Sunday 22 October 1995

We had a pleasant breakfast with the four Canadians. A waiter saw our guidebook on Chile and began conversing with Mary. She was very pleased when he complimented her on her Castellano, and even the Canadian sitting opposite her said he was impressed. We've come to realize that a lot of our ability in Castellano depends on context more than our knowledge of the language. When your conversing about a certain subject, there are certain obvious options of what is being said or asked at each step of the conversation, and you can grasp a couple of words here and there and fill in what the gaps must be from the context. So, you may give the impression that you've understood every word that's been said, when in fact you only caught one or two here and there and did some good guessing in between, filled in with nodding and shrugging.
After breakfast we took a taxi to the Alameda bus terminal. This was very efficient with full computer reservations, tiled floors and TV arrival and departure monitors. There was a 20-minute service to Vineyard del Mar and the next bus left in 5 minutes. The uniform crew took out bags and gave us a check receipt and the trip was very pleasant and comfortable. The hotel O'Higgins is just a couple of blocks from the bus station and we walked there. This is an old style hotel with an old hand driven Otis elevator. Much brass work to be polished.

We went for a walk along the sea and found a restaurant on the pier. All you can eat and drink (aperitifs, wine and shopp), buffet lunch. It was quite good but there was a lot of choice. We sat and watched the seabirds along the water as we ate - boobies, terns, cormorants and pelicans. The water was cold and the few who ventured in did not stay in too long. In the evening we went along to the railway station to find out that there is a frequent service of trains to Valparaiso.

Monday 23 October 1995

On our way to the railway station we called into the bus station to find out about the buses for our return to Santiago. It turns out they run at 15 minute intervals so it is a question of just turning up when you want to leave. We took the electric train from Vina del Mar to Valparaiso. This was pretty good even though it was a few minutes late. A dog had been sleeping on the platform and got on as well. It went under a seat where it was hidden from the ticket collector's eyes by a lady's skirt. When she got off, it moved under another lady's skirt. It got off before the end of the line so it seems that it knew what it was doing. Perhaps it commutes this way every day.

Vina del mar

We went to the end of the line at Puerto and walked past a ship's chandler's and fish and chip shops (a cat was sleeping in a fish box) to the bottom of the Bella Vista funicula. We walked around the top and then found a way down, encountering many very mangy cats on the way. We called in at the Chandler and decided to get a brass portal ship's clock and matching barometer. They are beautiful but we would need to find a way of carrying them. We found a nice restaurant called Bar Ingles, for lunch. The special was conger eel which was very good. There was an all male birthday party going on at the next table complete with party hats, noise makers and streamers. The center of attraction was quite embarrassed, especially when the well built waitress kissed him. All the men kept their party hats on throughout the meal except for one who was too embarrassed.

Several people warned us on the streets to be careful as tourists and we decided to get an early train back to Vina del Mar. We tried to eat dinner at a Basque restaurant but were thwarted by the Latin pension for eating late. It looked closed so we ate at another one only to pass the Basque one fully open as we walked back to the hotel. We started with avocado and Mary had filet mignon with mushrooms while Colin had jardin de mariscos. We've come to realize that appetizers are the same in Paraguay, Chile and Argentina: palta (avocado) topped with your choice of chicken or chopped up ham, hearts of palm, and salads composed of lettuce, tomato, carrot and beets.

Tuesday 24 October 1995

When we came to check out we found there had been a mistake with the bill. We purchased a case to carry the clock and the barometer then went to a museum of natural history and Easter island. It was not very good and many of the stuffed birds and animals were very moth eaten. We were the only people in the place and we will follow it around by a little old man who turned the lights on and off for us and started the audio background sounds for each gallery. The floors were highly waxed and our boots squeaked every time we moved as did the curators. We tried to outrun him but the squeaking gave us away every time.
We found the Basque restaurant open for lunch and had an excellent paella accompanied by a lovely Chilean wine. Waiters have an honorable profession in Latin America and these were particularly good and attentive. The owner was a fan of Marilyn Monroe and had 170 of her pictures around the place. We lanched early because we wanted to catch the bus back to Santiago in the early afternoon. There was one other couple having lunch at the same time as us. It turned out that they were on the same bus to Santiago, which explained why they had lunch so unfashionably early. People in these countries go for lunch after 2:30; anything earlier is just not done.
We took a cab to the bus station and were treated to the same efficiency we experienced on the way in. We only had 5 minutes to wait before departure and had computer seat reservations and checked baggage. The journey back was a little longer because of the traffic in Vina del Mar and took almost exactly 2 hours. At Santiago the taxi drivers had collars and ties and we were quickly back to the Crowne Plaza Holiday Inn.

