Good morning Santiago!

Wednesday, 15.01.2020

Slightly excited, we took the bus to the airport in the morning. Nina is still a bit sentimental about having to fly, I am more excited. I do find it annoying, though, because the journey without a flight would have been very special, but I do enjoy flying itself and everything around it, and I am also very excited to finally be in South America. Then I can start learning Spanish and move freely on land again.

At the check-in counter, the next surprise came - Nina was not on the list. After some back and forth, it turned out that her booking from yesterday was not successful and was canceled by email in the middle of the night. Nina didn't see the email. So we did more research and thinking, and in the end, Nina stayed behind and we said our goodbyes on the spot. Maybe it was a sign that she should try to continue traveling without a plane.

For me, it took only an hour to get to Barbados, where I had to collect my luggage and be sent from one counter to another. The transfer time was quite short and due to time constraints, they didn't want to send me and two other passengers through the regular check-in. So we were escorted by a security officer to the gate with our hand luggage and checked baggage, where our backpacks were taken directly to the plane to Panama.

On the flight to Panama, I treated myself to my first glass (okay, plastic cup) of red wine in a month and a half. I really enjoyed it. And I'm really looking forward to the wines in Chile, even though I'm not much of a drinker anymore. I hardly had any alcohol since I set off, and I didn't miss it either. But the red wine was really good.

The transfer time in Panama was also quite short, but everything went well.

Thursday, 16.01.2020

I do need to learn Spanish now. But first, I'm going to sleep in after last night. We all met for breakfast at 9 o'clock, and then I did some yoga in the stairwell. We walked into the city together, then we separated and I went up Cerro Santa Lucía with Raphael - a small, cute, green hill with a mini fortress and a beautiful view in the middle of the city. Now, when I'm really observant of my surroundings and talk to the others about the current political situation in Chile, I notice that the city is quite damaged. Many shops and especially banks now have corrugated iron or concrete coverings instead of beautiful shop windows, and the windows behind them are often shattered. Many curbstones, sewer grates, and even entire sidewalks are missing, probably used as projectiles during the riots. Everywhere, there are slogans about President Piñera and the "Pacos" - the police.

We briefly walked through the Centro Artesanal arts and crafts market and had a freshly mixed mango juice, then I took the metro to the large Costanera Center shopping mall on the outskirts. I was looking for AAA lithium batteries for my GPS tracker, but unfortunately without success. The modern giant mall was overcrowded, and the crowd of people soon stressed me out.

I walked back to the hostel, through my neighborhood Providencia, along a larger street with more colorful malls and many small shops. It's actually very nice, but because it's Friday afternoon, it's also quite crowded.

In the evening, there was a BBQ organized by the hostel with nice conversations.

Saturday, 18.01.2020

After breakfast, I officially checked out, but still spent most of the day at the hostel. I researched in the couch area, learned Spanish, and did yoga until I set off for Manuel, my couchsurfing host, in the late afternoon.

He lives a few metro stations further outside with his friend Pablo. Manuel has a degree in engineering but works as a communication coach and performs as a mentalist. And all of this at only 26 years old. Pablo is 27 and is finishing his law studies, he is also politically very active. Two cool, interesting guys, we get along very well. The apartment is in a good, safe, but also expensive area. The building has a doorman and 19 floors with a small roof pool.

Sunday, 19.01.2020

First of all, sleeping in. And not much happened for the rest of the day either. I had breakfast and did yoga, researched, and then motivated myself for a bit of sightseeing in the afternoon. However, I find the crowd here, as always, incredibly exhausting. Santiago is not much different from a big city in southern Europe. I feel quite safe, the metro works easily and well, and otherwise there are shops, museums, markets, and street vendors.

