Viña del Mar, Chile, mile 239
Greetings from Valparaiso's richer twin, Viña del Mar. Yesterday evening I decided I would stay here a couple of days to get to know both cities a bit better. So I booked a "studio condo" through Airbnb, and then rode 6 miles from Valparaiso to here this morning. The owner had left the key in a lockbox and when I entered I realized why it was a "studio", upon opening the door, I immediately encountered TWO more doors. She built a wall right down the middle of what must have once been a one bedroom unit the size of my mom's in DC, and turned it into two units, both of which are rented out. Were my mother still alive and president of her condo association again, and someone tried this, she would have lost her mind. At the end of the day, the place is big enough for me, and it is on the 15th floor, so I have a very good view, so I'm not complaining. Curiously, unlike most US apartment buildings, there is a 13th floor; it doesn't skip from 12th to 14th.
Once in the condo, I set out to resolve a problem that arose yesterday. When I checked in to my hotel yesterday, they asked for my tourist card that I got from immigration at the Santiago airport. As a foreigner, this would exempt me from paying about a $10 room tax. I couldn't find it. So I grudgingly paid the extra tax and then tore my wallet and saddlebags apart looking for it, to no avail. Getting hit with extra tax every night I "formally", ie get an official receipt, stay in a hotel is bad enough, but you can't leave Chile without turning that card in. So, I went walking a total of about five miles there and back, to the Policia De Investigaciones office in Viña del Mar. I usually never have trouble with police in Latin America; I speak the languages, I am always polite and I don't act afraid of them. Even corrupt Tijuana traffic cops or Argentine immigration agents generally leave me alone, or quickly give up trying to shake me down. Still, today's experience was even better than expected. I was literally out of the PDI offices, duplicate tourist card in hand, in less than five minutes, with no fees due. US immigration could learn a thing or two from these people.
The PDI are the other half of Chile's two police forces and, among other things handle immigration. The Carabineros are "preventive police" and react to crime or riots or whatever. The PDI are "investigative police", ie detectives (plus a bunch of special roles, like immigration and counter-espionage). This is different from the US, where one force performs both roles, but is common in Latin America. The Carabineros would correspond to Brazilian PMs or Mexican municipales, and the PDI to Brazilian Policia Civil or Mexican state ministerial police.
Chile is a unitarian country, there are no state or local police forces of any kind.
Securing my duplicate card in my wallet, I walked back toward the condo, and stopped in a little restaurant for lunch, which consisted of a "churrasco", which is a sandwich of sliced mystery meat, fries and two little 8oz Cokes. Cost? 7,000 Pesos, which is fractionally more than $10.00. As I have mentioned, Chile isn't cheap.
From there, I took advantage of being in a tourist city and found a money exchange house, where I turned $300 into 201,900 Pesos. This is important, and surprises me. As some of you know, I pay very close attention to exchange rates, and occasionally play arbitrage games. My experience EVERYWHERE has been that it is better to get local currency from ATM machines. Not in Chile. My two 200,000 Peso withdrawals in Santiago cost me $305 each; today I got 1,900 Pesos more for $5.00 less. (And no, the interbank rate hasn't changed.)
I then walked all over Viña del Mar, which is a beautiful city with many spacious parks. Chile is very dog friendly, and I encountered multiple pugs out walking their humans, which was fun. The beaches I passed by were crowded; I have no idea how warm the water is or is not. It gets dark at 8:30 here, so a bit before that I headed back in the direction of the condo and started looking at menus of interesting restaurants I passed by. I encountered three "Mexican" restaurants. Ugh. Imagine Taco Bell (hard shell ground beef tacos) only much more expensive. Everything was expensive. Then I encountered a place selling prepared food by the kilo. And they had lasagna. Since I'm in a condo, I can cook, there's an oven. For ten bucks, I got almost three pounds of lasagna. I took it home, used a spatula to pry the noodles apart and removed two slices of ham from the noodle layers. Ham in lasagna is a particularly vile habit in South America, about half the lasagnas I get down here, in whatever country contain it. Some stray dog is going to be very happy with that ham tomorrow. Then I heated up half the lasagna, drank Coke out of a 3 liter bottle I got in an Oxxo, and had dinner for six Dollars. Yesterday's restaurant dinner cost me $31, and wasn't as good.
