14 september 2018: Patience is a virtue.

While reading today's blog, listen to one of the many street bands we saw in Santiago.

Totally oblivious of our car frustrations Dutch Kiwi tucks into his empanada for lunch at the Centro Artesanal - a welcome break after yet another car hunting visit.... This centre exists of lots of artists in their workshops making lovely things to bring home - tiny streets with a little stream and a tiny empanada shack. I think for the first week we only had empanada's for lunch - we've dialled that back now as there is a reason for the many 'big butts' we see here .......

Part of the centre was this exhibition of bonsai. Pretty amazing how they managed to keep naturally very tall trees to a 1.5 meter size.
It was good to combine the car hunt with some sight seeing, but in the last 5 days we didn't even really manage that. We were very unlucky to have two sales 'fall through' because of payment issues with the private owners of the cars. Paid for two technical is inspections, all honky dory, but both times at the last minute it all becomes to difficult.

Thanks to the 15 hr time difference, when offices open here, NZ's banks are asleep and you can't do an international bank transfer while the Kiwi bank directors sleep... One of the banks here was also afraid the money wouldn't make to Chile from so far away -......right?!
Both times almost there and then back to square one, very frustrating!
Talking about squares; on the left a full battalion of cabarineros (police) on the Plaza des Armes, the main square in Santiago, for our protection.

Interesting plaza to just sit on a bench an people watch - chess players, lots of Colombian 'woman' with very big rear ends (we have been told jeans with implant as well) hanging around for...?- people with the bible in hand preaching to the crowds, street performances and lots Chileans eating ice cream. We visited the Museum of pre-Colombian art here, very interesting about all art forms from the large variety of 'peoples' before borders were drawn on maps in South America.

Here I'm talking to Coco, who we met at the Dutch quiz night in an Irish Pub, organised by the Chile Dutch club. We had a great night and yes, I did sing karaoke to Dutch pop songs from 'Doe Maar' from eh.. 35 years ago. Woops! Luckily together with someone else who also 'knew' all the songs. We're meeting Coco and her hubby again this weekend to go to a fonda in a park to celebrate the Chilean Independence day fiestas. BBQ everywhere and lots of beer. People buying Chilean colours (hats, flags, shirts, underwear, etc.) everywhere, it's like Dutch king's day.

On Saturday we hiked up Cerro San Christobal (869m), the largest park in the city 7.2ha and worth a visit. Very nice to be in between trees and test the calves again, even though we have no shortage of exercise as we make a lot of km's every day. The hiking trails were washed out by fallen trees but with a little bit of help (somehow a street dog will always volunteer to lead the way) and some Spanish we found our way to the top. And this is what you see, Santiago under a layer of smog.
The city is located right next to the very high Andes (the top of the white peaks you can see) and the mountain area on the west, which is the wine area that stretches to the coast.
Valparaiso, the closest city on the coast, is only 1.5 hrs drive away - which shows how narrow Chile really is, especially considering this is the widest bit of the country. All the way on the top there is an open air church and away from the food stalls and the line for the cable cart that goes down, there is peace and quiet and some wonderful music that played. On the way down about 10 large crosses decorated by local artists, just bright red the backside of this one but I like the picture! And again, the smog. It's not healthy living in the city, and on top of that they have a lot of trees that produce pollen.

After the big climb we also decided to walk down the hill which brings us to the lovely barrio of Bella Vista, the place to go full of bars and restaurants. On the way down we had a nice chat in half Spanish/English with a girl that was keen to learn Inglesa. Not many Chileans speak Inglesa, basically only the well educated but otherwise, why would you need it? The day to day conversations go well, but I struggle with Whatsapp in Spanish, conversing  with the various car owners. So very happy with the translator app. At least I can check if that reply in Spanish makes sense!
The big work out entitled us to trying the famous Chilean drink Terremoto. Terremoto means earthquake as when you drink it the ground and your legs feel very shaky. It is fermented white wine with grenadine and pineapple ice cream. It's very sweet and nice and I can confirm that my legs did feel shaky, the stuff just sinks straight into your legs.

And so, to make sure we didn't get tipsy right away we had to order some food and oh well, a tasting of empanadas was the offer of the day. What can you do..........
We brought our book to do some trip planning as we thought we would have car in a couple of days. Thought about going up to Bolivia first but at the moment that may have to change again as we need the car in our name to be able to enter into Bolivia and Peru. A declaration from the former owner (verified by a notary) that you are allowed to drive the car is not enough 'unfortunatemente'. The day ended well with lost of music. First the public dance off for anyone who wanted to participate in learning some jive dancing. It's great to see how many people got involved right away, men and woman and just love to move.

On our way home going into the metro (subway) we enjoyed these guys playing jazz. All three knew their stuff and it was too bad they hadn't set up in the park just right next to the entrance. The first clip at the start of this blog was taken when we got out of the metro at our end - another great group of guys just blasting away. Especially the mouth organ player was awesome. Before we left, I have bought a mouth organ to start playing and when we are out of the tiny appartement with thin walls I will - practice on top of mountains.

On Sunday we visited our third museum. A very very sobering one; Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos. Museum of memory and human rights. Dedicated to the military coup in 1973 by general Pinochet  and his military dictatorship that lasted to 1990.

