THE ATACAMA VIAJERO - IN RETROSPECT

FIRST JOURNEY PART ONE: FROM NEVADA TO SEATTLE

AND FINALLY, SANTIAGO CHILE

NOVEMBER 20-30, 2002

On the surface it would not surprise me if the image I've created of my actual departure itinerary as laid out in this first chapter's heading seems illogical to you. In truth, it ended up being even crazier because of flight complications between Seattle and Santiago.

Actually, I've got a logical explanation as to why I first went to Seattle. My daughter Sara happened to be living at the time in Bothell, outside of Seattle, where she was enrolled in a school of floral design while at the same time she was working as ship's attendant on the Victoria Clipper, a popular tourist ferry that ran through Puget Sound between Seattle and Victoria, B.C. I'd arranged for Sara and her then-boyfriend (now husband) Kurt Dunning to take care of both my car and my dog for the duration of my first South American trip, so driving up to Seattle made perfect sense.

And the timing for my trip worked out perfectly in another way. I'd scheduled my flight out of Seattle for the day after Thanksgiving, so it gave us a good chance to spend a couple of days together as family before I flew out.

Before the drive up to Seattle from my digs in rural Nevada, I'd been busying myself with a veritable mountain of preparatory details before I headed out - but it would really exhaust me to try to recount that whole process for you here. Just figure that I had to make arrangements to secure everything at home, including arranging for a caretaker to collect mail and watch over my house and to prepay bills for a full three month's absence. And I'd made meticulous arrangements over a period of time for my arrival in Chile.

After doing a rather extensive online search I settled on making a three month rental of a sturdy 4x4 pickup truck from a fellow named Andres Gabor, who operated a tourist outfit which he called AbsolutChile, and who would also make arrangements for my first few nights' accomodations in Santiago to get settled in before I headed out on the road for real.

So that's a rather succinct summary of everything pre-departure. Sara did a superb job of cooking up a fine Thanksgiving dinner, complete with all of the trimmings. At the end of that evening I logged in my journal that there was so much going through my head that I was not so sure I'd get much sleep, which turned out to be an accurate assumption. My narrative will now switch over into journal mode, beginning with my recollection of my trip from Seattle (departing on the morning of November 29) to my first day in Chile (as entered before retiring in my temporary apartment in Santiago on the night of November 30).

November 30, 2002 - 11:15 p.m. Santiago, Chile

Here I am, in Santiago. I have finally reached South America.

Starting out from Sara's, the journey to Seattle's airport in post-rush hour traffic was uneventful. Kurt drove us there, and Sara accompanied me into the terminal, helping me with my bags. Kurt then drove the circle around toe parking terrace and back up to curbside where he assumed he'd be picking Sara up. There was a little problem which happened following my check-in however. Since my bags were ticketed for an international flight, he baggage people had indicated that I should stand by while my bags cleared their inspection, so Sara and I found ourselves waiting there for some sort of signal, which was not forthcoming, while Kurt found himself driving around in circles - multiple times. Finally Sara flagged down one of the baggage people to see if there was a problem with my bags, and the woman said, "My goodness, his bags cleared our inspection ten minuites ago - he can proceed to his departure gate. I'm sorry." Even with that little snafu, Sara became flushed and she teared up, giving me a tearful goodbye hug and sent me on my way. It's a good thing - Kurt was late for class.

Anyway, I had the good fortune to find myself sitting next to a cheerful woman from Colombia on the flight from Seattle to Dallas/Ft. Worth. She was thrilled to learn I was flying to Chile and she took it upon herself to work a little with my Spanish as we took off. It was a good impromptu language lesson, which continued off and on for the entire journey, even continuing on past our touchdown in Dallas as we found ourselves with an additional two other Colombian women riding on the same shuttle van that would take us to the faraway departure gates for our next connecting flight to Miami.

