Santiago, Chile, Mile 370
Greetings once again from Santiago. The last two days have been interesting.
Yesterday was the less interesting of the two. In the morning, I took the bicycle and rode up a ¨ciclovia¨(Bike path) along the side of the Costanera Norte, a major thoroughfare in Santiago. I rode until there was nowhere further to ride, then returned. Somewhat boring, really.
Once I had the bike put away, I went walking, specifically to a rent-a-car place a mile or so from my condo. There, I reserved a small car for one day, specifically today, to be picked up at 8 in the morning when they opened. That done, I walked back towards home through park built into the Cerro de Santa Lucia (Santa Lucia Hill), which was quite a pleasant place. At one point I walked straight up 170 steps (It is that steep) to get further up towards the top. From the top, there was a beautiful view of all of Santiago. Once I came down, I walked past my condo to the Plaza de Armas, which is the center square of Santiago, sort of like the Mall in Washington, or the Zocalo in Mexico City. The national cathedral was on one corner, and I managed to get in an out without attracting any lightening bolts. Curiously, outside, was a collection of pentacolist bible thumpers roundly condemning the Popa as an ¨Idol worshipper¨. Personally, I just think he is a Communist, whatever he is doing with idols has never interested me. I then found an Italian place, had dinner, and that was the end of the day for me.
Today, very early, I left the apartment with my bicycle and went to pick up my rent-a-car. Ever since I could not find a hotel up Route 60 last week, I have been irate that I did not get to finish my ride up to the Argentine border. So, I completely dismantled my bike (The car was that small), loaded it into the car, and drove up Route 5 back to Los Andes, and then up Route 60 to Rio Blanco, which was as far as I got last week. Total distance driven here was about 90 miles, in about two hours. I parked the car on the side of the road, reassembled the bicycle, and headed uphill. Seven miles and an hour and a half later, the unbelievable happened. It started to hail. Looking further up the road, the sky was as black as my pug Duchess´s hair. I admitted defeat, and 15 minutes later was back at my parked car. I was moving so fast downhill that I was passing trucks. Curiously, on this little stretch, I went through no fewer than three snowsheds. I had seen snowsheds up near Donner Lake on the railroad before, but I had never seen one on a highway. They are obviously there for a reason...
Once I had the bike back in the car, I decided, since I was here anyway, to drive all the way up. I am glad I did. What views! In a five mile stretch called Cuesta Caracol there are 28 (numbered, with 1 on the bottom) switchback curves. By the time I got to the top of this stretch, it was hailing so hard that it sounded like machine gun fire off the roof of my car, and it was thundering and lightening too. I continued uphill, past a sky resort (Someone ought to introduce a zip line up here.) and right up to Chilean customs a mile or so before the tunnel. Had I made it this far on the bike, I would have ridden past them right up to the tunnel. Doing so in the car would have been entirely too much confusion, so I turned down and came back down. On the way down, I realized the railroad comes up here too. Railroad builders do everything possible to keep slope gradients under 1%, something that I am quite sure they had no prayer of doing here. I would love to see how many locomotives are required to haul a train up this mountain.
Further down the hill, I stopped for lunch at a little restaurant and ordered milanesa con papas (Chicken fried steak with fries), something I order a lot in Mexico. Without thinking, I told the waiter to bring me tortillas de harina. He looked at me like I was on crack. No tortillas for me in Chile.
Having driven up to Los Andes on Route 5, I came back on Route 57, just to vary up the scenery a bit. Fighting my way through Santiago´s rush hour traffic, I eventually returned the car. Now something interesting happened. The rental fee for one day (I could have returned it tomorrow morning before 8:30, but what would be the point?) was 19,900 Pesos, about $30.00. When I picked up the car, it had half a tank of gas in it. I put 20,000 Pesos worth in the tank, which worked out to about 6 gallons at $5 a gallon. The car got better mileage than I thought it would, and I returned it 3/4 full. I HATE when that happens, especially at these prices. But, what was I to do. So, I turned the car in and went to reception to cancell the 350,000 Peso guarantee they had placed on my credit card, and got handed a bill for 10,800 Pesos. They credited me for the extra gasoline. I could not believe it. I asked what would have happened if I turned it in full, and was told that a small credit would have been placed on my credit card, instead of a charge. I was most impressed. I then rode home through darkening streets and eventually made it back to my apartment.
