Chile - Paragliding Iquique, and Santiago November 2006

CHILE 2006

11/17 Friday Bob Hannah got us to the airport for our 1335 Delta flight. We bought water after getting through TSA security and then had lunch at La Pisa Café. We changed planes in Atlanta and then had a long night flight to Santiago. It was clear enough to watch the terrain of Chile change from desert to farmlands in flat valleys between steep ridges as we flew north to south.

11/18 Saturday There were long lines for the "reciprocity visa" ($100 each) and in the customs/immigration line, a couple of porters who looked more like uniformed officials grabbed our bags and “helped” us to the check-in gate for our flight to Iquique. So we ended up giving them $5. There was a long layover in the Santiago and the airport was not particularly interesting. Our flight to IQQ was over the ocean and we had seats on the left so could not see the coast. Anyway it was cloudy and the only view we had was when we were turning onto the final approach. It was just as brown and devoid of plantlife as we had been told. Luis picked us up and we went to Palo Buque after a quick stop at a restaurant near Los Verdes(with salt crystals instead of gravel for ground cover) to use the baños. The wind was light and getting lighter at PB so, after an hour we went to Alto Hospicio, a launch above the city of Iquique, and got our gear sorted out. We had a short flight down to the bailout LZ at Huyaquique beach just south of a military recreation area. We flew over the southern part of Cerro Dragon, the huge sand dune that hangs above the city, and over the paragliding resort wannabe of Altazor. After checking into Hotel Terrado Club and taking a much-needed shower, we went to dinner at Restaurant Neptuno with everyone from the first week and some other locals. The grilled acha (some kind of fish) was good and C.J.’s seviche assortment was very good (but Todd’s seviche peruviana was even better). We each had a pisco sour, of course. We got back to the hotel for bed around midnight.

11/19 Sunday There was a typical big hotel breakfast buffet with some unfamiliar kinds of pastries, various cold cereals, fruit, a platter of sliced cheese and ham, and eggs cooked to order –scrambled (revuelito?) with cheese and ham, kiwi and strawberry juice. We made lunch sandwiches on rolls with the cheese and ham. We met the rest of the group again at 0915 at the vans and drove up to Alto Hospicio for a morning flight. It was already lightly soarable when we arrived (about a 20 min ride). I flew for 40 min, toplanded to get sunglasses as the fog burned off, launched again with a brummel hook unfastened so landed again. On my third flight I managed to scratch around for only 10 min before a flush cycle sent me across the dune to the beach. C.J. stayed in the air, got high and was able to fly out to Playa Brava and land near the hotel. We got back to the hotel around 1300 and rested until it was time to meet again at 1530. It was closer to 1600 when we headed out to Palo Buque. The wind was too light there and a bit too W or NW so we headed back to AH. It was easy soaring but no one was getting very high (“very high” in this case meant 100 m over launch). I toplanded after 40 min thinking it would be easier to pack up on the hard sand launch than down on the loose sand beach. It wasn’t. I rode down with Todd then went back to the Santa Isabel grocery store to checkout what we might have for dinner since we had a full kitchen in our room. I picked up some mustard, cocoa mix and a roll of cookies. When C.J. got back we went back to the store and got frozen lasagna, rolls, salt, soup, cucumber and a sack of avocados. Todd came by to get our passports so he could have copies made for the airport (required if you are planning to pass through/near the airport airspace). The plan for tomorrow is to fly from Patillos to Palo Buque if possible.

