On the ground in Chile

Hey!

Thanks for checking up on my trip! I had a couple days of travel and a bit of frustration getting here, but here I am, snug in a nice hostel in Santiago.

The challenging part of the trip was last night. Denver to Houston. Then into Panama City, Panama and ran into a couple hassles. My luggage wasn't checked through to Santiago, since my layover was too long, at 16+ hours. So I had to get it, which meant that I had to go through immigration and customs, which I had not prepared for, since I didn't think I had to. Some paperwork backtracking and much waiting in lines, and I was on the curb with more luggage than I could carry, at night, in a new city.

Luckily, they had luggage storage, so I dumped the burden of bicycle box and big gear bag. The unsecure airport area was nearly uninhabitable, so sleeping there was undesirable. Close hotels were very expensive. Cheap hotels seemed to cost two $28 taxi trips, which made them fairly expensive, too. Managed to hook up with a cheapish hotel that was running a shuttle service. Only required waiting in the airport for a couple hours while the other guests arrived. Made it to bed about 6 hours after landing.

Getting back to the airport in the morning only cost 50 cents, since I took the colorful local bus, crammed shoulder to shoulder with the locals, watching the street scene out the windows. Now that's traveling! But... I went by my stop, belatedly realized it and got dumped out on the road not too much further.

I was at the airport slightly in advance of the (conservatively) recommended 2 hours. Then played an interesting game of Oops! Wrong Line! Different carrier than my ticket said. Different line for big baggage, but first pay $19 to shrink wrap your box. With the time I spent in each line before finding out, time almost ran out. Made it at the Final Call, and apparently, the luggage made it, too.

The bike box wouldn't fit in the taxi in Santiago. The drivers called another car which had a luggage bars on top. Driver drove slow on the tollway and it made it.

Checked into the nice Hostal Forestal. Single room for a couple nights while I rest and figure out the next step. Which, I hope, is to take a bus about 1000 km south to Puerto Montt, where I expect to begin to ride.

Santiago: The sun was just setting as we landed. Lovely golden glow of haze sillouetting the costal range, lighting the tidy irregular patchwork of fields and hedgerows. Hawks were hunting on the edges of the taxiway. From the airport windows I could see the mighty Andes. Very huge and impressive looking, with snow patches on top. Was getting dark as we entered the city center. Some well-lit parks. Colonial architecure. I'll know more tomorrow.

My Spanish is already about twice as good as it was before I left. Those high school classes are finally paying off. Um, and my daring pantomime skills.

Check back soon!

--Gregorio