  

 There were many Eagles along the river - and there are a lot of Brit’s on the train. The Brits got REALLY excited by the eagles - I did too to a point, but we do have many of them in the Hudson Valley…..  

there were also many Ospreys and some Big Horn sheep.  

This Opsprey nest has been used every season by generations of the same Osprey family since 1958!

I spent a lot of the time on the outside platform since the weather was so nice. It is a better place to take pictures, and very pleasant, if a touch windy…..

The Thompson River looks like a fun river to raft down. Indeed, we saw some people doing it - one of them clearly had been ejected out of the raft…… but he was safely rescued!

The river eventually meets the Fraser, which flows all the way to Vancouver. The Thompson river is much clearer, because it flows through several lakes where sediment can settle.  

When they meet, the difference is striking- the First Nation people called the Thompson the “clear river” and the Fraser the “muddy river”.  

As we crossed the Fraser, we went from the arid semi-desert to the much lusher coastal forest.  

We continued along the Fraser river all the way to Vancouver. The river narrows to “Hell’s Gate” - named by Fraser himself who was trying to find a route through, and found it very challenging. The rapids looked indeed impressive. (and you can now take a gondola to appreciate the view).  

The train slowed down for a bit (see details below) and the skies had clouded up and it started to rain - also, the landscape was not as dramatic.  So I took a nap……

When I re-opened my eyes, we were in farm country, and the sky was brightening up.   

 

As we approached Vancouver (very slowly because we had been delayed by some other train), we passed under Portman Bridge across the Fraser river, which was the longest cable-stayed bridge in North America for about 3 days when the Bay Bridge (in San Francisco) was finished.  

The problem with this train ride, is that it uses the same tracks as the freight trains. And, apparently, freight trains have a lot of problems, and just stop a lot. So we do end up stopped a lot behind them. It’s not particularly unpleasant, but it ends up taking a lot of time. So today, we were supposed to arrive in Vancouver around 6:00pm, and instead, first it looked like it would be 9:30pm….  But see below…..  as things got messier….

The good thing about being delayed is that they served us dinner (which was not in the original plan).  Food has been exceptional on this trip - not just “good for a train ride” - Really good for anywhere! This was dessert at lunch time.  

Also, the crew is truly spectacular! By the time we arrived in Vancouver, they had been on their feet, working, and smiling and being friendly for over 18 hours!  They never even expressed frustration, or showed that they had a hard day. Here is one of them making jokes to keep us entertained…

 

Just as we were about to reach the Station at Vancouver, we were told that the swing bridge we were to go on was opened and stuck!  So we could not go anywhere…….   So the time estimate to get to the station went from 9:30 to 10 and then 10:30pm…..  They were worried that we would have to disembark wherever we were (which was very near Vancouver, but not an easy exit of the train) and bring buses to take us to the station…..but the bridge at last opened up and we pulled in at 10:40pm….  Short ride to the airport hotel and we got a few hours of sleep before our flight early the next morning.

Below are some more random pictures of the day