11/20 Monday Early breakfast then load at 0830. We’re down to one van with 8 people (Todd Weigand and Luis Rosenkjer, our guides, David Salmon from SLO, Ihor Trufyn from B.C., Summer B from Ashland, and Bob from NC), and our wings on top (Oops, my platypus nozzle must have gotten squeezed because water was running down the side of the van. Not much in my pack was wet but I had to buy another bottle of water from the gas station convenience store). At the Chilean version of the FAA (but run by the military) at the airport, we found out that there was some military exercise going on and that the ridge between Patillos and almost to Palo Buque was closed. We drove about 80 km past Patillos to Playa Chipana, another launch N of Tocopilla. Launch was on a steep, sandy (looked like a glacier) area. The 4WD van was able to get our wings and us most of the way to the launch in two trips. Then we had to struggle up the steep and loose sand to wherever we wanted to lay our wings out. Luis launched first and landed just below launch when it appeared to be too weak. He launched again later followed by David Salmon and they were able to soar and climb above launch. I took off shortly after 1200, made a few passes over the sand and then had to land when I began to sink. I didn’t launch again until after C.J. launched. This time I made just two passes before crossing the small canyon to the N and getting on the rock-studded slope (probably an alluvial fan). (See my tracklog left) I flew low across the slope gaining altitude slowly and I worked some rough thermal lift . Eventually, I was high enough to head N as I continued to work ratty ridge and thermal. I was way below the top of the ridge (2000’+) for most of the flight and had to turn the corners much lower than I wanted to. At one point Todd and I turned a corner (he was much higher). There was a long glide in sink before getting back to the portion of the bowl that faced into the wind and I was down to 500’ which looked like about 100’ over the ground. I was looking at possible LZs in the rocky terrain. However, lift was available even that low and the rest of the flight (1 hr 35 min, 31.5 km) was easier with clouds forming at or above the ridge. When I spotted Ihor on the ground before another big spur, I flew out, took some photos and landed nearby (S of the spur south of Rio Seco). C.J. meanwhile had sunk out after being exhausted by carrying her (my) wing up to launch. Bob, Summer and C.J. were already at Ihor’s LZ and C.J. got some photos of my approach and landing.

After packing up, we headed on to Patillos (the airspace limit for that day) to pick up Todd, Luis and David. On the way back we stopped at Palo Buque where we did some kiting and ridge soaring on a minor ridge running E-W benching up and crossing over to the main ridge (N-S). I kited and carried my wing up about halfway, made a few passes until I was just over the top of the low ridge, then crossed to the main ridge heading S skimming along the sandy slope and gaining altitude all the way. It was weird to be flying with no instruments and no flightsuit – I wasn’t sure where the sink was or how high I was, and it was pretty chilly. It was dark (after 2100) when we got back to the hotel and we were beat! We ate the old bread, soup, the rest of the lasagna, an avocado and cuke, took a shower and went to bed.

11/21 Tuesday Up at 0700 for an early breakfast so we could get to the grocery store to buy water before we left at 0915. Unfortunately, the store (Santa Isabel) did not open until 0900 so I had to run back there later. At Alto Hospicio we waited until around 1100 before launching with the plan being to fly S to Palo Buque, then try to return and fly to Playa Brava. When I launched, I went immediately S to the face where David and Luis were already soaring. I worked the far bowl for a long time but could not seem to get high. Then C.J. and Todd caught up and Bob passed us going low directly for the first corner. So we all went for it. We rounded the first spur in sink and had to work in close on the next face to slowly get up to 1500’ when I could go for the next corner. C.J. ended up on the ground along with Bob. Todd, who was high, headed back to the launch to get the van. Each corner was difficult to varying degrees but the last one above the golf course (sand fairways with lime marking the bounds, and a different color sand for the “greens”) near Punta Gruesa was the worst with 1000+ fpm min sink and turbulence. Fortunately in the middle of the previous bowl I had hit a “screamer” and climbed to 2300’. Once around the corner, and down to less than 1000’, the glide to Palo Buque was not too difficult. I landed after tagging the PB ridge and making it out as far towards the highway as possible. Ever-impatient David had flagged down a taxi and had it drive in to pick me up so we didn’t have to wait for Todd to arrive (He was on the way.). C.J. and I had lunch in our room (breakfast sandwiches, same as almost everyday) then I spent some time talking with the hotel staff at the front desk through the one English-speaking guy (Alejandro) about tours and rental cars. I read through the Lonely Planet info on northern Chile with a little more understanding and urgency. At 1530 we headed out to Palo Buque again. I kited up a ways and launched but on my second pass I got dropped onto my seat. I launched again and worked up the S face and was at 1600’ or so when the glider seemed to go backwards followed by a violent collapse (maybe a full stall) that didn’t come out until I was near the slope. Shaken, I flew out to the highway then came back and began to climb the SW face again when I noticed that my reserve container was open. I carefully flew back to the LZ and got down as quickly as possible. Two scares in one afternoon was enough for me so I stayed on the ground after putting the chute container back together. We returned to the hotel around 2115, bought some food at the store and had dinner in our room.