Monday, 20.01.2020

Today I wanted to get out - out of the city, out into nature. There are apparently good hiking areas around Santiago, but the information on the internet is rather sparse. In some places, expensive guided tours are offered, and for the remaining places, there is very little helpful information (at least in English). Nevertheless, I set off to Yerba Loca, a valley northeast of the city. By car, the journey takes a little over an hour, but it took me about two hours. First, I took two metros and a bus to the outskirts of the city and hitchhiked for 30km from there. Since the area outside the city is sparsely populated, it didn't take long for me to get a ride, but I had to switch three times. Most cars didn't go far from the city. My few bits of Spanish helped me a bit, even though understanding Chileans is really difficult.

In Yerba Loca, I hiked about 10km in scorching heat and dust. Chile is currently experiencing severe drought, more than usual for this time of year. Several small picnic and camping sites have been built in the valley, from where various hikes of different lengths and difficulties start. But first, you have to walk into the valley for an hour if you don't have a car. I was most interested in the trail to the La Paloma glacier, but for that, I would have had to arrive very early and needed camping equipment for an overnight stay. And a hiking buddy wouldn't have been bad either. So I only did the shortest round to a viewpoint. It was still very nice to exert myself in the mountains again. On the way back, I hitchhiked with two cars. The first one was driven by Blas, an older Chilean who spoke slowly and clearly, so we could actually communicate a bit with hand gestures (he talked, I nodded). The second car was driven by Tomi, an English-speaking Chilean, who immediately gave me his sister's contact information for information about traveling further south. He drives from the city to the mountains every day and offered me another ride for other days.

Tuesday, 21.01.2020

Said and done. early in the morning, I packed my hiking gear and snacks and met Tomi at the metro. He took me back to the Farellones region, this time to the town of La Parva. In winter, it is a beautiful ski area, in summer a dusty, deserted ghost town. We wound our way up about 40 switchbacks to an altitude of about 2,700m, where Tomi dropped me off at the base station of a ski lift. On weekends, it is open for hikers, but during the week it's completely dead.

For a good hour, I climbed a scree field steeply up to the mountain station of the lift. Along the way, I was accompanied by a large, well-behaved dog that resembled a bear. He always waited for me when I got too slow and followed me (up to the summit). After another hour of ascent in scorching heat and without any protection from the sun, I met the only other hikers, Antoine and Elena. Again, this is a fortunate twist of fate because without them, I wouldn't have reached my hoped-for summit today. Tomi wanted to return to the city around 4 pm, which would have been too tight for the Cerro Pintor at about 4,200m. So I had already prepared myself to turn back after a certain time, no matter how far I had come. But since Antoine and Elena had the same goal and were there by car, they eventually drove me back to Santiago. We tackled the rest of the way to the summit of Cerro Pintor together. The view was fantastic - various shades of brown and views of the El Plomo and La Paloma glaciers. Around the mountain range, there was thick smog, but sometimes you could catch a glimpse of Santiago in the distance. We took our time to get to the summit because the sun was mercilessly beating down, but no one was in a hurry.

Antoine, an older, eccentric Frenchman who has been living in South America for 30 years, and Elena, a 28-year-old Frenchwoman who grew up in Chile, were very entertaining with all their stories. After a hearty snack and a photo session at the summit, we made our way back. Here, I distanced myself from the group as the two wanted to descend a bit slower, and I wanted to take advantage of the momentum of gravity. Besides, I need some time alone with myself and my thoughts. So after comfortably ascending in 4.5 hours, I ran back down in a rapid 2 hours and waited for the others at the parking lot.

Back in Santiago, not much happened. My body was exhausted, I got two blisters, and despite using SPF 50 sunscreen and wearing a hat, the sun affected me a bit. The altitude was only slightly noticeable, I expected it to be worse. I definitely feel very accomplished today.

Wednesday, 22.01.2020

Today is a day for lazing around. I need a bit of rest from the (beautiful) exertions of the last few days. So I slept in for a long time and didn't do much - sorted photos, did some yoga later, ordered pizza in between. It felt good!

In the evening, I went to a friend's birthday party with Manuel and had a nice conversation with great people again. On such occasions, I often get new contact information, but I still don't know the best way to save it so that I can associate the people later. After a few Pisco Sours, Piscolas, delicious snacks, and with a handful of travel tips, I returned quite late and quickly went to bed.