BACK IN SANTIAGO AGAIN

So once again I am here in the grand capitol of Chile. It is springtime here, and the trees in the parks are providing ample shade from the blazing sun, while flowers of all sorts are in full bloom. The temperature here today is likely in the mid-to-upper 80 degrees (F.) with a slight feel of humidity. They are saying that it will be a hot summer here in Chile, and I am just about set to absorb what it has to offer between now and my scheduled return to the U.S.A. on a flight that will leave in the eveninf of January 19, 2008.

Anyway, speaking of flights, my arrival yesterday morning capped off an extremely long day of travel, which began at 3 a.m. in Portland, Oregon, and included a long layover of over seven hours in Atlanta, Georgia. I´d planned to spend a part of that time getting out to explore that city (I´ve never been to Atlanta before) but the weather was awful - raining all day. But of course, considering the severe drought there in the SE U.S., I suppose that the folks there were sort of figuring that it was the answer to their prayers, so I guess I shouldn´t be feeling bad about the fact that I didn´t get to go out as planned.

The long non-stop overnight flight down from Atlanta to Santiago was uneventful, but surprisingly it had plenty of empty seats, so I was able to stretch out my coach accomodations a bit in the always vain attempt to find some sleep. That´s right, I never can sleep on such flights, but at least my neck and back didn´t hurt as much as usual once I got in.

My agent/friend Andrés had sent his old office hand Luis to pick me up, and he brought me right into Santiago Centro, where I was destined to spend the next eight hours waiting for some other tourists to leave my appointed apartment over on Calle Mosqueto, which is on the other side of the block from Andrés´office. I finally got in there at around 6 p.m., and after spending a couple of hours resting, finally got in my shower and pronounced myself good to go.

So today I got out and walked around a little bit, refreshing my memories of the sights and scenes of Santiago Centro, or the downtown district in this city of nearly six million people. The photo to the right shows one glimpse of the park at Cerro Santa Lucia, which is only a couple of blocks away from this office. And below is a photo of a statue of the poet Pablo Neruda which is located on Avenida Agustinas, just down from Miraflores.

So far, I´ve been to lunch twice with Andrés, yesterday to Café El Alemán, and today to Café Nuria. Then, after the almuerzo, Andrés took me to an interesting place, I think it was called Icarabú, to introduce me to "Café con Piernas," which is another unique aspect of Chilean culture. If you want to know more, do a google for "Café con Piernas Chile."

In the next couple of days, before my planned departure for points north of here, I will hopefully be recovering the camping gear I´d left here when I departed back in March. I´m also hoping to get to visit two of Andrés´three children (the third, Matías, is currently on a student exchange program visiting Mexico for a couple of weeks.

So it is good to be back here in this sunny and warm country. Quite a change from the cold weather that is settling into my digs back home. And my message to all of you, my friends and family, is to check back here often. I will be posting things on this blog as much as possible as my journey unfolds.