11/22 Wednesday We loaded up at 0845 for Chipana. On the way down C.J. and I talked with Ihor, who had been here touring around with his wife for the previous two weeks, about renting cars and traveling around on our own. Once again the van ferried our gear and bodies (in separate trips) to as high on the dune as possible. But this time Bob carried C.J.’s pack up (way up, higher than necessary, almost to where an earlier-arriving group from France had established themselves). Conditions were similar and I launched 20 min later. It seemed easier to get to 1200’ and stay up. No one had any idea why the French weren’t launching – they were still there when we flew over their heads before flying N. C.J. did much better flying as far as I did on my previous flight. I continued on and squeaked around the corner and flew into the big sink behind it. I was down to less than 600’ msl when I decided to land just N of Rio Seco (34.9 km) – needed a bathroom break. The wind was strong and I parked over a big field for several minutes. I was concerned because I was downwind of a bunch of rock mounds and didn’t know if the air was going to get trashy. It turned out not to be too bad and I used my D-lines to deflate the wing. When it tried to reinflate, I had to haul in on one brake line before the lines got damaged on the sharp rocks at the edge of the field. David, Todd and Luis continued on to Palo Buque after clearing the flight with the airport. (Todd landed at Patillos launch to call, then later landed high at Palo Buque, relaunched and made it back to the city.) We were glad to have a couple of hours to relax, shower and cook fishburgers for dinner. Later we went to the lobby and I surfed around trying to find a rental car. It may be that the hotel can get us a similar rate ($51, better than Budget which was $66/day).

11/23 Thursday We loaded the van at 0930 and drove to Patillos, then took the mine road to the launch (signed “Zona de Parapentes”). The whole area reminded me of Doherty Slide with the road angling up the face of a bluff and the lack of vegetation. Launch was a pullout on the side of the road with a small parking area across the road. The launch had a somewhat rounded slope so pulling the wing up would not be too difficult if you didn’t wait until the winds got strong. I took off about 1130 (after C.J. and Ihor) and made several passes gaining altitude quickly until I was above the top of the bluff and looking down on a rugged plateau. C.J. and Ihor were above me but the climb out was so easy that I passed through 750 m and radioed that I was ready to cross to the next point. Todd advised waiting another 20 min for the lift to develop. Several minutes later I hit a boomer and climbed to 883 m (2740 ft) [Airspace restriction was 1000 m] and headed across the gap to the next point. I worked there for a long time and even tried to come back against the wind when the rest of the group were getting up back in front of the first point. Eventually I just went on glide and caught some lift low on the next face. About this time David passed me and led the rest of the way. We were getting higher than on the previous days farther south (1800-2000’) and bumping along from point to point. About 15 km out we came to a point that had a big gap north of it. We spent quite a bit of time trying to get really high but I finally had to leave with just 1800’. I was waaay back in there through the sink-y rotor and crossing a gap which appeared to be a bombing/missile range with target building painted (?) on the ground. I was clocking close to 60 kph when I finally reached a point (very low) where the wind was hitting the face pretty much straight on. A few passes got me a more comfortable distance above the valley floor and a long walk out through deep sand to the highway. Back up to 1600-1800’ I followed Ihor, who also had had a low save, and Todd to the next point/spur which was directly E of the airport. I thought that the next bowl/gap would be even deeper than the preceding one and would put me far from the road again (it turned out that I was mistaken and the really big gap was the preceding one) so when Ihor and Todd headed across, I turned into the wind and penetrated slowly out towards the highway using speedbar until I was near the ground. I collapsed the wing using the D-lines and quickly pulled in on one brake line. (2hr 00min, 22 km). Luis met me with the van as I reached the highway and we went for lunch at Cote Verdes, one of a collection of restaurants and snack bars, about 25 km from Iquique and 7 km from Palo Buque, near where the rest of the crew had landed. Since C.J. and I had already eaten our sandwiches we had a light lunch of empanadas (jaiva/queso (crab/cheese) and loco/queso (abalone/cheese) and a crab salad (jaiva-mayo). We dropped David, Summer and Todd off at Palo Buque about 1615 and returned to the hotel. Alejandro, the English-speaking manager trainee (?) and Antonio a bellhop, were very helpful in arranging a rental car and extending our stay at the hotel until the 30^th. Later I used the hotel computer to request reservations for 11/30 and 12/1 at Hotel Vegas in Santiago. At 1900 we rode over to the large Lider grocery store with Luis and wandered around looking at the alcohol, salads, fish and frozen foods. We each bought an ice cream cone (Amarena (cherry?) and Pisco sour). Then we walked next door to the Mall Las Americas and toured (quickly) the first floor. Just as in the US, there were a lot of Christmas decorations and felt subtly wrong in the tropical climate. Back at Lider I bought a bottle of Chilean wine and a 5 L jug of water and headed “home”.

