Time seems to be passing very quickly. I can't believe that this week we will be into June already and that I have been in Santiago for over 3 months. I am fairly sure the next 5 or 6 weeks will fly by as well before I have to return to Brisbane.
Probably should mention a bit about my movements last week. On Tuesday evening I went to a book launch by Raul Sohr who is an international journalist. He has written a book on the Chilean energy policy and essentially how wrong it all is. A number of people gave a short talk followed by the author himself. I am sure it was pretty interesting but unfortunately it was all in Spanish so my understanding was limited! On Thursday I went out for dinner at a French restaurant in Barrio Brasil called Boulevard Lavaud which is in a pretty old building above a hairdressers Pelluqueria Francesa. I have to mention that they serve one of the strongest Pisco Sours I have tasted, excellent,but strong. I finished mine and ended up having to also finish my friend Karin's as well. The food was really good as was our choice of wine and I'd recommend it as the atmosphere is really nice, an old building with lots of old and interesting things on the walls.
It pretty much rained most of the weekend which hopefully means that it will have been snowing in the mountains which bodes well for the prospect of skiing before I leave. Despite the weather I still seemed to have a pretty busy weekend. I was pretty tired after work on Friday so thought a trip to the gym might sort me out and get me ready to go out later. With hindsight a powernap might have been a better choice. The occasion on Friday was a leaving party in a small bar in the Lastarria district of the city. The party was for someone who I have only met a few times, and was returning to Germany after spending a year in Chile. Needless to say, the party went on until the early hours and was followed by an afterparty in someone's nearby flat. So it was around 4.30 when I finally got to bed.
On Sunday it was the National Heritage Day so many old historical buildings were open to the public in Santiago. The weather was pretty awful but that wasn't going to stop myself and Karin taking in a bit of culture. We started off with the British Ambassadors Residence which is actually at the end of the street where I live. This was actually a bit disappointing as the ambassador wasn't actually there. Next up was the National Library of Chile, this was more interesting, particularly some of the old wood panelled library rooms, there were also demonstrations on the art of paper making that was quite interesting. Not too far away from here is the Teatro Municipal which is the main concert hall in Chile, a wonderful old traditional opera house. The final visit of the day was to the old US embassy, now the Chilean chamber of commerce. The US embassy moved to a new fortress some years ago. This was not particularly interesting. We also tried visiting the Argentinian ambassadors residence but they had decided to close early, I guess the comments about the Falklands and Maradona being a cheating bastard didn't go down too well :-) . It was quite tiring walking around all day but interesting to visit parts of Santiago I probably wouldn't have normally visited.
A
Monday, 28 May 2012
Monday, 21 May 2012
Vina Santa Rita
This weekend is a long weekend. Today, monday is a public holiday although I am not quite sure what for but I'll take it anyway. I've stayed in Santiago as I didn't really want to go away again, after last weeks trip to San Pedro. On Saturday I spent the afternoon in Flannery's a sort of Irish theme pub only without guinness which is a bit like a brothel without any girls. Anyway, there was a reason for me being there, the champions league final. I am not a Chelsea fan but when if they are playing a German team then they are going to get my support. It turned out to be an exciting game going to penalties and Chelsea finally won. I am also quite pleased because they won it with a caretaker manager. I have never been a big fan of Abramovich's hiring and firing tactics with his managers so it will be interesting to see what he does next, does he go for another high profile name or stick with the coach who won him the Champions league.
Yesterday I was invited out for lunch to the vineyard Santa Rita by some colleagues from the university. This is one of the larger wine producers in Chile that is owned by one of the richest families in the country. The vineyard is about 30 km south of the city. There is a wonderful museum there that houses the family private collection of historical artefacts some of which date back to 2-3000 BC. After wandering around the museum it was time for lunch which was the real reason for being there. The restaurant was full for Sunday lunch but fortunately we had a reservation. A good lunch including some very nice Carmenere was followed by a stroll around the vineyards. It was wonderfully peaceful compared to the craziness of Santiago and yet we were really not that far away from the city. It was an extremely civilised way to spend a Sunday afternoon and I would thoroughly recommend it. Thanks to Maria Christina, Beatriz and Paola and their families for the invitation.
Yesterday I was invited out for lunch to the vineyard Santa Rita by some colleagues from the university. This is one of the larger wine producers in Chile that is owned by one of the richest families in the country. The vineyard is about 30 km south of the city. There is a wonderful museum there that houses the family private collection of historical artefacts some of which date back to 2-3000 BC. After wandering around the museum it was time for lunch which was the real reason for being there. The restaurant was full for Sunday lunch but fortunately we had a reservation. A good lunch including some very nice Carmenere was followed by a stroll around the vineyards. It was wonderfully peaceful compared to the craziness of Santiago and yet we were really not that far away from the city. It was an extremely civilised way to spend a Sunday afternoon and I would thoroughly recommend it. Thanks to Maria Christina, Beatriz and Paola and their families for the invitation.
