Archive | October, 2013

“Is the relationship between Sydney and Auckland like that between Buenos Aires and Santiago?” I asked Gail as we began to explore the empty streets of Santiago during Chile’s major holiday week.  I pled my case about rival cities of the Southern hemisphere; conservative vs liberal residents and treatment of the indigenous population.  It was a heap of uninformed baloney as I had not realized there are 6 million residents of Chile.    That is 1.5 times the entire population of New Zealand.   My juxtaposition was way off base and I needed to open my eyes and prepare to enjoy a Santiago that I had not expected.

Our plan was to mimic the format of the NY Times 36 hours articles.  However, we have less energy than the NY Times writers and budgeted 4 days to accomplish this.

Army Day

Our first order of duty was to visit the annual Army Day parade.  Army Day is a big deal for the Chileans and the whole country is on vacation, except the guys in the Army who have to march about.  The locals were enjoying  asados (BBQ), flying kites and watching the parade. Picnic foods were hot dogs with avocado, fruit juices, steak sandwich and lots of empanadas.   This is such a big deal that the parade is on TV for hours and they fly many jets over the audience.   Views are pretty limited so it is key to bring a distraction, which most people did by flying kites.  There had to be 100 kites airborn at once!  After the Army parade it was clear Santiagoans are family oriented people, however, I am not sure what they think of the Army.

Subway

Subway

Mass transit is a great way to learn about a city and do some good people watching.   When riding the Russian subway I was amazed by the  beautiful communist art in many of the stations.  And while living in Singapore, I marvelled at their subway technology.    The entire network is air-conditioned and has cell signals.   Chilean trains seemed safe and understated.   Nothing too flashy but efficient.  In one of the stations I did find a model ship of a key early explorer of the Chilean coast.   Pretty cool.

Below: Chilean Nightlife

Pablo Neruda – Chilean Poet

“From each crime are born bullets that will one day seek out in you where the heart lies.”

Pablo Neruda

“Take bread away from me, if you wish,take air away, but do not take from me your laughter.” 

“I watch my words from a long way off.They are more yours than mine.They climb on my old suffering like ivy.”

Neruda was the second Chilean to win the Nobel prize for literature, an accomplishment for such a small nation.   The above English translations give you a sample of his work but his full story is a soap opera.  Three wives and a mistress, he was a famous person and very much of a king maker.   He was asked to run for office but preferred putting his weight behind Allende.   When Pinochet took power all of the Allende associates were detained or worse.   Neruda was about to die from cancer and was spared being placed in prison, or so the story goes.   Recently a former Neruda Chauffeur testified that Neruda was poisoned by Pinochet’s men.  The claim was taken seriously and the body was exhumed.  The results of this test have not been released.   The mistress might have been part of this plot.   This sounds like a top-rated soap opera.    Neruda is a legend in Chile for his written work and for supporting the socialist expirement that ended too soon and in the wrong way (Pinochet’s violent hand).

San Cristobal Hill

A gentle 7 kilometer walk uphill is the altenative to riding the funicular to summit San Cristobal.   You will be joined by many joggers, bikers and stray dogs.   We started early by Chilean standards, 8am, and thus avoided the crush of people in the afternoon.  The outdoor chapel on the mountain top was a great place to reflect, view the city from above and catch your breath.

Bike Tour of Santiago

We went on the Bicicleta Verde (green bicycle) tour of Santiago.   Good but not great because we had done much of the tour already on foot.   We did go to two museums and these are some of the images we liked.

Here is a quick highlight reel of our visit:

2 Weeks in Chile from Two Fish on Vimeo.

It is hard not to be impressed by Santiago.  The guide books sell it short by writing about smog and bland architecture.   We found neither.

(Left: Painting from Naval Museum of Sailing Ship Rounding Cape Horn)

In 1914 the Panama Canal opened, creating modern shipping.   Like any seismic change, the impact of the canal would be felt half a world away in Valparaíso,  Chile.   The town was booming from the shipping of copper, nitrates, guano and California gold from the Pacific to the Atlantic.   Valparaíso is a wel-situated stop before rounding the dangerous Cape Horn.  The Porteños of  Valparaíso (Port people) became rich.  The term Porteños is used for residents of BA, Valpo and a port city in Costa Rica.    Hmm, may be New Yorkers should join the club.