11/24 Friday After breakfast we loaded up for Chipana at 0900. I launched at 12:15 and got up quickly, well, compared to the previous two flights here. Luis advised me not to go on alone so after everyone had launched, I came back over launch and caught a strong, smooth 1000 fpm thermal to higher than I had been near launch before. 30 min or so later Todd, in the van, announced whitecaps and C.J. decided to land before the 3^rd point. Even though I was higher than on previous flights, Luis, David and Ihor were higher still. Crossing the big gap at the mine road, I was down to 600’ but managed to scratch back up. Somewhere around the next ridge I found another strong thermal and reached the highest point of the day, around 2750’. At another point a small cloud formed right in front of me and all I had to do was fly under it to get to 2400’. Before reaching the point south of Rio Seco, my radio battery died and I did not hear Todd report whitecaps and strong winds at Rio Seco. I had planned to land anyway and followed the others out to the edge of the ocean and landed on the east side of the road. (1 hr 30 min, 31.5 km). On the way back we stopped at Las Verdes again but this time at La Picá de Pescador where the food was even better and just as inexpensive. C.J. and I shared the menu of the day: 2 empanadas and a big plate of fried apañados (a type of fish –very good) and ensalada chilenas. We were all stuffed and, since the wind appeared too strong at Palo Buque, we returned to the hotel. C.J. and I washed some clothes (which we had been doing every day), dealt with trip finances with Todd (we had to pay for an additional day), did some computer stuff and took a shower. We planned to meet at 1945 to go out for ice cream in lieu of doing an anniversary dinner. Luis and Todd took us down to the center of Iquique, Arturo Prat Plaza, where a brass band was playing probably in celebration of the 127^th anniversary of the city. We had ice cream cones at a sidewalk café on the wooden sidewalks of Baquedano, the pedestrian-only street. Later we went to the Ronny Tequila Bar, a “schoperia” or bar, to get out of the cold. Summer and Luis engaged in a fierce competition on the foosball table. We got back to the hotel around 2300.

