{"id":20442,"date":"2011-03-14T19:57:14","date_gmt":"2011-03-15T01:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=20442"},"modified":"2011-03-14T19:57:14","modified_gmt":"2011-03-15T01:57:14","slug":"santiago-travelogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/03\/14\/santiago-travelogue.html","title":{"rendered":"Santiago Travelogue"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Random thoughts, untweeted, of the trip thus far.<\/p>\n

The flight on Air Canada down from Toronto was not bad.\u00a0 At 10 hours, it’s enough time to watch a movie, get a decent sleep, then watch another movie. Unfortunately, none of the movies appealed, nor most of the TV re-runs.\u00a0 I ended up watching a trio of (new series) “Hawaii Five-0” eps (and enjoying it more than I remembered).<\/p>\n

One disadvantage of being on a flight to Chile on an Air Canada plane — all PA announcements are done in English.\u00a0 Then in French. Then in Spanish.\u00a0 This can interrupt your TV\/movie watching something awful.<\/p>\n

Alas, I had someone in the middle seat beside me, so my sleep was a bit constrained. I was in-and-out for about six hours, which isn’t too bad, but not great.\u00a0 My pre-sleep prep was hampered by not being able to turn on my seat light, which, on the 777 we were on, shone horizontally across my neighbors’ heads\/faces.\u00a0\u00a0 Impolite, and it made rooting around in my brief case a bit difficult<\/p>\n

Northern Chile is one of the driest, most deserty places in the world. I can now attest to this, having flown over it.\u00a0 It makes southern Utah look like the Amazon.\u00a0 It would be perfect for a fake Mars landing.<\/p>\n

Eventually you come across river valleys with irrigation.\u00a0 As you fly lower — and as you drive into Santiago from the airport — you realize that the area is a mix of Californias — a bit of Ventura County agriculture, a bit of Palm Springs palm trees, a bit of Bakersfield butting up against sere hills, a bit of 395-style high desert with high peaks in the background, a bit of pretty-much-anywhere dotted with eucalyptus trees.<\/p>\n

Santiago itself is a mixed bag (from a quick drive by car).\u00a0 There are not-quite-shanty-towns along the way, lots of corrugated steel roofs and additions that laugh at the idea of “building codes.”<\/p>\n

A lot of vacant billboards, too.<\/p>\n

It was rather comforting — since I was in one of the last rows out, plus the delay for getting the local visa, etc. — to see the driver still waiting for me.<\/p>\n

Less comforting is being around a lot of people who simply don’t speak my language (or, much more properly, whose language I do not speak).\u00a0 I have a little guide book, but it is frustrating.\u00a0 It provides the sparest of glimpses into the mind of a Spanish-speaker coming to the US — yes, there’s incentive to learn the tongue, but hanging out with people who know and speak your own language is a remarkably comforting and communal thing to do.<\/p>\n

The more central city — the Las Condes business area — is certainly more upscale, though stuff here is, if not new and shiny, worn and frayed and crumbling.\u00a0 The populace is half-Mediterranean, half-general European. Lots of international names on the hotels, banks, stores, and fast food.<\/p>\n

I barely had time to check in and take a quick shower and get be-suited before we had to leave the hotel to go to the office (I’m here with a group of six others).\u00a0 The afternoon went pretty quickly for the most part, and, clearly, the hotel has a very strong WiFi.<\/p>\n

Went out to dinner at the recommended Coco Loco, not far from the hotel. Food was very good (exquisite Chilean sea bass in a garlic sauce, great shrimp in a garlic-chili mix), service was fair, prices seemed a bit pricey.<\/p>\n

After dinner, turned on the TV.<\/p>\n