The architecture of Valpo (local speak for Valparaíso) tells its history with grand Italianate public and private buildings built during a period of shipping wealth.  The city has many hills that have created strong neighborhoods – who wants to walk up and down a hill every time for the newspaper?   The locals also made the city flatter by installing dozens of  funiculars.  Only 6 are running today as the rest are hindered by the combination of living on a very active earthquake fault and a less active government maintaince program.   During a ride on a funicular I hoped that the count of active funiculars would stay at 6 and not drop to 5.

Main Square

Not all of the architecture of the era was grand, but it still tells the port city’s history.  I was attracted to the houses of the middle class which are clad in brightly painted corrugated metal.   The corrugated metal started its second life as a housing material after serving as ballast holder on empty inbound ships.    The ships would remove the ballast and its corrugated metal holders.   Quick minded Porteños recycled it into the sidings for their dwellings, protecting the adobe bricks from the moist sea air.

The Panama canal opening hurt the Valparaíso economy and the architecture shows this history of the rich fleeing Valparaíso.  Similar to the 1998 Asian financial crisis, there is a half built hotel in Valparaíso.   The sponsors of the project realized they were throwing good money after bad and left the stone outline of a 4 story hotel that has remained for the last century.

Gateway to Cape Horn

Valpo’s naval museum honors the sailors who have rounded Cape Horn. Rounding this tip of South America is the Mount Everest for sailors. The winds are unfettered by land and are chilled by the South Pole.   The Brotherhood of Captains of Cape Horn, founded by the French in 1937, created a few titles for those that had rounded the Horn.

ALBATROSS: Captain commanding a sailing vessel without using engines.  Two Fish one day?  Not a chance.

MOLLYHAWK:  Crew that rounded the Horn but were promoted later to the title of Captain.

CAPE PIGEONS:  Crew or passengers who sailed aboard a merchant sailing vessel that rounded the horn.

The system is pretty biased in favor of captains.  Crew in the old sailing ships had to climb 60 feet in the air during a storm, while the Captain sipped his tea.   When they returned to land, the tea sipper is referred to by an elegant creature and the guy who risked his life is called a pigeon.   It sucks not to be Captain.    I, Jason, would like to state for the record that I am the Captain of Two Fish.

Crazy Bike race

Every year some insane folks race down hill the  steep, narrow and bone breaking streets and alleys of Valparaíso.  The race is far too dangerous to be allowed in the US, so that makes it a fan favorite of mine.  Let YouTube take it away …

Arturo Prat – War of the Pacific

Arturo Prat

I hope my history lessons do not bore our readers, but learning the area’s history is one of the reasons I enjoy traveling.   I believe history often impacts cultures in profound ways and Chile is no exception.

The Chilean Naval Museum is a shrine to Arturo Prat, there are Prat statues across northern Chile and Prat street is the most common name for a road in Chile.   Why is Arturo Prat such a big deal for the Chileans?

He died in an incredibly heroic fashion while fighting the Peruvians in the Battle of Iquique.  The Chileans lost the Battle, but like the expressions says, won the war.   The story of Prat’s bravery was told around Chile and created an environment where Chileans supported the war financially and volunteered to serve in the military.   This conflict between Chile and Peru/Bolivia was fought in the late 1800’s.   The fight was over the barren land we had just visited, the Atacaman Desert.   This region was owned partly by Peru and partly by Bolivia, but the nitrate mines were run by Chileans.   The Peruvians started to nationalize some of these mines, and the Bolivians levied several large tax increases.   So the Chileans decided they would fight for the land and thus avoid nationalization and taxes.   Money and minerals are  frequent reasons to enter wars, and South America is no exception.   The Chileans were able to defeat the united opposition of Bolivia and Peru.   This huge victory would not have been possible without the inspiration of Prat.    The untapped mineral richness of these lands was unknown at the time.   The Bolivians lost their access to the sea and Peru lost valuable tax revenue.   In the ten years following the war, the national treasury of Chile grew by 900%, driven by nitrate mining revenues from the new lands.   Some years following the expansion the Chilean economy imploded as synthetic nitrate was created in Germany.   This depression in Chile was refered to as the Nitrate Crisis.  Easy come easy go? These days, copper fuels the economy and new demand for lithium and other metals provides a secure future.

So today  the Bolivians and the Peruvians are bitter about their lost land and it still shows.  One example is Bolivia will not allow Argentina’s natural gas to enter Chile.   A piece of advice – do not visit Peru or Bolivia and check into a hotel under the name Prat.

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