Santiago & stuff

At the time of writing, we are still in Santiago Chile, because we have had to wait a week for our visas to get into Brazil.

Santiago probably isn't a tourist mecca but it is a huge city and there is plenty of good stuff in and around here if you go looking.

One day we went to a huge park on a hill near the centre of the city called Parque Metropolitano.

This park has a zoo within its boundaries and at the top of the hill a huge statue of the virgin Mary. I've got to say though, that the zoo made me feel pretty sad for the animals.

The worst thing for me was seeing a bear that walking around and around in tight circles.

It is a dilemma though, when you think that the Tasmanian Devil might only survive in captivity and young kiddies get an appreciation of animals.

However for me, after this visit, if I don't ever go to another zoo then that will be too soon.

Anyway back to the top of the hill and the huge statue of the virgin Mary.

People make pilgrimages up the hill and you can see people praying there and making signs of the cross on their chests.

There is quite soulful music playing in the background and you feel really peaceful.

The peace was broken by two military aircraft flying past and we were looking down on them from out vantage point on the hill.

To get up the hill we took a rail car called a "funicular". Kim was a little nervous, but I reckon she is a bit of a scaredy-cat at times :-) ... but someone has to be.

One other night Kim shouted us out for a curry for tea to celebrate my 48th birthday. The great thing about having a birthday over the other side of the dateline is that you get to have two birthdays. Your birthday at home and your birthday abroad, otherwise, it never really feels like it actually is your birthday.

Anyway, the curry was an experience that I'll never forget. There were about 4 waiters in the restaurant and only about 8 customers. They come over with your food and serve it for you on your plate. They took so much pride in their work you could tell that they actually loved what they did. They spooned out the rogan josh as if we were royalty. Apart from that the curry was excellent, but we both may have suffered slightly for it the next day .... need I say more ;-) (Think Johnny Cash song)

The next day we headed up to the ski fields. The resort that we stayed at was El Colorado, about 3300 meters up in the Andes. I had a bit of breathlessness and headaches from the altitude, but nowhere near as bad as I had last time I was in Cusco, Peru, despite the altitude being almost the same. The weather was great, fine sunny days, it was almost hot. People were out skiing in T shirts. We took some skiing lessons and both had our own instructors. I had done some skiing before, when I was 17, and it must be like riding a bike because I could ski as well or if not better than I had ever been able to. Kim was a novice and I was maybe 1 step ahead of her. Kim had to learn to stop, and I had to learn to turn. We both mastered these steps and in my case maybe too well. On my last trip down the big hill I thought that being able to go fast would be my next challenge. I was going pretty well too and maybe 100 meters from the bottom when I got the speed wobbles and took a bit of a tumble. I felt the tendon in my leg give a bit of a snap ... not good. However, I managed to make it down the hill and ski back to the apartment. Kim was a great nurse and put some snow in a supermarket bag and put it on my leg. I'm feeling much better now though, but walk much more slowly than before. I guess it pays to be a scaredy-cat sometimes :-).