If you are familiar with the Dallas/Ft. Worth airport, you are aware that it is something of a sprawling monster, so it might not surprise you that the shuttle barely got us to the Miami flight departure gate on time. And it turned out that this flight was also loaded with South Americans, since it was a connecting flight with a final destination of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Why was I flying to Miami when Delta Air Lines ran regular, non-stop flights to Santiago from Dallas? It turned out that the airline made those flights six nights a week, and unfortunately, I'd booked myself onto the seventh night. Okay, so maybe if I'd done a little more checking I could have avoided that lateral flight across the Gulf of Mexico, but it turned out okay regardless because it was one of those crystal- clear cloudless nights, and the in-flight screen was showing the itinerary map of where we were flying. Once out of the Dallas/Ft. Worth airspace, the flight tacked to the southeast past Lake Ponchartrain and out over the waters of the Gulf. Remember, this was a night flight so I couldn't see the water below, but I could see all the lights of the communities stretching out like a diamond necklace along the coastline. And with the flight itinerary map on the screen, I could tell exactly which Gulf community was which. Mobile Bay and Pensacola glided past, and when the flight reached the Gulf's Florida shore I could clearly make out Tampa Bay and even the inland swamps and wetlands. Viewing Miami as we approached in the darkness was simply a spectacular sight. I guess I should add that I'd lucked out to have secured the window seat, so the whole flight to Miami was an amateur geographer's night-time delight.

The Miami layover was something like two hours. It gave me time to ponder what was ahead: a true "red-eye" flight that was departing at 11:40 p.m. Eastern time and would represent the first time I'd cross the equator in this life. I remember wondering if they still made a big deal about passing into the Southern Hemisphere like old seafarers used to do (they don't), and also wondering how I'd do with such a long flight - some nine hours non-stop to Santiago.

Unfortunately there would be no window seat for this one: I was assigned to the left-center aisle seat, and there was the advantage of not having to climb over a fellow traveler to get out to stretch in the aisle or to go to the bathroom - and by the time we'd been flying until dawn I was grateful for that.

Anyway, the flight seemed to go on forever, and naturally I found it impossible to "sleep" in the cramped, semi-jacknife position of a passenger flying coach, so by the time we were starting our approach in full morning daylight my sleep-deprived head felt like hell with a day's growth of stubble on my face and a grubby body yearning for the shower I would not be able to take for several hourws more. Regardless of that, The person who did have the window seat had pulled up the blind to take in the view of the Andes Cordillera as it rolled past. It was a veiw I had dearly wanted to take in, and by straining my neck I could at least take in the basic view, which was superb.

There they were, the Andes - which out the portal presented stacked layers of snowy ridgelines, ruggedly serrated with sharply jutting peaks rising up into the vivid light of a crystal clear austral springtime morning. If that sight didn't cause me to forget my travel fatigue, it at least made it a bit more tolerable as the plane neared Santiago.

I should mention that I was grateful for the flight attendant's service, which, considering that this was a long international flight, seemed to be quite a bit better than what I'd come to expect on domestic flights. We were served snacks and drinks and then were given warm towels at one point to cleanse our hands and faces. Then at 1 a.m., a full dinner was served, accompanied by more drinks. The activity didn't die down until about 2:30 or 3 a.m. when everyone had become too bleary-eyed and the cabin lights were dimmed down to the minimum so that all could try to catch some shut-eye for a time. Then as the dawn was approaching, coffee was offered up, with more warm towels, and finally, breakfast in the last hour before touchdown.

We landed at about 9:30 a.m. Santiago time, and the disembarkation was completely uneventful. At least it was until we reached the customs point in the terminal where all U.S. citizens are assessed a one-time "reciprocity fee" by the Chilean officials, payable in cash only. This is done because for some reason, U.S. customs charge Chilean visitors an entry fee so the Chilean government feels it only right to reciprocate. Thankfully I was well aware of this charge and the important fact that first-time American visitors must pay it in cash, but I was a but disappointed that recently the fee had gone up from $61 USD to $100 USD. Such is life.

