On the Road

Be careful of what you get at streetside markets

aussie_gringo — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 04:39:00 GMT

Sorry I havent written in a while. There have been too many things afoot and i have been tied up trying to create things to talk about in this journal rather than actually writing. So a lot of this is back track but its all I can manage at the moment!

Arica, Chile - Most of you probably know that I was planning on coming to South America on my lonesome but due to some fortunate circumstances I now have a fantastic travelling companion who not only speaks Spanish but is also able to put up with me for extended periods (thanks Rod!). But having said that for the sake of my Spanish and also for a little bit of independence I thought it was time to venture out and have a look around without the aid of Rodrigo. So we went our separate ways - him on a 50km bike ride into the desert to see a lagoon (couldnt have paid me enough to go along) and me to the seaside resort town of Arica in Chile´s north. I arrived in town and with the aid of my Spanish translation dictionary was able to book myself a room. I wondered around town, looking at the weird and wonderful seafood on display and finally fell upon the port which harboured, to my great delight, some sealions which were basking in the sun and waiting hopefully for discarded fish bits from the fishermen. With great spirits I pushed further into the city´s heart and found some awesome markets selling among other things rastas of Bob Marley and cute silver trinkets.

It seems to be a great Chilean teenage tradition to get things pierced. This could possibly be due to the political activity of the country and the follow on effects that this must have on its youth. Chilean teenagers are active, anarchist punks - tattooed and pierced to the nines in all sort of strange places. So it was kinda hard not to get caught up in it all. Afterall - Chile was in the middle of its presidential elections and all throughout town there was a fever of something new afoot. Lavin, the current president, has served the length of his presidency and his departure has heralded the arrival of several interesting candidates. Firstly, there is Píñera - the rich, charismatic industrialist who has just arrived on the scene. From the moment of arriving in Chile, it became apparent that he had the most money - with his shiny mug smiling out from countless billboards around town. Owner of LANCHILE (the airline), Piñera has emerged as a right wing candidate interested mostly in protecting capitalist ventures. Another candidate of interest is Michelle Bachelet. Bachelet´s father was the head of aviation when the Pinochet miliatry coop occured and after he voiced his negative opinion, him, his wife and Michelle were captured and tortured. He later died of a heart attack. Michelle, meanwhile, trained as a medical doctor, arose to the position of the first ever female head of the military and has therefore held power over the very people that tortured her all those years ago. Although she didnt actually try to attain power, the public looked kindly on her decision not to gain revenge for her father´s death and put her forward as a presidential candidate. The other candidates are a mix of far left wing and extreme religious candidates. The presidential elections came and went and as it turned out - neither Bachlet or Piñera gained the 50% needed to decidedly win the presidency. This means that both candidates have swung through to the deciding second round of elections which will be decided in January.

Anyway, that aside - I saw some kids getting their ears pierced in this small market in the middle of town. The stall owner spoke not a word of English and me with not a word of Spanish I managed to get that little flap of skin on your ear pierced for the grand price of $2.50. I think he was telling me something about cleaning it with alcohol and turning it ever half hour so that the next day he could take out the ring he pierced it with and replace it with something more attractive (it was bloody huge). So that night I promptly went out and got drunk with some nice French boys I met and forgot all about it. The next day - Rod arrived grim and dusty from the huge bike ride he´d done the day before. We went back to visit Gustavo to get my ring changed. With Rod around, I discovered that the alcohol was really quite necessary and I was getting repeatedly berated through an interpreter about how naughty I was for not following the Spanish instructions that I couldnt understand. He pulled out my ring and attempted to shove a new one in. He´d sharpened the new one to a point and was trying to jam this damn thing into my ear. But because the ring was too big and my hole too small it just wouldnt budge. Finally, Gustavo relented and found a smaller one which, with some reluctance, was pushed in. My god - the pain! It was horrendous. Later we were to find out that this cartiliged part of the ear is one of the most painful places to get pierced. I felt the world suddenly get colder, the lights were turned out and my forehead broke into a sweat as I promptly fainted in the middle of the square. As the waves of nausea finally subsided I awoke to find Rod´s face in mine asking me with a concerned voice whether I was ok and wondering where he himself could get something pierced. I couldnt believe my eyes but there we were walking to a piercing shop so Rod could get something done too.

Later, in Peru, I woke up to find the earring had fallen out. I stumbled to the bathroom to try to fit it in again but due to the swelling couldnt find the hole and again passed out becuase of the pain. After this I decided it probably wasnt worth all the problems and just took it out. Bit of a pity really because it looked rather nice.

Gallery: San Pedro de Atacama

aussie_gringo — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 04:58:00 GMT

This place is dry!

It sucks to be sick in the desert

aussie_gringo — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 04:54:00 GMT

I did know that it was coming. I knew ever since I took that first breathe of smoggy santiagan air that I was playing with fire when it came to my lungs. And so i pushed it and pushed it - having one too many beers, too little sleep and trying to lug 20kg of crap on my back.

