A Turnover or Two and Then a Slam Dunk

Santiago – Rengo, Chile

It’s really late so you get the condensed version tonight . . .

Santiago. 

We love the capital of Chile. Yesterday saw us biking all around – with the general goal of biking up to the top of Cerró San Cristobal – the most impressive mound/mountain thing that rises out of the flat of the city.

It was Diana’s birthday so we started with a trip to a fancy bakery in a fancy part of town (the fancy bakeries tend to be in the fancy parts of town . . .). I managed to find curry powder at the fancy Mini-Market next door to the fancy bakery. Which, I guess, makes sense because curry is a fancy-part-of-town type of accoutrement. 

Then we’re biking toward the Cerró and we stumble across this huge boulevard that is closed to car traffic for the day. Bikers and runners /and skaters everywhere. We are loving this!!!

My bike computer broke so we are diverted for a bit trying to get it fixed and, once we give up on the computer, trying to get it replaced.

As we bike up to the base of the mound it occurs to me that maybe it would be like the mound in Panama – where they shut the road down for biking later in the day. Turns out they do the shut the road down one day each week – on Sunday afternoons after 2. Sadly, it is Sunday at 2:15 or so when we roll up. 

Diana almost starts crying. I ask the guard guy if he can let us up because we biked all the way from the Estatos Unidos and it is Diana’s birthday and we are leaving Santiago the next day. 

The short answer: “No.”

So we walk up. The Virgin Mary. Mote con Huesilla. Snow capped peaks. Multiple tiendas selling all kinds of souvenirs. What’s not to like?

When we are finally done we go home and cooked up chicken curry  – now that we actually have curry powder.

Today.

Long day biking. But mostly flat – so we were able to churn through some miles . . .

We were intending to camp, but before we head to the campground we figure out that the campground is closed. 

We shift gears and head for a hotel. It’s in the next town and on the way there we stumble upon a huge bin of peaches – with a few people digging through the bin like they’re searching through a pile of used clothes at the Salvation Army. Tossing the unwanted stuff aside . . .

Turns out the peaches came from some guy and he’s just trying to get rid of them – so they’re free. With the help of two kindly older ladies we grab a few . . . 

A few minutes later there’s a field that’s mostly empty but there are some melons left and we stop to pick one. 

We finally make it to the hotel and it turns out that it’s a terrible old place that’s basically falling apart. We leave, get only half our money back, and, after a few more abortive attempts, end up at a fancier place with a fancier cost. But we’re tired and hungry and we just need to be done . . .

We head to dinner. It’s unclear where to go, and, as we consider, a mountain of a man approaches and asks us where we are from and where we are trying to go. 

His first real question: ”Why are you in Rengo?” (The nice town that we’re in . . .)

After a little discussion, we meet Victor Morales, a former Chilean professional basketball player and now a wine maker. Victor tells us where to go, gives us a bottle of his wine, and eventually joins us for our evening meal. 

Victor is an incredibly generous soul and we have a nice dinner – although Victor barely eats because he ate lunch at 4. His Mom, who’s 80, apparently makes the midday meal for Victor and his wine-making team every day. 

Victor tells us all about his basketball journey. In high school he was recruited to play for Osorno – a town that we are hoping to arrive at in a week or so – before we head to Argentina. Victor made the 17-and-under national team, and, later, played professionally in Chile. He’s 35 now, and retired from the game.

Interestingly, he doesn’t really follow the NBA. Something about how it’s too much of a business. The only player he likes is Jimmy Butler. I tell him how Jimmy is not super revered in Minnesota – but I’m not sure it really registers . . .

After dinner we go to a pizza place so that Victor can get something to bring home to his mother. At the pizza place we meet Gonzalo, Faith, and Sandra. Gonzalo and Faith are an item. They work on the Virgin Something cruise lines (the ones owned by Richard Branson). Faith is an actress and plays the Julie McCoy role on the boat (she really is the cruise director). Gonzalo is a musician and plays in the cruise line band. Apparently it’s not against the rules for the employees to date – although they’re not really supposed to date the passengers . . .

It’s Faith’s first day in Chile – ever. You can tell they’re in love and they’re going to have a wonderful few weeks together . . .

We arrive back in the room at like 10:30. We pretty much turn into pumpkins at 9 – so this is a VERY late night for these two old people . . .

So there you go. The abridged version. You can maybe get the longer version out of us with a beer around the campfire on our return . . .

Oh – you want the summary. Fine. Santiago was amazing. The biking today was fast but not that exciting. And the evening was surprising and fun!