My flight to Santiago didn’t start well when the lady at the check-in counter worriedly informed me she couldn’t find me on the list of passengers. Fortunately I’d made a note of the ticket number and she looked it up, only to find my ticket had been booked for the 9th June. She kindly found a seat on the correct plane and switched me over without charge, so if you want to get from Buenos Aires to Santiago I’d recommend Air Canada, which seems an unlikely carrier for the area, but the flight carries on from Santiago to Toronto.
The flight was amazing value. The combination of a lie-flat bed, great food and a decent onboard entertainment system was nearly good enough to distract me from the view out the window. Flying over the Andes is just as stunning as driving at ground level. The peaks stretch back all the way to the horizon, snow-capped and golden in the early evening light. As we neared Santiago a light mist obscured the ground making the peaks look like a sea of islands.
Santiago airport is a fair way from the city centre so I shared a minibus with an angry chap who demanded to be dropped off first. Not being too bothered I didn’t argue, but the driver was sticking to his list and I was first in so first out, whilst the driver laughed at the other chap.
The hotel I’d booked looked perfectly alright on the website, but in person it was utterly dire. The outside and lobby were fine but as soon as you walked up the stairs, past the broken lift, it changed for the worse. The room was full of long dark hairs and the bathroom was missing most of its fittings. There was no outside light, and the electric lights were exceedingly dim, which thankfully served to hide the rest of the hairs spread over the bed sheets. Weirdest of all was the 30cm square serving hatch in the door, accessible from both sides, effectively leaving a large hole in the door through which you could either peer through, or comfortably reach inside and open the door. First order of business for the next day was to find a new hotel.
For dinner I left the others in a curry house and walked into the bad area of town to find a Pancho Completo. I’d been waiting for months to try one, ever since seeing the Chile edition of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations show. This is a huge hot dog, smothered with sauerkraut, fresh tomato, guacamole and mayonnaise. Sadly it wasn’t actually that tasty – the cold tomato and avocado cool the sausage down too much – but I’m glad I tried it as it’s a national institution.
The following day I had a lazy morning, and then on the others recommendation tried the curry house from the previous night. Dinner was sushi. I didn’t actually do anything useful all day except eat nice food.
Sunday was the day of the Santiago marathon. This closed most of the main roads in the town, making getting about on the surface quite tricky. The subway here is excellent but quite busy, and I’ve not figured out the buses or their routes yet. I went over to help the others move hotel then we went over to the Bellavista neighbourhood for lunch. This is an area of artist’s workshops and cafes, and a large complex called the Patio. Despite the array of cuisines on offer we all plumped for a hamburger which was ok but nothing fancy.
The rest of the afternoon we sat in a bar going through a variety of drinks until we could muster up the enthusiasm to move over to another neighbourhood called Providencia for the evening. This is more of a residential district and has a selection of midrange restaurants, which all seemed closed. Eventually we got ushered into a restaurant called El Indio Picano for a very average meal during which a man kept scurrying round the restaurant with a large sheet of paper. As we finished and paid the bill he presented us with an awful caricature. We’d both gained pointy noses and despite being clean shaven for once I apparently have a goatee beard. Fortunately for him we saw the funny side and paid him the requested $4.
The next day I did absolutely nothing of use. It’s good I’m coming back to Santiago in a few days. I should try to look round a little…