Getting my baggage through customs was not difficult but once I'd cleared everything, I had a heck of a time finding Luis, who was Andres Gabor's employee who he'd sent to pick me up and bring me into Santiago Centro to meet Andres and to get to the apartment he had waiting for me. The receiving gallery of Santiago's airport is crammed with cabbies and agents who are looking for their charges whenever the international flights come in. There's lots of shoving and shouting, and many cabbies trying to get the just-arrived visitor to ride in their cabs. It's quite competitive, and makes it hard for one such as me who has already made pick-up arrangements to find their drivers.

After a few minutes of confusion, I finally spotted Luis, who was holding up a chalk board with my name on it. He was a short fellow, with bushy short hair and a stocky countenance. I was reassured by his cheerfulness, but as he only spoke Spanish, I needed to respond in kind. It wasn't perfect, but we understood each other and he led me out of the terminal to the pickup truck that would soon be my rental vehicle and got my bags loaded up so that we could proceed to make the drive into the heart of Santiago. Along the way, Luis pointed out landmarks here and there as we came into the city, eventually bringing me into El Centro along the route known as Alameda Bernardo O'Higgins, or more usually, simply the Alameda.

We reached the offices of AbsolutChile, which was located in a street-side entrance to a metropolitan parking terrace on Miraflores, not far from the Cerro Santa Lucia, the museum known as the Palacio de Bellas Artes and the beautiful tree-lined Parque Forestal, which fronts along the Río Mapocho.. The office was officially labeled as Lys Rent A Car, which was part of Andres' operations, and would be the firm I would be renting the pickup truck from in a few short days after getting somewhat oriented to being in a new country.

Meeting Andres Gabor for the first time was a memorable moment. It's funny how you find yourself creating an imagined impression of somebody you have been in contact with but never have seen or met, and I never realized how inaccurate such predetermined impressions could be. I'd really expected Andres to be a short and squat middle-aged Chilean businessman, maybe with a pot belly - but the man I met was nothing at all like I had expected. He was fairly tall and built solidly, almost like an athlete, but clearly not at all like I had imagined. Most of all, I was struck by his relative youth, and was captivated by how fluent his English was, which was the result of considerable time spent years earlier living in the United States.

Andres really took me under his wing and bent over backwards to make me feel welcome. I think that he might have been a little bit surprised to find out that I had come to Chile with no traveling companion, but he paid that no mind and proceeded to show me that famous Chilean hospitality. The first thing he wanted to do was take me to lunch in a fine restaurant named Eladio, across the Mapocho in the Barrio Bellavista. He suggested I try "Bif a lo Pobre," which turned out to be a huge succulent steak (boneless) over one inch thick, which sat upon a mountain of french fried potatoes and onions and topped with an egg cooked sunny side up. It was preceeded by an elegant cooked Argentine cheese appetizer and followed by a rather decadent pastry dessert. It was almost overwhelming although I will add that it was nice and very welcome despite the fact that I had been trying to get away from eating meat up until them. The message was clearly: don't try to be a vegetarian if you are going to spend time in Chile!

When we got back to his office, Andres had Luis and another employee, a fello named Juan Carlos, take me over to the apartment he would be putting me up in during my stay in Santiago. They had laid out the apartment with all sorts of welcoming fixings, from fresh cut flowers to a bowl of fresh fruit on the dining table. All very nice. When Luis and Juan Carlos left, I finally was able to unwind and take my much-needed shower and then rest for a spell before finally venturing out on my own to take in a bit of my surroundings.

I took a short walk over to the Parque Forestal and was pleased to take in the warm air of late speing in this nice downtown park in Santiago. I took a few pictures, which I'll attach here. First is a photo of a rather eccentric statue entitled "Caballo," which was crafted by a Colombian artist named Fernando Botero in 1992 as a gift to Santiago. It sits in the park behind the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, which is the next photo. Then finally, is a picture of the Río Mapocho, which at the time was being channeled while the city worked on a rather adventurous project of building a highway underneath the river. That highway, incidentally was finished a few years ago and became known as the Costanera Norte. I'd be curious to know how it fared in the earthquake.

