Linares Chile by Night

Night time hits in Linares, Chile where Carolina and I were stranded due to what we now (almost a week alter the fact) know was probably due to a bad batch of oil. So part of the engine nearly caught on fire and the whole car shut down while we were going about 120 Km/hr.

Luckily Carolina has one of these roadside assistance insurance plans. They came to the rescue and put us up in a (crappy) hotel with a view of the center of town, La plaza de armas de Linares…imagínate!

It’s a lot like many small Chilean towns that I’ve had the chance to see. For some reason I thought of Salamanca, where I stayed over the course of 20 weeks while teaching English at a copper mine a little less than three years ago. For some reason though the place was pretty lively, not in a New York sort of way, but rather in a lets get ice cream or pizza or beer kind of way. Plus every single teenager was in one side of the plaza, while the older youth of Linares gathered around the perimeter of the place listening to music in their cars. But no one was doing the time honored activity of “crusin the loop,” despite the fact that this plaza, well actually any of them for that matter, seems built to do circles round.

So we saw it for a second, and then returned to the fourth floor of the crappy hotel (where I should say the clerk had a porn movie going on in a small TV below the counter. We couldn’t see it, but we could hear it, real classy place, but free) and I watched the flow of people and cars pass by the strange wolf or dog statues they had in each corner of the plaza. Why they were there?...A mystery.

a midnight scene under the moon

Facing the Andes under a full moon as the generator hits the bottom of the fuel tank the pool took on an almost mystic quality. The moon was bright enough to draw shadows beneath the trees and light my way.

Best friend for five minutes

One of the things I enjoy about wandering around in Chile is that you meet lots of random street dogs. Some of them are in a sad state, some of them are as free and as happy as doggedly possible. This guy was somewhere in between.

Fresh Fruit

Along the highway are tons of these small fruit stands where you can walk away with boxes of fresh and extremely cheap fruit. We came across this one en route to a mountain cabin in Chillan.

Movistar's 3G

So I went out today to sign up for Movistar Chile's 3G offer. They are still marketing it for laptops, I think they may have one or two handsets offered through their store that can use the HSDPA network.

So among the things they say:

600kbps downlink
Same coverage as GSM voice signal
It will be activated today

It is a bit pricey at this point..about 30,000 pesos a month. Hopefully that will come down soon, but I imagine it could take a little while.

Why did I get it? I wanted to be able to work from wherever I please and not depend on some Cafe's crappy WiFi signal. I want to also be able to use it on my phone...I won a Nokia N95 last year when they launched it here and haven't really been able to take advantage of some of its advanced features..save the 5megapixel camera...which took the photo in the header, and the MP3 player.

So we'll see how the service goes.

How do you know you are not much of a "mountaineer"

When you have to be rescued by a helicopter from Cerro Manquehue. Granted its a bit steep in some parts, and if you get off course you could get into some pretty nasty areas. But it is one of the easiest climbs around Santiago and at around 1600 meters it is pretty small for Chile. It isn't really part of the Andes. Several of the taller peaks surrounding Santiago stretch past 5,000 meters, to put it in perspective.

Having said that though it is a fun hill to "summit". Unfortunately it has no sort of protection or caretakers, so in many places people have written on rocks, littered or worse. More its known to be a bit dangerous thanks to thieves that pray on lone hikers. Best to go in a group. But despite some of its down points its definitely worth a try, it has a great view of the city and the mountains around it. Just download the route from Andeshandbook.cl first and don't end up like these four who were rescued. What's next? Aerial rescue from Cerro Santa Lucia?

Santiago in February

I always have associated February as a time of cold, thanks to the homeland of Iowa. It was always the coldest month, the month when winter becomes a bit too much to deal with and thoughts turn to the upcoming springtime, even if it is still several months off.

In Santiago though, with the seasons upside down, it is the peak of summer. Hot scorching days (though it’s a dry heat) mark the second month of the year. Its also prime time for vacations and traveling. As such the city feels almost deserted at times. I went outside this morning to find a newspaper and every single kiosk within three blocks of my apartment (about four of them) were closed.

When I first arrived in Chile February was the off season, since I was teaching English. It was part of the three month period that lasts from late December into mid March where there is no work. So I traveled. I rambled through the north of Chile, then onward to Peru and Bolivia one year. The next year Carolina and I went to Torres Del Paine for a 12 day trek. Two years straight of great travel and new experiences.

Not the last two years though, full time work has meant that I spend most of the month in the city, save a quick jaunt for the weekend to the beach or the mountains. This year was much better than last. I enjoy my work more, I got to travel back to Iowa and to Boston for work, and we escaped to Pucon between Christmas and New Years and had a great time. I even got to see an erupting volcano on the bus ride back.

But about this time of year I start to feel a bit anxious. I want to sit at the beach. All the “llegó Verano” (Summer’s arrived) commercials on TV seem to make it worse. The city seems a bit more boring and harder to deal with. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to complain here. When I traveled I would return broke and stay that way until about May. Plus if you end up traveling these months you pay a whole lot more for everything, especially bus tickets and lodging.

But still, there is a part of me who just wants to be on a bus without worrying about when I will get back and how long it will take me to get caught up or deal with that back to work blues that always hits after a vacation.

Can we give this another shot?

Its been a very long time since I wrote in this blog. I was actually thinking of laying it to rest. I still think maybe I should. The whole thing started when I came to Chile in October 2004. I think maybe I started it in November. It was a travel blog at that point. It was my contact with the world I used to know as home, it was a log of the places I went. Entries about basic food items like Empanadas and completos, places like the plaza de armas. The things you think to write about only when they are so new.

How things have changed. I can't say I'm a traveler anymore, I've put some roots down. I've lived in the same apartment now for over two years. I don't have three month periods to roam around the continent. I work at least eight hours a day. I'm getting married. I have to ask for vacation.

But I don't want to really just pitch this one aside. I need to some how reinvent it. I'm sure no one that might've checked it before still does. I haven't been a good updater. Just look at the archives, single digits for the entries in 2007.

So, I could write one of those "things are going to change" entries, but I don't want to waste your time today. Check back tomorrow, if there is something here than maybe there is a chance I could bring it back.

We'll just have to wait and see.....