Tomorrow will be my last full day in Chile, so another ride to somewhere will be in order.
Yesterday was the less interesting of the two. In the morning, I took the bicycle and rode up a ¨ciclovia¨(Bike path) along the side of the Costanera Norte, a major thoroughfare in Santiago. I rode until there was nowhere further to ride, then returned. Somewhat boring, really.
Once I had the bike put away, I went walking, specifically to a rent-a-car place a mile or so from my condo. There, I reserved a small car for one day, specifically today, to be picked up at 8 in the morning when they opened. That done, I walked back towards home through park built into the Cerro de Santa Lucia (Santa Lucia Hill), which was quite a pleasant place. At one point I walked straight up 170 steps (It is that steep) to get further up towards the top. From the top, there was a beautiful view of all of Santiago. Once I came down, I walked past my condo to the Plaza de Armas, which is the center square of Santiago, sort of like the Mall in Washington, or the Zocalo in Mexico City. The national cathedral was on one corner, and I managed to get in an out without attracting any lightening bolts. Curiously, outside, was a collection of pentacolist bible thumpers roundly condemning the Popa as an ¨Idol worshipper¨. Personally, I just think he is a Communist, whatever he is doing with idols has never interested me. I then found an Italian place, had dinner, and that was the end of the day for me.
Today, very early, I left the apartment with my bicycle and went to pick up my rent-a-car. Ever since I could not find a hotel up Route 60 last week, I have been irate that I did not get to finish my ride up to the Argentine border. So, I completely dismantled my bike (The car was that small), loaded it into the car, and drove up Route 5 back to Los Andes, and then up Route 60 to Rio Blanco, which was as far as I got last week. Total distance driven here was about 90 miles, in about two hours. I parked the car on the side of the road, reassembled the bicycle, and headed uphill. Seven miles and an hour and a half later, the unbelievable happened. It started to hail. Looking further up the road, the sky was as black as my pug Duchess´s hair. I admitted defeat, and 15 minutes later was back at my parked car. I was moving so fast downhill that I was passing trucks. Curiously, on this little stretch, I went through no fewer than three snowsheds. I had seen snowsheds up near Donner Lake on the railroad before, but I had never seen one on a highway. They are obviously there for a reason...
Once I had the bike back in the car, I decided, since I was here anyway, to drive all the way up. I am glad I did. What views! In a five mile stretch called Cuesta Caracol there are 28 (numbered, with 1 on the bottom) switchback curves. By the time I got to the top of this stretch, it was hailing so hard that it sounded like machine gun fire off the roof of my car, and it was thundering and lightening too. I continued uphill, past a sky resort (Someone ought to introduce a zip line up here.) and right up to Chilean customs a mile or so before the tunnel. Had I made it this far on the bike, I would have ridden past them right up to the tunnel. Doing so in the car would have been entirely too much confusion, so I turned down and came back down. On the way down, I realized the railroad comes up here too. Railroad builders do everything possible to keep slope gradients under 1%, something that I am quite sure they had no prayer of doing here. I would love to see how many locomotives are required to haul a train up this mountain.
Further down the hill, I stopped for lunch at a little restaurant and ordered milanesa con papas (Chicken fried steak with fries), something I order a lot in Mexico. Without thinking, I told the waiter to bring me tortillas de harina. He looked at me like I was on crack. No tortillas for me in Chile.
Having driven up to Los Andes on Route 5, I came back on Route 57, just to vary up the scenery a bit. Fighting my way through Santiago´s rush hour traffic, I eventually returned the car. Now something interesting happened. The rental fee for one day (I could have returned it tomorrow morning before 8:30, but what would be the point?) was 19,900 Pesos, about $30.00. When I picked up the car, it had half a tank of gas in it. I put 20,000 Pesos worth in the tank, which worked out to about 6 gallons at $5 a gallon. The car got better mileage than I thought it would, and I returned it 3/4 full. I HATE when that happens, especially at these prices. But, what was I to do. So, I turned the car in and went to reception to cancell the 350,000 Peso guarantee they had placed on my credit card, and got handed a bill for 10,800 Pesos. They credited me for the extra gasoline. I could not believe it. I asked what would have happened if I turned it in full, and was told that a small credit would have been placed on my credit card, instead of a charge. I was most impressed. I then rode home through darkening streets and eventually made it back to my apartment.
Tomorrow will be my last full day in Chile, so another ride to somewhere will be in order.
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