Santiago, Valparaiso and an Earthquake: 24th Feb - 2nd Mar 2010

Wednesday: Arriving early into Santiago at 6am we had some time to kill and so opted for the delights of the Terminal Cafe to kill an hour or so. Taking the metro to downtown to Hotel Neruda, we were pleasantly surprised by the efficiency and cleanliness of the underground a far cry from the tube back in the big smoke. At the hotel we were met with suspicious looks from the staff who weren't convinced these two backpackers had a reservation there! With Carolyn and Bob arriving early afternoon and check in not till 11am we went for a stroll of the immediate area appreciating the mix of modern office buildings amongst some older architecture and park areas. Once we were in the hotel room we headed straight for the bath! The first for 4 and ½ months (with the exception of the pathetic miniature bath in Puerto Natales)! Carolyn and Bob turned up on time and after an emotional hello (Lynne and Carolyn were both weepy-eyed) Carolyn and Bob went for a siesta after their long journey and we went for another stroll.

In the evening we headed for a walk along the river and enjoyed a few drinks in a trendy roof top terrace bar where Bob sampled his first Pisco Sour (the local tipple). This was followed by dinner at a local recommended seafood restaurant. The food was fantastic and it was an opportunity for Carolyn and Bob to enjoy the Argentinian vino.

Thursday: David acted as tour guide with the use of the Lonely Planet suggested walk – although his Spanish was questionable! The walk took in several sights of the city including: Cerro Santa Lucia, which offered a view of the city after a hike up a long stairway! (Unfortunately it was a little smoggy in the morning); The Palacio de Bellas – an art museum set in a leafy part of town; a coffee break; Plaza de Armas – a beautiful square with the city's Cathedral; El Rapido – for some cheese and prawn empanadas (highly recommended) – a first for the Jeffreys!; Palacio de la Moneda – the Presidential Palace, which staged the bloody 1973 coup and which was closed during the subsequent dictatorship and whose reopening in 2000 was an important event for Chileans; and finally the Bolsa de Comercio (the Chilean Stock Exchange). The final stop suggested by David was the Cafes con Piernas – Chile's answer to Hooters! The waitresses wear very little and have very long legs...surprisingly Lynne and Carolyn preferred a cafe further down the road!! We finished with drinks at a local cafe where we witnessed the Chilean obsession with Tarot cards and more excitingly a “patch war” between card readers – scary stuff! Although we couldn't help question – surely they saw it coming?!?!

We kicked off the evening with a photo slide show from our trips. To ease the event we enjoyed the New Zealand Vodka Carolyn and Bob had brought with them. We felt Bob and Carolyn were very polite in showing a continued interest through all of our albums! Unfortunately Bob's session was cut short due to David's overrun!! With all of us “photo'd out” we found our way to Vacas Gordas in Barrio Brasil (the trendy / arty area of the city). A local favourite and the steaks were fabulous!

Fri: Taking the 11am bus we made our way to Valparaiso – the busy, lively port town under 2 hours from Santiago. It is safe to say that we all had a view of what the town would look like but upon arrival it soon dawned on us that it didn't fit with the dainty seaside resort we all expected. Nonetheless, during the walk from the station to our hotel – La Puerta del Acala – we started to appreciate the older colonial architecture and nice plazas on offer. The town sprawls up the towering hills surrounding it, all the buildings are painted brightly and the resulting view is really striking. The hotel was near the port area and we spent the first afternoon exploring the local area (obviously including a review of the town's empanadas & coffee). After a siesta we climbed the Cerro Concepcion, one of the many hill top areas overlooking the town with streets filled of quaint cafes & restaurants. We found a little jazz bar to have dinner before retiring for the night.

Later that night – 3:35am.......