I will be here all day tomorrow, and will be back on the bike, exploring...
Once in the condo, I set out to resolve a problem that arose yesterday. When I checked in to my hotel yesterday, they asked for my tourist card that I got from immigration at the Santiago airport. As a foreigner, this would exempt me from paying about a $10 room tax. I couldn't find it. So I grudgingly paid the extra tax and then tore my wallet and saddlebags apart looking for it, to no avail. Getting hit with extra tax every night I "formally", ie get an official receipt, stay in a hotel is bad enough, but you can't leave Chile without turning that card in. So, I went walking a total of about five miles there and back, to the Policia De Investigaciones office in Viña del Mar. I usually never have trouble with police in Latin America; I speak the languages, I am always polite and I don't act afraid of them. Even corrupt Tijuana traffic cops or Argentine immigration agents generally leave me alone, or quickly give up trying to shake me down. Still, today's experience was even better than expected. I was literally out of the PDI offices, duplicate tourist card in hand, in less than five minutes, with no fees due. US immigration could learn a thing or two from these people.
The PDI are the other half of Chile's two police forces and, among other things handle immigration. The Carabineros are "preventive police" and react to crime or riots or whatever. The PDI are "investigative police", ie detectives (plus a bunch of special roles, like immigration and counter-espionage). This is different from the US, where one force performs both roles, but is common in Latin America. The Carabineros would correspond to Brazilian PMs or Mexican municipales, and the PDI to Brazilian Policia Civil or Mexican state ministerial police.
Chile is a unitarian country, there are no state or local police forces of any kind.
Securing my duplicate card in my wallet, I walked back toward the condo, and stopped in a little restaurant for lunch, which consisted of a "churrasco", which is a sandwich of sliced mystery meat, fries and two little 8oz Cokes. Cost? 7,000 Pesos, which is fractionally more than $10.00. As I have mentioned, Chile isn't cheap.
From there, I took advantage of being in a tourist city and found a money exchange house, where I turned $300 into 201,900 Pesos. This is important, and surprises me. As some of you know, I pay very close attention to exchange rates, and occasionally play arbitrage games. My experience EVERYWHERE has been that it is better to get local currency from ATM machines. Not in Chile. My two 200,000 Peso withdrawals in Santiago cost me $305 each; today I got 1,900 Pesos more for $5.00 less. (And no, the interbank rate hasn't changed.)
I then walked all over Viña del Mar, which is a beautiful city with many spacious parks. Chile is very dog friendly, and I encountered multiple pugs out walking their humans, which was fun. The beaches I passed by were crowded; I have no idea how warm the water is or is not. It gets dark at 8:30 here, so a bit before that I headed back in the direction of the condo and started looking at menus of interesting restaurants I passed by. I encountered three "Mexican" restaurants. Ugh. Imagine Taco Bell (hard shell ground beef tacos) only much more expensive. Everything was expensive. Then I encountered a place selling prepared food by the kilo. And they had lasagna. Since I'm in a condo, I can cook, there's an oven. For ten bucks, I got almost three pounds of lasagna. I took it home, used a spatula to pry the noodles apart and removed two slices of ham from the noodle layers. Ham in lasagna is a particularly vile habit in South America, about half the lasagnas I get down here, in whatever country contain it. Some stray dog is going to be very happy with that ham tomorrow. Then I heated up half the lasagna, drank Coke out of a 3 liter bottle I got in an Oxxo, and had dinner for six Dollars. Yesterday's restaurant dinner cost me $31, and wasn't as good.
I will be here all day tomorrow, and will be back on the bike, exploring...
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