11/25 Saturday After breakfast we headed back to Chipana for our last try at a long cross country flight. Todd had reminded us the previous day to fly safe since we had a perfect record so far. I launched at 1225 and everyone went high while I groveled to the first corner and around it. Then I finally caught some good lift and got up with the rest of the party and stayed relatively high for the rest of the flight. We passed Rio Seco at about 90 min. and climbed on the small ridge just beyond. At some point I reached 3100’ – high point of the whole trip. At Rio Seco I switched my GPS to go to Patillos as goal and hung on for another 24 km for a total of 65 km (40.4 mi) (2 hr 30 min). The last ridge between the power lines (that go right up the spur to the ridge crest) and the Patillos launch was very turbulent. Clearly by then the wind speed had picked up because we (C.J., Ihor, me) landed going backwards slightly. Dave had gotten into the compression zone just above or a bit behind the edge of the ridge and had to land and walk out down the road under the power lines. There was quite a bit of concern for his safety while he was out of radio communication. Todd flew out and landed, hopped in the van and soon relaunched upwind of Dave to see if he could spot him. We were all back at the hotel by 1730 and planned to go for dinner at 1930. After a shower and rest (We needed it!) we went back to the city center to Bavaria, a German restaurant, part of a chain. As we decided what to order, a parade formed up outside heading for Arturo Prat Plaza just a few blocks away. The food was excellent and the quantity, huge. David paid for everyone’s dinner. I went to Lider afterward to get water, a sack of avocados and soft drinks – we both have serious thirst. Tomorrow is our last morning with Todd and Luis.

11/26 Sunday After breakfast we went up to Alto Hospicio at 0930, cleaned the sand out our wings and straightened the lines from our hurried packing up yesterday in the wind. I launched around 1035 and soared around for a while before heading down the ridge to the north. Crossing the power lines where a road switchbacks up to Alto Hospicio was scary (especially when Luis, mistaking someone else for me, said, “Watch out for the power lines ahead of you!” when I had already crossed all of them…I thought). I spent a half hour above a gravel pit at the point of the ridge nearest to Playa Brava getting no higher than 2100’ (Luis and Todd had recommended 2300’). It turned out that 2000’ was easily high enough on a light wind day as I ended up 1000’ over the beach when I arrived at the hotel. I took a bunch of pictures while crossing and above the beach. After landing (1 hr 10 min) I packed up on the grass and rolled the wing up for airline travel. C.J. met me at the beach having landed at Huyaquique. We returned to the hotel to pick up our lunch and then back to the beach to sit in the shade of the palm trees on the grass. Afterward we walked up the beach in the wet sand – the dry sand was too hot. There were lots of birds and a few line and net fishermen. We walked as far as the beginning of Cavancha before heading back to the convenience store near the hotel for a “Menta Chip” ice cream bar. C.J. worked on the computer and with Todd and Luis the rest of the afternoon while I downloaded photos from the A80 onto C.J.’s flash drive using the hotel’s public computer. Then I tried uploading to Picasaweb with no luck, but at least I chose the photos I wanted uploaded. Later I sent an email to Bernadette and Wayne. Back in the room at 1730 C.J. did more proofing, and this was after she had already had a working breakfast with David and Luis. Dinner was “mustgos” at 1900 in Luis’ room.