Wednesday 25 October 1995

We walked along to the St. Cristobel funicular railway and rode to the top. There is a good view of Santiago but there was quite a bit of mist. We came down and looked for a place to eat. The first restaurant was dirty so we chose another which, it turned out, had the same name, and Mary was convinced it also had the same kitchen although this seemed unlikely as there were several other businesses in between the two places. Cats seem to be important in the life of the city. There was a cat sleeping in its own box covered by a small blanket by a shoeshine man. Another stall had a cat sleeping in a jewelry case.
After lunch we returned to the hotel and met up with the group so that we could leave our bags on the bus. We walked down to the Central Plaza De Los Alamos area and sat watching the crowds. Men were playing chess in the bandstand and there were many workers in the park. People were taking photographs and artists were painting canvases for sale.
It was a long walk down to the Alameda Railway Station where we met up with the group, found our bags and took them onto the train. We caught the 20:30 overnight sleeping car train to Temuco. The car was a 1920 vintage sleeper built in Germany. It did not ride very well and was very dusty, the attendant wore a face mask when he made up the beds. At least we had privacy and hot and cold running water. There was a shower at the end of the car but it did not look too inviting.

Overnight train at Santiago

The cars are very tall and it was a big climb into the top bunk for Colin. No sooner had we gone to bed when there was a loud banging along the roof and the train stopped. It turned out that the pantograph from the electric locomotive had disintegrated and pieces dragged along the roof bouncing up to the overhead wire with bright flashes. The crew stopped the train and examined both the roof and the overhead wire. This took almost an hour so we had quite a bit of time to get to sleep before the train started to move again.

Thursday 26 October 1995

The incident with the pantograph caused us to be about two hours late into Temuco - and hauled by a diesel. This gave us more time to get breakfast in the comedor. This was a rather laborious process seeing that they only had ham and eggs. It seems you either got a fork or spoon but not both, and what you ordered had nothing to do with what was actually allocated to you by the waiter.
At Temuco we transferred to a steam charter train for the long ride to Osorno. The weather was beautiful and the spring colors were shown off to good effect. There were many yellow flowers on trees like golf while the copihue trees have a brilliant red flower. On occasion the entire wood looked to be a mixture of red and yellow. The apple blossom was in full bloom. This was the first time that a steam locomotive had come along this section of line for 30 years. At one station the entire school was waiting for us. Each class was there lined up with its teacher - they really liked the Operation Lifesaver pins. Just after this a police car came chasing after us with its lights flashing and siren on. It turned out that one of the group had been left behind and the police had taken it upon themselves to reunite her with the train. Everybody took it in good part and had a good time.
The local fire department came out at Loncoche to fill the tender with water. They were very important looking with their uniforms. Many of the people have Indian features, flat faces, black hair, high cheekbones and rosy cheeks. One kid held up his pet rabbit so that it could see us better. Not everyone was happy to see us, one man was really irate because his cattle was stampeded by the train.

Spectators.

The weather really increased the enjoyment of the trip. As dusk approached the light slanted in really well. At Antilheu we took water and were pretty well mobbed by the children. A couple of enterprising ladies brought down a basket of home baked items which received a quick sale. One lady went hurrying back for more.
We were stopped at one station for a TV camera crew to come aboard. It was dark by this time but they filmed using their own lights. It was a great occasion for the region.
We got out wearily at Osorno and gratefully boarded the buses for the hour and a half ride to Puerto Montt and our hotel.

Friday 27 October 1995

Breakfast was in a room that looked out onto the bay and we could see freighters coming in quite close. We boarded the buses for the lakes crossing of the Andes. The weather was perfect - a clear blue sky. This was unusual because there are normally four rainy days in five in this area. The first part was by bus into the mountains with a stop at Petrohue Falls where we had some good views of a near perfect snow covered volcano. We transferred to a boat across Lago Todos Los Santos with a short bus ride to a hotel for lunch. The set meal was very good and was washed down with a good bottle of Chilean wine. We were then put into three small buses for the ride across the border into Argentina. We were separated because we had to go in the order set out in the lists that were given to the police. It was not really clear whether this was a police rule or whether this was just Latin American bureaucracy at work. The first ridee took all of five minutes to the Chilean police station where we saw a very large spider with hairy legs. The next part was a very pleasant ride up in narrow winding pass to the border crossing itself. There were several flocks of ibis which only eat worms. As we climbed higher it was interesting to see bamboo growing through quite deep snow. The lengua trees are the only deciduous trees in this area all others trees are coniferous.
The Argentinian border post was close to Lago Frias. This time we were made to line up in the actual order set out in the list that had been given to the police. We were called one by one and finally made it through and could get on the boat for the 20 minute ride across the lake. There are steep cliffs on all sides and we saw several condors wheeling around high above the rock faces. Another short bus ride brought us to Lago Nahuel Huapi and a comfortable catamaran trip to Bariloche. This boat had a good counter which served real coffee with steam heated milk. Word soon got around and a long que formed to buy a cup of real coffee.

At Bariloche two buses were waiting to take us the 20 minute ride to the hotel which is right in town. We had dinner with John Kirchner at a parrillada which served good lamb and excellent chinchulines, and a wonderful homemade type of hot sauce chimichurri. When we attempted to find the salsa later in stores a clerk in a chocolate shop and his customer explained to us that this type of hot salsa was not available commercially because it does not keep well, that it was made fresh in restaurants.