Thursday, 17 May 2012
San Pedro de Atacama (part 2)
Thought I would bring the story of San Pedro Atacama up to date. I've now posted some more photo's on Facebook that can be found here. On Saturday I had a whole day trip organised. In the morning we travelled to the Atacama salt flats to Chaxa lake which is a Flamingo reserve. The ground around the lake was a solid crust of salt. Three different species of Flamingo live in and around the lakes but unfortunately I don't remember their names. I was the only English speaking person on the trip so the poor guide, Claudia had to keep repeating everything a second time for me. We then drove up to the Altiplano lagoons, Miscanti and Miñiques Lakes, which are located at 4,220 m. Hopefully the photo's are able to convey how incredible the views were here. The lakes are surrounded by snow capped mountains and volcanoes. Chile has one of the highest number of volcanoes on its territory and they are quite proud of this as well as the fact that when they erupt the ash blows over into Argentina! We stopped on the way down for lunch in a restaurant which inevitably was chicken with rice which is a staple in Chile. Following a rather late lunch we drove back to San Pedro de Atacama. I had a pretty early night as the next day I had arranged to visit the to go to the Tatio Geysers, a geothermal centre with geysers that can only be seen very early in the morning (so they tell us) and therefore involves leaving San Pedro at 4 am. It was worth getting up so early and braving the temperatures of -8 C, the springs are up at 4800m. We were served some basic breakfast and a welcome hot drink. Once the sun came up we were able to have a dip in some nearby natural hot springs which was very nice except for having to get out afterwards to get dressed. On the way back we visited Machuca, a small llama herder settlement. The village is filled with adobe houses with thatched roofs. For photos of these trips you should go to here . We were back in San Pedro by midday so I had an afternoon to kill, or so I thought. I had checked out of my room in the hostel before I left at 4 am but was still able to have a hot shower when I got back luckily. The previous evening I had called up the bus company to arrange to be picked up at my hostel to transfer to the airport at Calama. I had to use my best Spanish to do this. I thought I told them I wanted to be picked up at 7pm, my flight was at 11pm. After I had a shower I had gone for some lunch in San Pedro and then wandered back to the hostal at around 2.30 pm. I sat and read for a while and thought I had hours to kill. At around 4 pm a man came into the hostal calling my name and it appeared he was ready to transfer me to the airport. Fortunately, I was all packed and ready to go and also actually there as I had been thinking of wandering off for a drink. It dawned on me later that they must have thought my flight was at 7 so booked the transfer for some hours before. It actually all worked out pretty well as I was able to get an earlier flight and be back in Santiago by 9. There was a potential for a real balls up there though.
A
Monday, 14 May 2012
San Pedro de Atacama ... Part 1a
San Pedro de Atacama is one of those towns that pretty much exists for tourists. I am sure it hasn't always been that way but that is how it is today. The streets are lined with restaurants, cafes, travel agency's and souvenir shops. Despite that it has a certain charm that I quite like. What people come here for though is the amazing landscape. San Pedro is on one end of the Atacama salt lakes. The third largest in the world apparently, the largest is in Bolivia followed by the great Salt Lake near Salt Lake City in the US. The plains are at around 2000 m I think and volcanoes standing over 5000 m surround it. I am not going to write too much because words can't really describe it, hopefully the photos will help. I arrived on Thursday so in the evening went on a star gazing tour which was really interesting. We were driven around 20 minutes outside San Pedro and then were given a guided tour of the nights sky by a Canadian astronomer. It was also of course very cold, what do you expect at 2000 m in the desert under clear skies in late Autumn. This was followed by time in the telescope garden, there were about 10 telescopes all set up to point at different objects in the sky. Saturn is visible at the moment and the rings were clearly visible through the telescope which I think was a highlight.It was about midnight by the time I got back to the hostal so was glad to crash out and also glad I hadn't arranged anything the next morning.
I'll be updating more when I get some time.
Friday morning I was able to lie in and then go have some breakfast. In the afternoon I had arranged to go on a tour to the Laguna Cejar. A salt water pool with a higher concentration than the Dead Sea. We were able to watch the sunset while drinking a glass of fine Chilean red. The light on the mountains was amazing and gave some interesting effects in the salt pools. A few picture are below.
This is going to be the cover for my next album (the difficult second one!).
I'll be updating more when I get some time.