So then it came to San Pedro de Atacama. It took 20 hours to get there. 3 different buses and complaints from the bus driver to put our shoes on (come on! 20 hours!) We arrived in San Pedro and decided to have one beer, one little cocktail during happy hour to brush off the memories of a long bus ride. We ordered two margaritas and as the owner passed our table, he asked how we were enjoying our drinks. THinking that this would be a good time to demonstrate my prolific knowledge of Spanish I said "mmm rico" because I thought apparently "rico" meant tasty. He looked at me with a strange expression on his face because as I was to learn "rico" is also what you say when you think someone is a bit of alright - more of a "rrrriiiiiicccccoooooo" (with raised eyebrows and a suggestive smile). So he was pretty pleased with himself and promptly began feeding us drinks. Pisco sour after pisco sour - we left finally when the alcohol ran dry. But then as we (Rod) went to pay for the drinks we found they werent so on the house after all. The owner made us pay for them. We didnt even want those drinks - they were just free and all we wanted to do was have a hot shower and go to bed - but who says no to free drinks? who?

So the next day - the shit hit the fan - I had the worst hangover ever and to top it off the flu had finally caught up with me. I tell you what it really sucks to be sick in the desert. The air was so dry that it caused my nose to bleed from all the blowing, my lips were splitting and chapped and I couldnt even get out of bed to get some water becuase I was so hungover. And the heat - my god the heat - San Pedro is the driest place in the world!!! My only thought was "uh oh - I´m naked and I need to get to the toilet to vomit - should i stop to put clothes on or hope that no one else is in the corridor?"

But the next day it wasnt so bad - after the hangover cleared up a bit of a runny nose isnt gonna kill ya - so rod and I borrowed some bikes and went tripping around San Pedro. We came across some ruins of a fort that the Atacemenos used to defend their land from the Spanish but were unfortunately vanquished and beheaded. From here you could see the amazing landscape that characterises the area. The beautiful Andes, a wonderful dormant volcano and all the dirt you could ever want to see shaped by the wind into amazing shapes. Later in the night we went to see the Valley of the Moon - so called because the landscape reminds people of the moon (this place is seriously dry!) As the sun went down, the valley changed colour - yellow, pink, orange, purple and finally black. Gorgeous!

The next day we got out our bikes again and headed into the desert. We went 10 km down a dirt track to see a little town and visit what apparently San Pedro would be like if it wasnt overrun by tourists. So it was the middle of the day and we thought sweet we´ll support their town, buy an icecream and check the place out. It was threee buildings and a church. Great! I could have cried. But it was an awesome day - one of the best yet and as rod and I wound our way back to the campsite - I couldnt have been happier. That night we dined in dusty luxury in our cheapie campsite and made a meal fit for kings (tomato tuna and rice - thanks caroline for the recipe) all washed down with some fine Chilean cask wine. Fantastic!

Baby steps

aussie_gringo — Fri, 2 Dec 2005 04:03:00 GMT

There are several things that I will blame this year´s complacency on... ok so i dont really have a leg to stand on. I probably should have started learning Spanish when I was in Australia to have made this a little easier. And if anyone has ever seen the Monty Python movie "the life of brian" you can appreciate how difficult a language based on latin is. There are apparently 26 ways to conjucate a verb and no real rules on how to do this. But I´m getting ahead of myself here - I´m still on the page of "where is the toilet" and "do u have a room?" - i´m not even really sure how i conjugate a verb in English.

One of the biggest problems for me seems to be stopping the ever present stream of consciousness, picking one sentence, converting it to Spanish and then finding someone patient enough to listen - about as fun as pulling teeth. I dont think the problem is them though - my biggest problem is just getting in there and trying. I worry about getting into a situation where my small amount of Spanish is going to run into the ground and where just putting an¨"el" in front of something doesnt really make it into a word. But I guess - this is all part of the journey and definately a different experience to the one I had in India. In India - the national language is Hindi but then there are 28 states with numerous different dialects and languages to go around - so I never really tried to learn to speak because there wasnt a lot of point. I was there for 2 months, either my HIndi was really bad or the people I spoke to were ignoring me but I found the words I did know didnt go very far. But here is the rub. India was an English colony so many people spoke English. South America was a Spanish colony (mostly) and so of course if you dont speak the native language you speak Spanish not English. A difference that I only recently picked up on.

But anyway, it is coming along and Spanish is a beautiful, melodic language which is crucial for me to learn if only to understand these people enough to get a can of coke but certainly to appreciate the richness of this country and the friendliness of its people.

