¨SANTIAGO BY NIGHT¨ TOUR

Santiago, 11:05 PM, 6 Jan 08

Buenos Noches!

I did a walk for an hour and a quarter, took photos of statues, buildings, and such. One was the equestrian statue of General Manuel Baquedano. I asked Sole, and she told me he was a sort of acting governor as well as the general in charge of the main Chilean forces in a war with Peru and Bolivia that started in 1879. Prior to that time, she said, Peru was part of Chile. General Baquedano´s statue is in the middle of a prominent grassy roundabout which is only a few hundred yards from our hotel, both being on the main drag through Santiago.

We went on the expensive optional tour ¨Chile by Night¨ with the approximately 70 who chose to go, being among the 146 in our total tour group. We sat on chairs in a park outside a nice restaurant and were served pisco saurs and empanadas. But I drank a nonalcoholic cantalope juice drink. Pisco is a specialty of Chile and Peru made by fermenting and then distilling grapes. It runs 30 to 46 percent alcohol. Lemon juice is added. Empanadas are a folded pastry with various stuffings. We had some empanadas, a little different, also at the winery luncheon.

We left that park and at another place rode a funicular to high on a hill called San Cristobal which overlooks the city and is topped by a statue of the Virgin Mary.

Then we went to quite a restaurant, ¨Como Aqua Para Chocolate,¨ for quite a dinner. Very Spanish. Quaint. Very crowded. Some of the food was ¨different,¨perhaps ¨exotic,¨ pleasingly presented. We each had prechosen from a menu. I didn´t like my appetizer and can´t say really just what it was. I had steak, which was very large and OK. My flan desert was delicious and large. Pisco saurs were again served. I drank bottled water and a little bit of white wine.

It was our second chance to get aquainted with some of our traveling mates. I chatted a lot with, next to me, a very interesting old gent from southern California who had a long military carerr as an aviator (pilot), followed by other careers and who, like me, has four college degrees but in diverse subjects.

And here´s an amazing small world story. Helen´s high school for all four years in San Francisco was Mission High. A man at the table was at Mission High part of the same time Helen was there though he later transferred to another high school. He was two years behind Helen. They didn´t know each other. The school had about 200 students per class. Ed Cook was HS class of ´56. Helen was class of ´54. I was class of ´55 in Albany, OR.

We saw cyclists. Some utility riders. Some who had ridden for sport up San Cristobal on mountain bikes. Don´t know if they came up a road or a trail. Had to have been steep.

In the park where we started out, we saw some runners. About eight in all. One group of four men and one woman in high-class matching running outfits, rather middle aged, very trim.

Responding to a question in the bus, Sole said it´s hard to answer about apartment rental costs because they vary a lot. A rather nice but small apartment might be $400 per month. Renting a room involving sharing a bathroom down the hall might cost $200 per month.

I took an interest in a statue in the park where we started out after Helen pointed it out. Helen had asked Philippe and he didn´t know who it was. I took the name, etc. and asked Philippe (not knowing it was he whom Helen had asked), and he must himself have learned from someone in the meantime. Commodore Arturo Merino Benitez, 1880-1970 was an important figure for many years in the navy, maybe head of the navy. He was a friend of Pinochet, helped Pinochet in his coup d´etat of Allende. So we know who was in charge when his statue was placed.

Tomorrow´s all-day tour will take us east up into the andes and feature a ranch where we can watch cowboys demonstrate their skills.

:-)

Bernie