When I initially started charting my course, I determined the optimal path would be to start north in Colombia and make my way south to Antarctica. That way, I could travel in one direction and soak in warm weather forever. The seasons are reverse in the Southern hemisphere, and the further away from the equator the colder it gets. In other words, stay away from Antarctica in August. So I decided to start my journey in...
SANTIAGO, CHILE- arguably the most suboptimal starting city.
Thankfully, there was a compelling reason to kick things off in Santiago winter- I got to travel with friends! Everything works out. I'll make up for the geographical inefficiency by riding in a couple extra overnight buses. Santiago was a good introduction to the continent, albeit somewhat sterile. Chile is the most economically stable country in South America, and Santiago is representative of that. Nothing felt shocking. Everything expected of a major global city was present. The folks were friendly. Prices were on par with the US. There was even a hipster shop that sold waffle wraps. I had heard that the Chileans and Argentinians are essentially the Europeans of South America, so I'll revisit that thought after I've been to other countries besides Chile and Argentina.
The food, disappointingly, was also pretty sterile. Fries, cheese, and mayonnaise were standard at every meal. Interestingly, the only vegetable we saw anybody eat, avocados, are also pretty tasteless. Before you send me an angry text, I love avocados but I think they're delicious because of texture. To help you understand why I was surprised when I saw so much mayo on my sandwich that I couldn't actually see any of the other ingredients, here's the top 10 countries in aggregate mayo consumption:
- Russia
- Lithunia
- Ukraine
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Estonia
- Latvia
- Chile
- Netherlands
- Poland
One is not like the others! Mayo originated in Europe, so +1 to the Chileans on being the Europeans of South America. What's scary is that Chile is 3rd in per capita consumption. What's scarier is that mayo only became widely available in Chile in the 1980's.
After a couple days in Santiago, we took a two-hour bus over to Valparaiso, a beautiful port city and UNESCO heritage site. Here's the first Spanish lesson. Valparaiso comes from the phrase "va al paraíso" in Spanish, which translates to "go to paradise". I love the name, and the pronunciation rolls off the tongue too. One of the first things we noticed was the abundance of stray dogs. We had seen strays back in Santiago, but I was surprised to find that there were even more (relative to the human population) in Valpo. For every ten people, there's one stray. The dogs were residents themselves. They walked alongside us on the sidewalk, obeyed stoplights, lounged in the park, and sauntered into stores. It was surreal. Some research revealed two primary causes for their presence: 1) owners don't sterilize their pets, and 2) it's common practice to abandon unwanted animals in the street. Combined with a general indifference by the government and citizens to cull the population, and you have an estimated 2.5 million stray dogs across Chile. This article sums it up succinctly.
Valpo's glory days spanned the second half of the 19th century, when the port city was a stopover for ships traveling from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Thus, the city is an eclectic, unique mix of European and South American culture. The varied architecture, brightly-colored buildings, and street art spread throughout a city built upon hills overlooking the ocean make for a visit well worth it. Through a walking tour, we learned about one of the more interesting aspects of being a UNESCO site. The electrical wiring in the city is a mess, wood and stone were the primary construction materials in the historical sectors, and all the buildings are packed together like sardines. To no one's surprise, sweeping fires are common. However, being in a protected site, burned down buildings are required to be rebuilt with exactly the same materials. Unfortunately, it doesn't make a lot of sense to haul stones up steep hills and build a wood house only to see it burn down again. On the tour, we saw multiple lots with burned down buildings that remain open for purchase. Ironic that an unintended consequence of trying to preserve history may actually result in the destruction of it.
I 'splurged' on photos as a thanks for reaching the end of the first real post!
.svg){kind=link}