11/27 Monday After breakfast the rental car was delivered and there was the usual contract to sign and checking over the car for damage, all in Spanish. – and gestures and some translation help from one of the bellhops. It was a small Hyundai Accent (?) with 173,000 km on the odometer – not like an Alamo/Avis/Hertz late model with hardly any mileage. I agreed to another $6/day insurance which was probably not necessary but so cheap that it seemed worth it. As far as I could tell, the final cost was something like $35 per day. On the way out of town we got gas which cost 600 pesos per liter (or about $4.80 per gallon). We drove up to Alto Hospicio and then we were in new country continuing east on the highway through AH and then climbing higher onto the Pampas de Tamarugal plateau. Almost to the intersection with the Pan American Highway we stopped to tour the Humberstone mine ghost town. (photo, left) Then we turned south on the PanAmericana, through Pozo Almonte and forked left (SE) for La Tirana, a pilgrimage site with an impressive church. It was not the pilgrimage season but there were a few other people visiting. C.J. bought a local hat from a street stand vendor. Then we continued SE through scattered trees – rare enough that we stopped outside of La Tirana and took pictures – through Matilla to the oasis at Pica where we had lunch in a shaded square while some Muslims were saying their prayers. We stopped in a restaurant for some naranja-mango jugos frutas (the fruit drinks that the oasis is known for) and walked around the town a bit including through a very small village market. Back in the car we tried several routes to find a road that continued east but all we found was the swimming pool and a bunch of dead ends. So we drove out through Matilla to check out the old church. Then we took a different route back to the PanAmericana (Ruta 5) which was signed “En mal estado” and it was a really rough 30 km through dry flat desert with large mud cracks in some places. Back on the PanAmericana heading north we passed through a large plantation of trees before reaching the Y where we had turned off for La Tirana. We got back to IQQ not long after 1800 and stopped at Lider for a big rotisserie chicken and other food for supper including a 700 ml bottle of premixed Pisco sours (12% alcohol). We parked the car in the underground garage beneath the hotel, and had our room re-keyed when our key cards wouldn’t work. Maybe we needed to pay for our rooms or register for the additional days or something. We had a great dinner with pisco sours, wine, chicken and sautéed zucchini.

11/28 Tuesday After breakfast we loaded the rental car with warm clothes, lunches and 5 L of water, got gas and pulled out around 0900. We retraced our previous route almost to Pozo Almonte then turned N on the Pan American Highway to Huara where we turned E. About 14 km later we saw a hill to the left and a sign “Cerro Unitos Geoglifos”. Since there was no geoglyph obvious on the hillside we spent a bit of time headscratching before we decided to drive down the unpaved road. Sure enough, on the W side of the hill, not visible from the road, was the famous “Giant of the Atacama”. After a few photos we returned to the main road and continued east gradually gaining altitude and going from bare sand and rocks to cactus at 3000 m along ridges and above deep canyons. The organ pipe cactus gave way to “fuzzy cactus” and, at about 3600 m to patches of grass and llamas (or anchovies, uh, angoras uh …) and even some running water. We kept encountering stretches of unpaved road which slowed us down ( as did stopping to take pictures and just gawk at unusual scenery, so when we stopped for lunch at 4400 m (staggering a bit up a hill in the thin air) we knew that we would have to turn back without getting to our goal of the Bolivian border just beyond Colchane or the village of Isluga in the national park. [Turnaround point was at km post 150] We could see snow on some mountains to the east before we turned back, and some vaguely volcano-ish peaks. Going back was faster because we did not make so many stops and we arrived back in Iquique around 1900. We bought pisco for Bill and a bottle of mango sour for Bob and some tomatoes and unripe lemon that looked like a lime (green, but hard like rock). Our room keys did not work again and the car rental company had called - they though that we were returning the car on 11/29 (I guess something got lost in the non-translation). We got our wings packed up and inside their protective bags. This part of the trip is definitely winding down. We’ll probably do some touring in IQQ tomorrow.

11/29 Wednesday I asked the bellhop Antonio if he could check to see if we could drop the car off at the airport – nope, has to be in town. I gave him 5000 pesos for his help in renting the car. We had a leisurely breakfast and at about 0930 drove to near Arturo Prat Plaza and walked through it browsing the not-very-interesting wares at the stands. We stopped at one shop on Baquedano with “Aymara Textiles” and on the way back C.J. bought a llama wool cape. We stopped at Sernatur, the tourist agency and picked up a free map and wandered through downtown IQQ to the central market. It seemed small for a city of 200,000 and did not have much color or variety. We toured the Regional Museum then returned to the hotel about 1300 for lunch. After a nap (When in Rome…) we drove to Zofri (the huge duty free mall) and walked past almost innumerable shops on at least three floors. It was not really very interesting but it is an important attraction of Iquique so I thought we should experience it. Later we drove to Playa Cavancha and wandered past the Camelidos pen and the caiman-turtle-koi exhibit, along the beach past the Bambu Bar with its windsock back to the car (which had a sunshade on the windshield. I removed it and stuck it in the car and drove away with the cries fading into the distance). Back at the hotel we dropped off our “stuff” and went to Santa Isabel for limes and Banco de Chile for an ATM. C.J. called Ihor and invited him to dinner – tried to get Todd with no success. We finished up the mango sours and packed the liquor we had bought in airline blankets inside C.J.’s rollaboard which we are going to check.

