Day 13-14: Santiago, La Serena
from Photographs of Chile, November 2003 by Tim Darling
(Click on the photos..)
Wednesday, November 12 - Santiago
More than once in Chile, on a bus or in a restaurant, I heard the
Chariots of Fire theme on the stereo. It's very funny to be
reaching for a dramatically long strand of linguine just as it kicks in.
On the two hour bus ride back to Santiago, I sat right behind the
driver. There was a plate of glass between me and him, and on it was
typed: "Vidrio Fragil. Favor no apotar los pies. Gracias". Literally
translated, this means: "Fragile glass. Please do not throw pies. Thank
you."
In Santiago, I found my way back to Los Leones which was the strip of bars
that Carlos had taken me to almost two weeks before. I stopped at one of
the places there and asked the waiter if he knew any good Italian
places. He had lied to me when he said his bar made the best Piña Coladas
in town (for some reason I'd been wanting one ever since the bike ride),
but I figured he was worth another chance. I think he wasn't
lying when he said the
Bice Restaurant in the Hotel InterContinental was the best place in
Providencia. I walked over to it, discovering that it was a couple blocks back
from the 'American sector' which Carlos had also shown me. It's expensive, but
if you're in town, it's definitely worth a visit.
Thursday, November 13 - Santiago, La Serena
I rented a green 4x4 truck in the morning and drove six hours north to
La Serena. There's very little along the way. You can go fifty miles or
more between gas stations or any real highway exit. Occasionally you'll
see small lemonade-type structures on the side of the highway selling
things. Men and women stand in front of their corrugated steel-roofed
shacks holding up skinned animal carcasses. Sometimes goats will pop
out onto the road in front of you, crossing the highway with such a
nonchalance that you have to wonder where the carcasses-for-sale came from.
I stopped halfway there for lunch and noticed one of my tires was a little
flat. I stopped at a gas station and was quickly harassed by some local woman who claimed she was
pregnant (humorously, the local word for baby is 'guagua' which is
pronounced 'wah-wah'). While I was trying to put air in the tire, she kept
trying to read my palm which made it a little difficult. Eventually a
mechanic came over with a gauge, topped all the tires up, and gave me a
thumbs up sign. I almost had to run over the woman to get out of
there. The tire was fine after that, but that kind of thing can be
worrying on a long, mostly empty Pan-American highway.
La Serena is a decently large city with a strip of hotels on the beach,
though the rest of the city sits back a bit from it. My $25/night hotel
room was right on the beach. It even had its own kitchen, complete
with a sink, fridge, oven, and table! The bedroom had a TV that got
English language shows, all of which were subtitled except for The
Simpsons which was overdubbed (and everyone sounded like the Bumblebee
Man).
I had to pick up a pass to visit the Tololo Observatory on Sunday. I had
an email that said to pick up the pass at the corner of two streets just
outside the city center. Since I had no luck finding a map of the city
that was larger than ten streets wide, it took me at least an hour to find
the spot.
The observatory's office sits at the top of a large hill with a gate and a
security guard at the bottom. On the way up the hill, you pass all the
houses of the people who work there. (Though the observatory itself is at
least thirty miles outside of town).
When I got back, I had to ask the girl at the hotel desk how to light the
gas stove. I hope she realized that the only gas stoves I'd used before
all had pilot lights. I would have waved a match around in it but my
cooking is tragedy enough without adding a major conflagration to the
mix. But probably she called all her friends later that night: "So guess
who's away from his butler for the first time?.."
Day 15-17: La Serena, Elqui Valley, El Tololo Observatory, Fray Jorge
Your Comments
Hi Tim, I've been looking through your website, and I like it very much. Both
words and pictures (yeah, specially pictures) are very inspired and I really
enjoyed following your trips. I found your website because i was looking
pictures of Budapest (where I am studying this year as an exchange student)
trams on Google and I saw your picture, and I definitely had to enter your
site. I just wanted to comment about the "Favor no apotar los pies", probably
it was "apoyar", and it means "please, don't rest your feet against the glass"
:) Also, if you want to check some of my pictures from Budapest, here is a blog
about it that I am starting now (sorry for the spanish):
http://spaces.msn.com/members/espaciovictorial/
-- Victor, May 16, 2005
Vidrio Fragil. Favor no apotar los pies. Gracias". Literally translated, this
means: "Fragile glass. Please do not throw pies. Thank you." Learn your
spanish lol its feet not "pies" hehe and not throw lol.
http://www.spanishdict.com/learn/index.cfm
-- J, Sep 11, 2005
Add a comment
All text and pictures copyright © 2003 Tim Darling.
I rented a green 4x4 truck in the morning and drove six hours north to
La Serena. There's very little along the way. You can go fifty miles or
more between gas stations or any real highway exit. Occasionally you'll
see small lemonade-type structures on the side of the highway selling
things. Men and women stand in front of their corrugated steel-roofed
shacks holding up skinned animal carcasses. Sometimes goats will pop
out onto the road in front of you, crossing the highway with such a
nonchalance that you have to wonder where the carcasses-for-sale came from.
La Serena is a decently large city with a strip of hotels on the beach,
though the rest of the city sits back a bit from it. My $25/night hotel
room was right on the beach. It even had its own kitchen, complete
with a sink, fridge, oven, and table! The bedroom had a TV that got
English language shows, all of which were subtitled except for The
Simpsons which was overdubbed (and everyone sounded like the Bumblebee
Man).