SEBASTIÁN PIÑERA SWORN IN AS CHILE'S NEW PRESIDENT

While a series of seven ominously powerful earthquake aftershocks shook central Chile today, multi-billionaire and Harvard-trained conservative businessman Sebastián Piñera was sworn in as the country's new president. Today's aftershocks (the biggest with a magnitude of 6.9, downsized from an earlier estimate of 7.2) caused the Chilean navy to issue a new tsunami warning, and seismologists said that now Chile can expect to feel aftershocks from the aftershocks. As a precaution, authorities evacuated the congressional building in coastal Valparaiso where the inaguration took place following the ceremony.

Piñera, shown above with his wife Cecelia in a 2005 presidential campaign flyer which I picked up in December of that year when I saw him in person at an outdoor political rally in downtown Los Angeles, Chile, was defeated by Michelle Bachelet for the presidency back then. Now he has come back, handily winning the new election held in January with the promise to "make Chile the best country in the world." Of course, now his number one priority will be to engineer the reconstruction of a badly damaged nation.

He is Chile's first right wing conservative president since the leftist coalition took power at the end of the Pinochet dictatorship twenty years ago. His election victory now puts Chile's relatively small business elite in direct power, a fact that encourages many Chileans who look to him to create jobs for the people. However there are some in Chile, particularly many in the labor unions, who promise to initiate crippling strikes if Piñera carries out the partial privatization of Codelco, the nation's massive state-run copper conglomerate, that he had promised during the campaign. Since he lacks a legislative majority he will likely find it necessary to compromise with the left to move forward. The center-left coalition for its part, has moderated its tone since the devastating earthquakes and has said that it will support Piñera's reconstruction programs.

The AP photo at right shows Piñera wearing the Chilean presidential sash at today's swearing-in ceremony in Valparaiso, Chile. Personally, I hope that the new administration will prove to be a successful one for Chile, and I extend my most sincere congratulations to President Sebastián Piñera and wish him all the best.

[Note: I originally had said I would now go forward with my retrospective, but I felt that today's presidential inauguration deserved some comment. I will resume my retrospective with my next post.]

THE ATACAMA VIAJERO - IN RETROSPECT

PREFACE: THE BIRTH OF THE DREAM

[Note: So here at last begins my oft-promised retrospective on my multiple South American adventures. I'll begin by attempting to describe what got me into this wild sort of solo adventure travel, and then I'll go from there, back to the year 2002...]

When I was a boy I started dreaming about the farthest reaches of South America. As a matter of fact, I think that my curiosity about this land which stretched out below the equator began to form almost as soon as I came to realize that there was such a place. I have fond memories of a wonderful jigsaw puzzle our family had of North America which I enjoyed putting together over and over. It went from Alaska all the way down as far as Panama, and that beyond that small, semi-twisted appendage of land was the start of a whole other continent, beginning with a country labeled Colombia, but which sadly extended beyond the borders of the puzzle, so everything beyond the edge of the board was a big mystery. Sure, this is all fairly fanciful stuff for a little boy in nursery school, but I really do believe that North America jigsaw puzzle was the first thing to get me intrigued about South America.

Through the next dozen years of schooling I'd learn about the various countries down there, but I have to admit I found most of the materials we had to study to be pretty boring and ultimately forgettable. But when I was in the seventh grade, our social studies teacher gave us the opportunity to show a little creativity with one assignment, and I eagerly chose to make a salt-relief map of South America. Now I know that I have already posted the picture my dad took of me hard at work on that map, but I think it is worth posting here as well, so here it is.

Even though that modest little project was completed nearly fifty years ago I can state that I still have vivid memories of each step in the process of constructing a somewhat accurate three dimensional re-creation of the entire continent, and can still recall how fun it was. At last, here was a real hands-on experience with the otherwise turgid geography lesson, and I loved it. My recollection of whatever grade I had earned (it was an A) pales greatly next to the sheer pleasure I had experienced in creating my map.

Unfortunately, time and the elements would not be kind to this little personal masterpiece, and my South America map fell victim to a fatal case of mildew which attacked and destroyed it where my parents had stored it - down in our flood-prone basement. So now I am left only with the above little black and white photograph and with the memory.