11/30 Thursday After breakfast we took a taxi to the airport, checked in and flew to Antofagosta where we had to wait for conditions to improve at La Serena. At Santiago airport we arranged for a minibus at a booth in the arrivals hall and shared a ride with several others into the city center. When we were within a couple of blocks of Hotel Vegas, we had to get out and walk because the street was cordoned off by the carabineros. We saw two guys in big, bulky bomb suits with helmets, and a helpful woman explained what was going on and asked the police how long before the street would open up. A few minutes later we were allowed to pass and a gentleman helped us pull our four rolling suitcases the block and a half to the hotel. It was a great introduction to the unexpected friendliness of the people in such a large city. Unfortunately, not everything was destined to go smoothly because we shortly found out that we had no reservations because they had not received our emailed acceptance of a double room. The staff was very helpful and arranged a room at the Hotel Lira for the night and even paid the taxi fare. We left our paragliders stored in a back room at Hotel Vegas. (photo, left) C.J. was able to pick up email and download the front half of the magazine in the breakfast room while I went out to explore the neighborhood. I should have taken a map because I finally had to give up and retrace my steps to get back to the Hotel Lira. We asked the manager for a restaurant recommendation and walked south on Lira into a motorcycle shop district with no restaurants. Heading back, and after an ice cream, we spotted the restaurant on a side street but it didn’t open until 2000 and appeared expensive. [We later found that it was a place that the city tours used for their night tours.] We walked pretty aimlessly up to Alameda and eventually past Hotel Vegas, back along Alameda past some noisy, smoky schoperias, through the artisan market (Sta. Lucia) and ended up at Fong Kung Chinese (!) restaurant which wasn’t great. We went back to the hotel for a shower and a nice long sleep.

12/1 Friday Breakfast was more typical of a small hotel – juice, hot chocolate and six slices of toast, butter and jam. We checked out of Hotel Lira and caught a taxi to Hotel Vegas – our laziness gene overcame our cheapness gene. We were surprised to be directed immediately to our room because it was only 10:00 A.M. The second surprise was that the room was a matrimonial rather than the doble which we had expected. The manager later explained that the couple (from SF) who had been in there had asked to move because the party in the café under the windows had been loud and had gone on till early in the morning. [The local soccer team had scored a big victory the previous day] Anyway, there were lots of windows and a sitting area in the corner turret that looked out on the cobblestone Calle Londres. (Compared to looking out on a rather scruffy lightwell as in Hotel Lira.) We went out to get stamps (only at post offices) for the only post cards we had seen so far in Chile (right at the hotel desk) and then did the Lonely Planet walking tour more or less. We stopped in the Iglesia San Francisco, oldest church in Santiago (1572), and in the cathedral on the main square, Plaza des Armas; (photo, left, cathedral and decorations in Plaza des Armas) we walked the pedestrian paseos crowded with wall-to-wall people. We ended up at the Mercado Central fish market and bantered with the restaurant touts until we felt hungry enough for a big lunch of fish/shellfish stew (paila marina) and calamares en ajillo. Stuffed, we headed back to the hotel for a bathroom break and a rest. When we went back out again around 1600, we walked to the top of Cerro Santa Lucia past the Neptune fountain, the tomb of McKenna and the summit observatory. On the way down we went through the shops of the Exposition of Indigenous Art finding nothing of particular interest. Then we crossed the Alameda using the Metro entrance/exit and toured the Centro Artesanal de Santa Lucia. C.J. bought a scarf for Ginny and I bought a llama wool hat. Then we went back up on of the pedestrian paseos towards the Plaza des Armas to buy ice cream at Bravisssima Gelateria – a lucuma cone for C.J. and a chocolate milkshake for me. We hung out in the plaza for a while then headed back stopping along the way to buy a takeout pork-tomato-avocado sandwich to eat later. Back at the hotel C.J. worked on the PDF and I read for a while. Tomorrow we are thinking that we might go to the Cerro San Cristobal in the Parque Metropolitano.