Gallery: Santiago

aussie_gringo — Sun, 27 Nov 2005 05:38:00 GMT

The City in the Andes

Santiago de Chile - First Impressions

aussie_gringo — Sun, 27 Nov 2005 05:07:00 GMT

Santiago is a beautiful city. A massive metropolis of 6 million bustling inhabitants nestled between the Andes to the east and the small coastal mountains to the west.

The first thing you notice besides the traffic and people are the gorgeous snow capped Andes that completely dwarf the city. The second thing you notice is that because this city is situated in a valley - there is no circulation of air. The smog is completely trapped within the city. This apparently creates huge respiratory problems in the children and the elderly causing the Santiagians to contemplate fitting the Andes with explosives and blowing a hole to let the smog out into Argentina. A view that was poo-pooed by most people but not by the man (Pepo) we are fortunate enough to be staying with who happens to be in the explosives industry. The third thing I noticed was that nobody speaks English and so my Spanish lessons have had to be stepped up to high gear. No hablo Espanol (I dont speak Spanish) is often met with a flurry of Spanish to which Rod informs me that everyone is saying that I must learn to speak Spanish. Righto - I also have realised this - it really sucks to be unable to speak to Pepo´s children or even his maid (yes, maid).

But other than that - I´m having a really groovy time and just marvel at how similar the Chileans (in Santiago) are to the Westerners. I feel right at home here - except for the Spanish there hasnt been too much culture shock at all. I´m even being indoctrinated into the timeless art of Pisco-liando - summarised as the downward process of drinking the national drink of Pisco. And man these guys can drink. We went to a club on Thursday night and when you order a pisco and cola they give you an entire cup full. I was incredibly trashed after 3 glasses. The following day apparently you deal with the next part of the pisco process which we call a hangover. Tonight is our last night in this town and we are being taken around to some clubs by Ilse - Pepo´s beautiful wife. Tomorrow we are off to see some of Rod´s family in a small coastal town where we shall indulge in sun and seafood my favourite things. Chao!

Damn that jetlag...

aussie_gringo — Sun, 27 Nov 2005 04:48:00 GMT

Well, I´d heard that jetlag was bad but I didnt realise just how bloody annoying it really was!

The flight from Brisbane to Auckland was pretty uneventful - couple of whiskys, hideous airplane food but other than that it wasnt so bad. It started to turn sour when I looked out the window and noticed that it just wasnt getting dark. We were flying and flying into the eternal light. It was about 6pm when they turned the lights out in the cabin and I thought - is that it? are we supposed to sleep now? Added to that was the fact that Rod had had to do an amazing amount of assignments up until the very moment that he boarded his flight to Sydney on Sunday night. So when Rod said to me "I dont think you´ve ever seen me drunk before, like I mean really drunk" I started to get a little concerned. After the stewardess said to us, "dont turn the light on any time you want anything just come out the back and get it yourself" it was just open slather. Rod was getting up every ten minutes "to go to the toilet" and came back with more whiskey´s and peanuts. It was hilarious - but possibly the best way to try to pass out on a 14 hour flight (the valiums helped - thanks Rosie!)

When we arrived in Santiago, the first thing we saw after getting out of the airport was a massive sign advertising a Pearl Jam concert - the first time they were in Chile! Rod and I looked at each other and were just like sweet! How awesome is that? So the next day we trauled Santiago, looking for the ticket vendor - trying to find some tickets to this concert. Everywhere we went they told us sold out, sold out. NOt one to be disheartened, I thought we could just hang outside the venue and someone will be scalping tickets. So after a huge day of looking for the seats we thought we´ll just have a small nap and get up at 7:30 to get there really early. We woke up at 2am and thought damn! We hadnt counted on the jet lag. I have never been so distraught in my life!! Bloody JETLAG!! It was compounded the next day when we met a nice Venuzeulan fellow who told us the highlight of his trip to Santiago was seeing PEarl Jam the night before - you know one of those unforgettable moments. But its all good - Ricky Martin is here as well so maybe we can see him instead.

Ready or not

aussie_gringo — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 12:10:00 GMT

Well the bag is packed, the champagne (sparkling wine) has flowed and I feel completely unprepared for what is to come. Not to say that its a bad feeling, on the contrary, I think I'm most worried about the fact that I'm not worried.

I packed my bag two weeks in advance before I went to India. Constantly checking, rechecking to make sure that I had absolutely everything that I could possibly need to avoid any foreseeable problems. I guess going by yourself for the first time out of the country is a pretty daunting endeavour. When I was over there I realised that I probably didnt have to carry half the stuff that I did - in fact the possessions made me fear even more for my safety. So for this trip, there has been none of that. I made a list last week of things I wanted to take, packed last night and decided that I will worry about the big stuff when it comes my way... so at this point - I'm happily unprepared for my big trip tomorrow - I guess we'll have to wait and see what there is to come - I cant wait!!

Gallery: Family and Friends

aussie_gringo — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 18:26:00 GMT

Still in Australia