As you all are aware at this time on the Friday night, Chile was hit by an 8.8 strength Earthquake just north of Conception. Valparaiso is situated ~300km north of the epicentre and yet the town was rocked badly. The walls of the hotel shook for what we thought was roughly one and a half minutes. We won't go into too much detail but it was truly a humbling and terrifying moment for us all. We spent the rest of the early morning in the hotel foyer with the other guests and management awaiting news and eventually retired to bed at ~5:30am. However, there wasn't to be too much sleep as there were a number of large tremors which had us running for the door! The next morning, we were impressed with how much the town had got back to normal, with buses running, electricity restored and breakfast being served downstairs. It was only as we watched the news channels with all the other guests that we witnessed the devastating effects that the earthquake has had on the Chilean population. Later that morning, (after grabbing some light relief from the 6 nations game) we went for a walk and saw the damage to the town itself. It was very upsetting to see residential buildings with considerable damage and families sitting in the streets with their belongings. Our initial thought was to return to Santiago as soon as possible but decided to stay a second night following the disruption to the city and country. That night was spent on edge especially as we had to ride out several more tremors that had us jumping out of bed and getting dressed to sprint downstairs!

Sunday: After a fairly sleepless night, we gathered for breakfast early and decided to make our way to the bus station to try and take an earlier bus to Santiago rather than head over to Vińa del Mar for the day. We caught a bus easily and arrived back in Santiago bus station by early afternoon. Whilst Carolyn and Bob grabbed a well earned siesta in the hotel followed by a walk, we headed to the riverside for ours. In the evening we enjoyed a fantastic Italian meal in a much more relaxed environment than the last few days. The downtown area of Santiago we were staying in seemed to have survived fairly intact – although our hotel was having major issues with a leaking roof in the foyer! That night, we all slept a lot better but again were shocked to feel several further smaller tremors.

Monday: Whilst we slept in, Carolyn and Bob were up early to join the massive queue outside the Lan (Chilean Airline) office to try and sort out the remainder of their trip as Santiago Airport was now closed for at least 3 days. We met them as they approached the front of the queue and 30 minutes later they had resurfaced with a new itinerary. In short, they were now to accompany us to Mendoza before flying from there to BA and onto El Calafate. Not wanting to rush off, we all decided to stay in Santiago one more night and then travel to Mendoza together on the bus. Carolyn and Bob spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon re-arranging hotel bookings, etc, whilst we headed out to explore Barrio Brasil. This area is really picturesque and it rose up in our estimations even further when we came across 'Pao Food' that served us some of the best empanadas of our trip so far...in fact we're even willing to label them as Chile's best!! After further exploration of Barrio Londres & Paris we headed back to meet up with Carolyn and Bob for a few relaxing drinks to wind down after a long day for them. For Lynne and David, our last evening in Chile was spent on takeaway pizza and in the local mercado using up our Chilean Pesos to the last cent!

Tues: Making it to the Bus Station in plenty more time than usual (the “Carolyn effect”) we set off for Mendoza. We're still impressed that that bus was able to fit in all the passengers' luggage after Carolyn and Bob's four cases filled half the available space! This 9 hour journey was to give Carolyn and Bob an opportunity to experience 'real' backpacking – it turned out they found the bus journey a breeze! The views afforded by the hair-pin roads up the Andes were astonishing. They helped to take the mind off the lack of barrier between the bus wheels and a sheer drop only feet away! The border crossing (the last between these two countries for us – hooray!) was a little painful as expected but Bob was happy to have the opportunity to snap snap snap away on his new digi camera! At Mendoza bus station we headed off our separate ways – Carolyn and Bob off to slum it in the Hyatt Regency, whilst we whistled our way to the delightful Oasis Hostel.

We all felt more comfortable leaving Chile with the hangover of the earthquake keeping us awake at night there, but left feeling very lucky that we were all together when it hit and that none of us were hurt. We also left feeling very sorry for the Chilean People and wishing them all the very best in their recovery. For Lynne and I this was the end of our Chilean adventure and although we looked forward to getting back to Argentina, it is always sad saying goodbye to another country, especially one which provided highlights such as Torres del Paine – Ciao Chile, Suerte!