Thursday, 10 May 2012
San Pedro de Atacama
Hola,
It's been a week since my last post so thought it time to put fingers to the keyboard (doesn't quite have the same ring as put pen to paper). Its been a strange week for a number of reasons. I arrived today in San Pedro de Atacama which is in the north of Chile, essentially in the desert with the Andes towering up on one side.I have four days here which I'll hopefully be posting about. Anyway, back to where I left you last week. Friday night was another late night, I didn't actually go out until gone midnight I think. A civilised drink with some charming company went on until the early hours of the morning. Saturday lunchtime I had intended to get up and watch the FA cup final which for some reason this year was pushed back to 5 pm UK time I think. It's bad enough that the traditional finale to the season is now a few weeks before the end of the season without moving it from its traditional 3pm slot. I suspect money and TV has a large part to play in the break with traditions. I hadn't brought my Liverpool shirt with me to Chile so I went and bought one especially, incidentally, replica shirts in Chile are one third the price they are in Australia so someone somewhere is making a lot of money, this was from a genuine Adidas shop as well not a street market vendor. Anyway, I didn't actually make it to watch the game due me being distracted the details of which I'll spare you for now. Lets just say it was a sacrifice I was prepared to make, especially as Liverpool lost.
On Sunday I was invited to a Fiesta la Vindimia in a small village about 40 minutes by train outside Santiago. The festival was to celebrate the late harvest of wine I think, there were lots of food stalls, entertainment and of course wine tasting. I went with the three members of the Moldovian Mafia who I work with, a Russian, a Peruvian and a German to complete the International nature of the afternoon. Anyway it was a fun afternoon as was the rather crowded train trip back. It was a really good weekend.
Monday wasn't a public holiday in Chile so I had to work, which was a bit of a struggle due to the weekends activities. I still managed to drag my tired body on a 4.5 km run after my Spanish class in the evening. Tuesday was a complete write off. I woke completely exhausted, every muscle and bone in my body ached and a feeling of nausea. I slept until lunchtime then thought I had better think about doing some work. I dragged myself to the local Starbucks to download some files, check email etc. but realised I was wasting my time. So I went back to bed and stayed there until the next . I felt better the next morning but a bit weak as I hadn't eaten the previous day. I felt stronger as the day went on. The only thing I can think of having caused this is some goats cheese I eat on Monday evening which possibly had been in my fridge a bit too long. Anyway, Tuesday disrupted my plans for the week as I knew I was going away on Thursday. So everything suddenly became more urgent and I had no chance to plan anything for my trip, all I had was a flight booked. Anyway I am here now, it all worked out, the transfer, finding a hostal. Now I need to go and book some trips for the next few days.
More later.
A
It's been a week since my last post so thought it time to put fingers to the keyboard (doesn't quite have the same ring as put pen to paper). Its been a strange week for a number of reasons. I arrived today in San Pedro de Atacama which is in the north of Chile, essentially in the desert with the Andes towering up on one side.I have four days here which I'll hopefully be posting about. Anyway, back to where I left you last week. Friday night was another late night, I didn't actually go out until gone midnight I think. A civilised drink with some charming company went on until the early hours of the morning. Saturday lunchtime I had intended to get up and watch the FA cup final which for some reason this year was pushed back to 5 pm UK time I think. It's bad enough that the traditional finale to the season is now a few weeks before the end of the season without moving it from its traditional 3pm slot. I suspect money and TV has a large part to play in the break with traditions. I hadn't brought my Liverpool shirt with me to Chile so I went and bought one especially, incidentally, replica shirts in Chile are one third the price they are in Australia so someone somewhere is making a lot of money, this was from a genuine Adidas shop as well not a street market vendor. Anyway, I didn't actually make it to watch the game due me being distracted the details of which I'll spare you for now. Lets just say it was a sacrifice I was prepared to make, especially as Liverpool lost.
On Sunday I was invited to a Fiesta la Vindimia in a small village about 40 minutes by train outside Santiago. The festival was to celebrate the late harvest of wine I think, there were lots of food stalls, entertainment and of course wine tasting. I went with the three members of the Moldovian Mafia who I work with, a Russian, a Peruvian and a German to complete the International nature of the afternoon. Anyway it was a fun afternoon as was the rather crowded train trip back. It was a really good weekend.
Monday wasn't a public holiday in Chile so I had to work, which was a bit of a struggle due to the weekends activities. I still managed to drag my tired body on a 4.5 km run after my Spanish class in the evening. Tuesday was a complete write off. I woke completely exhausted, every muscle and bone in my body ached and a feeling of nausea. I slept until lunchtime then thought I had better think about doing some work. I dragged myself to the local Starbucks to download some files, check email etc. but realised I was wasting my time. So I went back to bed and stayed there until the next . I felt better the next morning but a bit weak as I hadn't eaten the previous day. I felt stronger as the day went on. The only thing I can think of having caused this is some goats cheese I eat on Monday evening which possibly had been in my fridge a bit too long. Anyway, Tuesday disrupted my plans for the week as I knew I was going away on Thursday. So everything suddenly became more urgent and I had no chance to plan anything for my trip, all I had was a flight booked. Anyway I am here now, it all worked out, the transfer, finding a hostal. Now I need to go and book some trips for the next few days.