Then the years passed. I grew up and left home to go off to college and eventually graduated with a bachelor's history degree. In time I got married, started a business, and had my two children. Any conception of a "dream" to go to South America didn't really seem to exist. At least not then.

But a little over twenty years ago the dream was born. That was the time when my marriage was irreconcilably crashing on the rocks. I knew I needed to get away from it all, even if for just a short time. No doubt the madness of the moment had effected my thinking when I made the fateful decision to load up my camping gear in my sturdy Toyota Landcruiser and go with my dog Molly as my only travel companion on a real adventure journey - to drive as far down Mexico's Baja California peninsula as I could. Before that trip, I'd ventured into Mexico a couple of times, once just to buy some tequila across the border, and once to camp out overnight on the beach at Puerto Peñasco (Rocky Point), but never anything like this. It was my first real penetration into a part of Latin America, and although I couldn't speak even a word of Spanish, I felt like I was discovering a whole new world. And as I drove farther down that incredibly long peninsula, I started to imagine what it would be like to go ALL the way down - all the way to Tierra Del Fuego!

The above three photographs were taken on that eventful three week journey down the Baja Peninsula. In the upper right, a self-portrait taken on the shores of Bahia de Los Angeles on January 16, 1990. Then the small shot on the left is the spectacular sunrise on the morning of January 17 at Bahia de Los Angeles. Finally, the larger picture shows my dog Molly and my Toyota Landcruiser at my camp in the boojums, not far from Cataviña.

Anyway, so that's where my South American dream was born, on that trip into Baja California in January, 1990. Even though I was alone, I felt that I'd had the time of my life on that journey and that prompted me to start learning Spanish. More Baja trips ensued, and and then one big drive far down the west coast of mainland Mexico, as far as San Blas and over to the city of Tepic to buy Huichol art works, camping where I could.

But the dream would take years to come to fruition. I remember in April 1996, while attending the annual Lubbock Arts Festival in Texas, there was a South American Andean folklore ensemble performing named Markahuasi whose music was absolutely infectuous. The band's charango player happened to be from Valdivia, Chile. I can recall having an extensive conversation with him about South America. I told him that I really wanted to go there, and he replied to me that if that was so, then I had really better make plans to go and not to let anything interfere with that dream or I just might not make it. I never forgot his message, but still it would take me another six and a half years to make my dream become a reality, when I finally made it at the end of November 2002.

And so next up on this recounting of my South American adventures will be part one of the story of that magnificent first trip of discovery. Stay tuned, my friends.

CHILE, FIVE DAYS LATER - A PARTIAL UPDATE

Here is a partial overview of the situation in Chile, five days after the massive, 8.8 magnitude earthquake.

Today the central Chilean coast was rocked by a pair of powerful aftershocks (5.9 and 6.0 magnitude, respectively) which provoked false tsunami warnings and sent frightened coastal residents running for high ground (see AP photo, from the Chilean city of Constitución, right).

The outgoing president of Chile, Michele Bachelet, whose term expires next week, has been soundly criticized for her government's response to the disaster, and NPR reports that some have said that the impending power transition to the incoming administration of president-elect Sebastian Piñera has complicated the government's handling of the disaster.

One of the strongest criticisms of Bachelet's response has been her hesitation in sending in troops of the Chilean army to augment the carabineros (police) to help to restore order in the worst-hit areas. President-elect Piñera has been careful not to interfere with Bachelet's efforts as current president to deal with the crisis, but he has made it clear that he would have sent in the army immediately. Piñera, who is one of the richest men in the world, will assume the mantle of the Chilean presidency next week.

Regardless, Bachelet says that her administration has been working closely with Piñera's transition team. Piñera, for his part, says that "this is not a time to assign blame but rather for all Chileans to work together to solve the country's huge current problems.

Today President Bachelet spoke about how severely the economy of Chile had been hit by the double whammy of the massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunamis, which had killed, by the most current count, over 800 people. She listed multiple major sectors of the Chilean economy that had been severely impacted, including agriculture, trade, mining, industry, building and tourism. "The rail system is not working, neither are some industries such as the Huachipato steel complex due to serious damage." She also reported that the Huachipato industrial port "was unusable."

