I left my Santiago hotel at 4:20a for the airport and got an earful from my driver about US economic system and why America likes to enter wars: oil. He kept asking me if I understood and before 6am, I don’t even understand English! But I played along even after I got the whole “your last name is Spanish, and you don’t speak Spanish?!” Never gonna live that down so now it feels like I need to get married for a new last name. If only it were that simple/easy…
I made some observations about Chile you may or may not find interesting. But it gives me a chance to show some more pictures from my last day in Valparaiso where I didn’t get started until 2p due to an intense headache I had. So here they are:
- Chilean Spanish is much too fast for me to understand. I felt lost a good 80% of the time even after they slowed down their speech. And it’s not even like the accent was difficult. They use different words than what I know, shorten words and even change the way they talk around the country.
- Stray dogs are all over both Santiago and Valparaiso. My tour guide in Valpo told us that the dogs will act like bodyguards in return for some food. I had a few follow me but I quickly learned the command for “leave” or “go away” was “¡sale!”
- Chileans think I speak Spanish well. Say what?!
- They have a love/hate relationship with America. There are murals all around Valpo that show Trump doing something or other. Like this one
- Speaking about Valpo, you definitely need a selfie stick or someone following you around with a camera taking your picture. There are so many cool pieces of street art. My favorites below:
- The country must not believe in postcards. I could not find anything at Plaza de Armas, the main square. And since I had to run to my gate, I didn’t even get to see if the airport had any. So sad that I won’t have one to document this part of South America.
I had a 2 hour layover in Lima and it was nice to take my time. I even got off the plane at a leisurely pace but not before I split up a pair of Asian tourists. When my seat mate was letting me pass, the woman jumped out into the aisle. So I jumped after her and laughed silently to myself that she had to pull her heavy luggage down by herself since her husband was behind me. Maybe cruel but I was in no mood to play nice after waking up at 3:15a.
From Lima to Bogota, I sat next to a nice couple and after I told them I had been traveling for 6 months, he commented that I was “living a dream.” I like to think so; that is until I received an email from my car insurance company that they canceled my policy because I forgot to make my next premium payment. Guess I’m a little too relaxed and non-structured these days. Oops!
Once in Bogotá I breezed through immigration and customs. No questions. No cares. I had arranged with my hotel to provide a car pick up service which turned out to be a really pleasant lady who gave me tips on what to do while in her hometown. I don’t know why I’ve been using Uber for airport pickups – it’s always confusing and they often give directions to have you wait where the angry taxi drivers won’t see them giving you a ride. Maybe if taxi drivers weren’t so scummy. Now that’s a dreamworld if that happened!
Walking tour planned for tomorrow and then I leave on Wednesday for Medellin. It feels so nice to only be a couple of hours time difference from San Diego. I’m coming home in less than 30 days friends. You ready? She sort of ready.
There She Goes... 