chile, part 1
greetings to everyone from patagonia -- actually, the island of chiloé in the far south of chile. i´m in an internet cafe in castro, the capital. there are about 15 internet cafes within a few blocks, which is a pleasant surprise since the closest movie theatre is about 200 kilometers away. and it´s only 600 pesos an hour, slightly more than a dollar.
i´ve been here for more than a week now but it feels like a lifetime. what can i say? everything is entirely different but strangely familiar. nobody here speaks english, unlike europe -- in fact i´ve only met two english speakers who aren´t european tourists. fortunately i have andrea to interpret for me, and even more fortunately she gets a kick out of it. my comprehension has gotten much better but i can´t communicate to save my life.
the poverty isn´t as bad as i was afraid it might be, either. there´s a pretty drastic separation of wealth, but it´s not like india where the beggars tear at your clothing. in fact, there are fewer beggars in santiago than new york and most of them seem to be winos.
more observations on santiago to come later, since i´ve been in the south for the last week and i was only in santiago for three days. we flew to puerto montt, which is pretty much the southernmost city on contiguous paved roads in chile. supposedly it´s not even possible to drive to punta arenas, the southernmost city in the country. this is a kind of pristine wilderness i´ve never seen before.
we´ve been remarkably lucky with the weather -- with everything, really -- on this trip. apparently you can go weeks without seeing a clear sky here, but we only had three days of clouds before they broke, and i finally got to see the spectacular volcanic peaks that we´d been driving around the feet of. it happened while we were kayaking on lago de todos los santos, which has no paved roads leading to it. this gave a spectacular view but unfortunately exposed me to the infamous ozone hole, so i´m well toasted right now.
the internet cafe is closing right now, so i will have to continue my observations later on. until then...
i´ve been here for more than a week now but it feels like a lifetime. what can i say? everything is entirely different but strangely familiar. nobody here speaks english, unlike europe -- in fact i´ve only met two english speakers who aren´t european tourists. fortunately i have andrea to interpret for me, and even more fortunately she gets a kick out of it. my comprehension has gotten much better but i can´t communicate to save my life.
the poverty isn´t as bad as i was afraid it might be, either. there´s a pretty drastic separation of wealth, but it´s not like india where the beggars tear at your clothing. in fact, there are fewer beggars in santiago than new york and most of them seem to be winos.
more observations on santiago to come later, since i´ve been in the south for the last week and i was only in santiago for three days. we flew to puerto montt, which is pretty much the southernmost city on contiguous paved roads in chile. supposedly it´s not even possible to drive to punta arenas, the southernmost city in the country. this is a kind of pristine wilderness i´ve never seen before.
we´ve been remarkably lucky with the weather -- with everything, really -- on this trip. apparently you can go weeks without seeing a clear sky here, but we only had three days of clouds before they broke, and i finally got to see the spectacular volcanic peaks that we´d been driving around the feet of. it happened while we were kayaking on lago de todos los santos, which has no paved roads leading to it. this gave a spectacular view but unfortunately exposed me to the infamous ozone hole, so i´m well toasted right now.
the internet cafe is closing right now, so i will have to continue my observations later on. until then...