It is Day 11 of our trip, and we are still in Santiago. For the second time on this trip. Day 1 - Santiago, Chile; Day 2 to 6, Mendoza and Aconcagua. Day 7 to 11- Santiago and vicinity, again. Still waiting for the motorcycle. Hopefully we will receive it tomorrow and will start our adventure… we are both anxious to depart!.
Fortunately, we are comfortably lodged on the living room floor of an Argentine friend I met in Mexico. Ivana works for HP Chile and is helping us deal with the difficult AEI logistics company, AIAIAI as they call them here in HP Santiago. We have also been able to mix our less than fulfilling phonecalls with AIAIAI with some wine tasting in a couple of Santiago´s wineries - some of the better winery tours in our small but growing repetoire.
From Ivana´s balcony we have a view of the Cordillera (the Andes mountains), the rising full moon at midnight and Spanish looking streets. Walking through the streets at 8:30 am, It feels like being in Barcelona in the summer. It is already warm, and the tree lines streets were welcome refuge to the sun. I walk between geometric glass skyscrapers and the old National Archive that hints at the strong literary and cultural values of this country. I am a little underdressed among the well dressed business men and women who hurry passed me down metro steps, into cafes, or off to work.
The Spanish influence is strong, and wherever we go people are fascinated by Enric and that he really is from Spain. Most people have a relative from Zaragoza or Barcelona or Granada or the Pais Vasco. Despite their juxtaposition, Chile and Argentina are quite different - rivals acknowledged by both. In one week we learned that: Chileans vacation in February and Argentines in January, Argentines pronounce the letter y and ll like a j, but both countries leave the letter "s" off the end of words. In Chile, the bottom floor of a building is "First Floor", and in Argentina, it is the "bottom floor". Chileans are super polite. Road construction warning signs ask people to "Kindly prefer going another direction." "Cancelar" (cancel) means pay a bill, the only logic we found is that the only way to pay a bill, is canceling your debt.
Kelly
Veronica still has chances to win!, GO, Vero GO!. My "friends"/co-workers from HP Guadalajara are betting on which country we will abort our motorcycle operation/trip.
I am in the bet with them and to win we must make a successful return to San Diego, crossing the 18 countries before us on bike. Veronica pulled Chile's tag, and hopes secretly that we don't make out of the starting block. Coincidently, she is in charge of HP logistics, and I am suspicious that she may be behind some of the difficulties we have had shipping the motorcycle out of Mexico and into Chile. Yes Vero, you still have a chance.
MAÑANA we should receive our motorcycle (Vero, please!). We are both anxious to receive it so that we can start our descent of Chile and find the Carretera Austral, 1,000 Km of dirt roads that negotiate the southern Chilean Fiords. We only know that the green line on the map means that the road is unpaved, and supposedly winds could reach 120 kmh (only at night THEY tell us). We'll keep you posted.
Enric
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