Leaving Santiago

Despite my camera dying, I will soldier on as best I can to take advantage of finding a quality internet cafe.





The day after the Enrique Foster tour, I hopped on a bus back to Santiago. All was well until we hit the border where the Chilean customs people went through every bag and vehicle going into the country. This created a massive wait time (3 hours) thereby delaying my arrival by two hours.





In contrast, the bus into Mendoza took no more than 45 minutes at the border (including my snafu of losing my tourist visa). On that trip, the Argentine officers barely compared my photo with the person standing outside their booth and with a bored expression, handed me my papers.





I was concerned while on the bus to Santiago because I hadn´t spoken with Paola, my friend whom I would be staying with. I had written her but was unsure if she had seen my email, and my lateness magnified my anxiety. I called her with success (more difficult than it sounds if you aren´t used to dialing from a booth in South America) and she was waiting for me when I arrived.





After I dropped off my larger bags, we left for the ocean which is an hour and a half drive from Santiago. The town we went to is called Quisqo and is a small beach town frequented by Santiagians. The weather was not great until Monday, but I´m not much of a beach guy anyway. I was much more interested in the fish market which offered some really superb stuff. Aside from the shellfish and salmon, I have no idea as to what I was eating, but it was great.





We returned on Monday evening and since then, I´ve been eating and drinking at some really beautiful restaurants and bars all over Santiago. Comparatively, I would say it´s marginally cheaper than Toronto for most things, but last night I had a fabulous swordfish steak for 8 bucks. So there are definitely deals to be had.





I also went to a stunning modern bar owned by Manuel Torres, one of the better wine producers out of Santa Digna. It was a fantastic experience, especially since I received some quality service for once.





Tomorrow I leave for Buenos Aires at noon. My dad has been warning me about flying into BA because of some labour dispute with the major airline of Argentina. I´m crossing my fingers and hoping for the best...