12/2 Saturday We awakened this morning to the sound of “Ave, Ave, Ave Maria” as a procession from Iglesia de San Francisco bearing a large statue of Mary passed right under our windows. Breakfast was a hot buffet with hot dogs (?), bacon, omelets, toast, juice, hot milk (for cocoa for me), yogurt, fruit, etc. – not as extensive as at the Terrado Club but quite good. C.J. worked until 1100 when we went down to the front desk, checked out and stored our gear in a back room off the terrace. Then we took the Metro to Baquedano (Plaza Italia) and walked to the base of Cerro San Cristobal where we took the funicular to the terrace below the summit (869m). The whole area was busy with weekend crowds – boy scouts, pilgrims, lovers, bicyclists and just tourists. We could pick out the hill we climbed the day before and some of the downtown area. The summit is crowned with a large statue of Mary standing on a crescent moon. Pope John Paul II said mass here during his visit in 1989 (?) We checked out the teleferic and then went back down on the funicular. We had lunch at a sidewalk restaurant La Palmera on Pio Nono – pork chops and a big ensalada Chilena for me and a soup with chicken, green beans, and potato for C.J. We shared a schop, 500 ml stein of Escudo beer. We took the Metro back to Santa Lucia and returned to the Centro Artesanal where C.J. bought a skirt. After a pit stop and a rest in the hotel lobby we went out along one of the paseos to get an ice cream, our last excursion before catching a minibus to the airport. At the plaza, we sat and watched kids chasing the pigeons then walked over to see why a crowd had gathered. C.J. stumbled into a space in the grating covering a drainage channel and punctured her leg at the top of her shin. Many people stopped to help with baby wipes, bandaids and compassion. We got a bandage on and limped over to a Cruz Verde pharmacy where an English-speaking salesgirl checked the wound and sold us some antiseptic and Steri-strips for pulling the wound together. We headed back to the hotel and hung out there until our minibus arrived and took us to the airport. We had a nice conversation on the way with a lady who had just returned from her second cruise to Antarctica. The line at Delta was long but we checked our bags with no trouble. We did not have our original travel document so had to fill out another set before going through passport control. No water was allowed in so I bought C.J. another bottle once we were through airport security. Then we had about 6500 Chilean pesos left and the duty free shop had both pisco and pre-mixed pisco sour. I bought one of each for us and had to hand-carry them on to the plane. Once through the gate, there was another inspection of our carry-ons on the jetway and C.J. had to give up her unopened bottle of water (!) but the liquor made it through. We got dinner on the long flight and slept for a few hours.

12/3 Sunday There were long lines to go through US passport control in Atlanta, almost no inspection at all of our luggage and all we had to do was push our cart into a line of carts at the end of the room and airport baggage handlers took it from there. To go through the TSA security check we could have no liquids (except for the 3-oz bottles in a 1-qt ziplock bag) so I had to run back to our checked bags and stuff the two bottles inside C.J.’s wing bag hoping the glass would survive. We had seats at the very back again just as on our flight SEA-ATL but the view was good all the way across the country and the back-of-the-seat- monitors could be set to show the GPS map of our route. We came in past Saddle Mountain and right over a point south of Tiger then over downtown Seattle. Bob picked us up along with our undamaged (!) luggage. On the way home we stopped at Meadowbrook Urgent Care Clinic in North Bend and had C.J.’s wound looked at and stitched up by a doctor.

Great trip!