More later.
A
Thursday, 3 May 2012
A little confused
This week has been a short one, as far as work goes that is. Tuesday was a public holiday here in Chile so I took the liberty of cancelling my class on Monday to have a long weekend. I had planned to go away but the weather at the end of last week didn't really inspire me to book any tickets so I thought I'd stick around in Santiago. Sometimes its good to be a bit lazy and I was happy to have a few days getting up late and not having to work. The rain and colder weather at the end of last week meant that snow had fallen quite low on the mountains surrounding Santiago, the rain had cleared the pollution so the views of the mountains are pretty spectacular. An interesting aside on the industrious side to the Chileans. The first serious rain since I have been in Santiago and all of a sudden the streets are full of people selling umbrellas! Seeing the snow is getting me quite excited about the ski season which I think should start mid-late June. On Saturday morning I got up late and then went to the gym for an hour followed by a few hours in the local Starbucks, mainly for the free WiFi and the pleasant environment as the coffee is not particularly good. In the evening I had been invited to a party which not surprisingly resulted in me still sat chatting and drinking wine until the very early hours of the morning. Regular readers of this blog might see a pattern developing here.
A few hours sleep on Sunday morning and someone had the bright idea of cycling up San Cristobal, which is a small hill in central Santiago which offers some pretty impressive views. I have been up before, there is a funicular railway offering a less energetic route to the top. The road up is a long gradual climb of about 5 or 6 km that takes about half an hour if you take it reasonably slowly. I enjoyed the ride up and it was worth it for the views and provided a perfect hangover cure. I slept pretty well on Sunday night.
Monday afternoon I spent watching Manchester Utd - Manchester City in an Irish pub in an area of Santiago called Bella Vista. Watching English football with spanish commentary is an interesting experience, and I am sure the goal celebrations resulted in the commentators breaking into a song which is not something I could ever imagine John Motson doing. The deserved Man City win has made the title race more exciting
Tuesday evening I went to a very nice Italian restaurant, Tiramisu that is quite near to where I live in Las Condes. A couple of people have recommended this place to me and it has some really good pizzas. Good pizza, good wine and excellent company was a good finish to my long weekend.
Starting the working week has left me a little confused, Wednesday, which was yesterday felt like a Monday all day. Its a nice confusion as it means the weekend is actually closer than I thought. I am writing a funding proposal at the moment. There is a Australian government funding scheme, Council on Australia Latin America Relations (COALAR) that offers money for projects that will enhance and strengthen relationships between Australia and Latin American countries. The project I am planning aims to allow Australian and Chilean medical physicists to cooperate and collaborate in setting up a medical physics clinical training program in Chile. Australia has already implemented a good clinical training program so I am hoping we can pass on some of this experience to Chile by organising two workshops in Santiago and reciprocal visits by Chileans to Brisbane. This of course needs funding, hence the funding proposal.
More updates soon.
A
A few hours sleep on Sunday morning and someone had the bright idea of cycling up San Cristobal, which is a small hill in central Santiago which offers some pretty impressive views. I have been up before, there is a funicular railway offering a less energetic route to the top. The road up is a long gradual climb of about 5 or 6 km that takes about half an hour if you take it reasonably slowly. I enjoyed the ride up and it was worth it for the views and provided a perfect hangover cure. I slept pretty well on Sunday night.
Monday afternoon I spent watching Manchester Utd - Manchester City in an Irish pub in an area of Santiago called Bella Vista. Watching English football with spanish commentary is an interesting experience, and I am sure the goal celebrations resulted in the commentators breaking into a song which is not something I could ever imagine John Motson doing. The deserved Man City win has made the title race more exciting
Tuesday evening I went to a very nice Italian restaurant, Tiramisu that is quite near to where I live in Las Condes. A couple of people have recommended this place to me and it has some really good pizzas. Good pizza, good wine and excellent company was a good finish to my long weekend.
Starting the working week has left me a little confused, Wednesday, which was yesterday felt like a Monday all day. Its a nice confusion as it means the weekend is actually closer than I thought. I am writing a funding proposal at the moment. There is a Australian government funding scheme, Council on Australia Latin America Relations (COALAR) that offers money for projects that will enhance and strengthen relationships between Australia and Latin American countries. The project I am planning aims to allow Australian and Chilean medical physicists to cooperate and collaborate in setting up a medical physics clinical training program in Chile. Australia has already implemented a good clinical training program so I am hoping we can pass on some of this experience to Chile by organising two workshops in Santiago and reciprocal visits by Chileans to Brisbane. This of course needs funding, hence the funding proposal.
More updates soon.
A
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)