Bachelet also said that much of the fishing industry and wood processing plants "were also paralyzed." By today, she had dispatched some 14,000 soldiers to patrol the worst-hit areas.

An ABC news report today concentrated on the economic impact, stating that the tsunami that had demolished the major port of Talcahuano, near Concepción, had thrown huge 50-ton fishing boats onto dry land and obliterated smaller fishing vessels, effectively wiping out the ports' lucrative anchovy and sardine fishing business.

Inland from Concepción, the important national artery, the Panamerican Highway (Ruta 5, which is the nation's only north-south highway) had suffered the collapse of scores of bridges and suffered countless numbers of gaping crevices splitting apart the asphalt, effectively paralyzing the lifeline for numerous industries, including the nation's renouned farm-raised salmon industry. Some of the salmon fishery executives were trying to figure out a way to possibly truck their fish over the Andes and into Argentina for transport to Buenos Aires in an attempt get their product to market and keep from losing a fortune. ABC warns that the U.S. consumer should expect higher salmon prices at the market.

And the significant wine industry was especially hard hit. It is grape harvest time in Chile, and with the roads busted up so badly there will be problems trying to get the grapes from the vineyards to the wineries, plus the telecommunications system still is very badly damaged, so vintners are having trouble reaching employees by phone or internet to discuss the harvest. The damages to many vineyards will translate into higher production costs, which will likely be reflected in cost and availability issues in the retail markets. Some vineyards have had casks burst and bottled product smashed, so this significant Chilean industry will be significantly affected for some time to come.

Financially, Chilean stocks saw their losses accelerate today after the reports came in of the strong aftershocks from Concepción. Chile's IPSA equity index fell 1.5% to 3,705. The index has fallen more than 3% since Monday's opening, following Saturday's quake.

Still, some glimmers of good news have emerged in today's news. Chile's Public Works Minister Sergio Bitar reported today that"port activities are recovering." And an article posted on Bloomberg.com said today that the important central Chilean Port of San Antonio (near my favorite resort town of El Tabo) has returned to 80% capacity and that now the main port of Valparaiso is operating normally. Both ports had closed immediately following the earthquake and tsunami on Saturday. Ships carrying grains are currently being given priority over incoming and outcoming vessels at San Antonio, where port authorities are still running tests. However the heavily damaged ports closer to the earthquake epicenter still remain closed.

The Bloomberg.com story also reported that Chile's copper industry is also back to work today. Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, returned to full output, although the industry giant hasn't started shipping copper to San Antonio. Regardless, that mining news was reflected in a 3.45 cent rise in copper futures for May delivery, a full 1% climb, to 3.446 a pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange's Comex Unit.

A story by Laura Bly published today by USA Today mentions that electricity, phone service and public transportation have been restored in Santiago, and now some flights have resumed at the capitol's airport. While the terminal has suffered damage to its customs and ticketing sections, some activities have been temporarily moved into tents, and that 24-hour international and domestic flight schedules will resume on Friday. LAN Airlines, the country's biggest carrier is currently operating at 30% of its flight schedule.

The resumption of air service will fit in nicely with the fact that much of the country's tourism infrastructure is coming back together and that many of the usual attractions like Chilean Patagonia, the Atacama Desert and Easter Island suffered little or no damage. Turismo Chile reports that popular tourist towns like Pucón, Puerto Varas and Puerto Montt in the Chilean lake District are operating normally, as are places such as Torres del Paine and San Pedro de Atacama.

So that is a partial update on the most current conditions in Chile. I will admit that the disaster has brought a corresponding change in my plans to begin my retrospective report that will go back to my initial extended adventure trip to Chile and Argentina, which began right after Thanksgiving in 2002. But that delay will finally be finished when I write my next post in the next day or so. That means that, barring some new clamity from South America, I'll be taking you all along with me as I reprise that wonderful journey of discovery - so check back soon!
Chao, amigos!