Chile Day 17 - Return to Civilization

Flew from Chaiten->Puerto Montt->Santiago today. The first leg was aboard a tiny 8-seat turboprop. As the first aboard I sat in the co-pilot's seat with full access to instrumentation, controls, and the air freshener. This gave me great views, plus the ability to save the plane in the event of an emergency. (Don't think I wasn't prepared to do so.)

Santiago is uncomfortably hot and humid, almost a welcome change. I wandered around in search of a hotel, which turns out to be difficult in high tourist season. Eventually, I was granted a converted broom closet with no window. But it has a lock on the door, breakfast, and free internet so there are no complaints. It's on a winding cobblestone street with trees and colonial architecture.

Enjoying my return to civilization, I wandered the city's parks, plazas, and neighborhoods. The clear winner was Cerro Santa Lucia, built on top of what was until 1871 a 200m tall ugly rockpile in the center of the city. Now it's a 3-dimensional maze with fountains, turrets, plazas, and lookouts. Surprising little architectural details abound and it rewards some exploration. The top affords a nice view of the city, and I could just barely make out mountains through the pollution haze. I was strongly reminded of the gaudi-designed park in Barcelona.

The subway system in town is efficient, clean, and cheap. Many of the stations are decorated with huge oil paintings. And the trains have a wonderful innovation - windows that really open! Finally, oppressed commuters have a say in their climate.

I'm celebrating urbanness with chinese food for dinner. It's surprisingly good, more authentic than most American places. Though the waiter did look like I'm the first person in a long time to request chopsticks. They're well beyond the epiphany grace period for playing Christmas music, though.

Now that I'm in a big city with some actual nightlife, I feel like I should go out to a bar or club or something. After all I've been through, that's about the last thing in the world I want. What I really want is to see all the South Park I've missed. From a hot tub. While eating a salad.