The museum building contributes to the story that it's telling and shows history by way of eye witness recounts that make you swallow twice, objects, letters, children's drawings for their imprisoned parents, news fragments. It was a coup that split the people of Chili as a lot of Chileans were in favour of Pinochet and against the socialist government that was making big changes.

Immediately the military began arresting lots of people because of their so called political preferences and filling up prisoner camps throughout the country. A lot of people were executed straight away too. There, people were kept in confinement often without daylight and the only thing they were able to see 'a seahorse shape' in between their feet when they were allowed to take a shower. These tiles outside the museum commemorate this as the seahorse became the symbol of hope.

The museum is also about the rights of indigenous people as their rights were trampled all over by previous governments and during the dictatorship. The Mapuche indians were and are still the largest indigenous group in Chile. The majority of Chileans have Mapuche blood.

The declaration of human rights is written on the walls outside the museum. Here a photo of section 14. Todo individue tiene el derecho a la libertad de opinion y expression. As you can see Spanish has a lot of resemblance to English so I assume you can read it.

On the way back from this museum we walked through Barrio Brasil - and as the name tells you there are a lot of Brazilians in this neighbourhood. Great street art everywhere - otherwise pretty quiet apart from a nice market where we could fill up on fresh fruit.

From Barrio Brasil we walked through Barrio Concha y Toro, with nice houses with very pretty facades, very European. Santiago is full of very tiny 'barrios' - literally neighbourhoods. You can't really call most of them that, as they can only be 2 or 3 streets and this one definitely was. In the middle this lovely plaza with fountain where locals were playing music and coming to smoke marijuana.  In Chile you can legally have marijuana for your own use with you and smoke it anywhere you like. Pretty progressive certainly in comparison with NZ but also with Holland where you can only smoke it either inside a coffee shop or in your own house, but not anywhere outside. Here you can so they do! Lots of shops with smoking utensils and shops where they sell the seeds to grow the plants. Which much means that growing is also legal, not so in Holland. You don't see coffee shops however that sell the stuff like in Holland so that still is a shady trade or self growing. Anyway, not tried it yet in case you were wondering. We stick to the Terromoto.

After 2 more days of car stuff and the second sale and thinking we had a deal, we took the metro to explore the largest market in Santiago - Mercado Bio Bio. That was really interesting. Streets lined with stalls, all grouped together in themes, so all the competition is right next door. Clothes, shoes, endless shops with phone accessories (the most sold product in Santiago and by far the highest number of shops). After that halls with furniture, street clothes,  fake sport brands. Very interesting were the halls with afro hair dressers, manicure and beauty shops, where just as many men as woman were having their nails done. That was a novelty for us knowing NZ blokes haha.

Wednesday, after also the second sale was about the fall through (as the very nice guy was having second thoughts at 5pm to meet at the notary the next morning to transfer the car to our name......), we really needed a good night out and were going to meet Antonietta, a very good friend of my half Chilean cousins who lives in Holland and France.
We were going to meet in Barrio Lastarria, a lovely barrio where we had been before and took some photos of street art, here's one more.

Anto and Ximena were both lovely and so interesting to talk to. We had a great evening learning a lot about their (early) childhoods in exile (from the dictatorship) and how and why they had decided to go back to Chile. They both work for the central government on prevention programmes and gender issues.
They also ordered the typical Chilean food, dishes to share and pitchers of Borgona (Sangria). Anto has also studied in Holland for a year but her experience wasn't very positive which was quite surprising for us to hear. Not as open minded as we say we are - I guess in the end it's all about people you meet more than about 'countries'.

Next day after a late night and one pitcher of that wine too many (thank God for Uber!) - here we were again at the garage at 9 am in the morning for a third (and hopefully last) inspecion technica for yet another Toyota 4runner.
And yes, you guessed it this is my face at 10 am still no sign of the car dealer who said yes 9 am no problem. When I finally decided to call him at 9.30 he told me he was now leaving and would be there in 30 minutes. That became an hour so he arrived at 10.30 and we had waited there like idiots for 1.5 hrs.
It's funny, some Chileans are ok with being on time (often because they've been abroad) but most are simply never on time, and then we're not talking  only10 minutes late. Manana temprano (early) I had confirmed twice but let's say it's just that our interpretation is different :-).

But the good news for now is the car is ok, needs a few things replaced but otherwise very sturdy and reliable. Here it's on the bridge and as you can see there is chain on the spare wheel under the car - anti theft and you need it we're told. The owner didn't give the keys to the dealer btw - another little follow up :-).
As nothing goes fast in Chile we could only get back to the dealer to finalise things yesterday. But finally we own a car. At least we paid for it, it's now with the notary to put in our name which takes 3-4 weeks (!) but probably longer because of the national holidays, likely till next week Thursday.  Then we need to get back to the dealer to get a copy of our contract and get the written permission of the owner that we can take the car out of the country. Not to mention the spare key and the key of the spare wheel lock (could become handy). She needs to get to a notary for that as well and if she doesn't want to do it we will need to start our trip in Chile as we can't take the car out of the country. This would have been easier buying from a private person, but then again the payment was a problem. Simply said, there is no easy way to buy a car as a foreigner. Now fingers crossed for next week Thursday when everything should fall into place.

Still trying to do fun things in between all the car back and forth - we climbed the second Santiago 'hill' in the city, Cerro Santa Lucia. Tiny hill in comparison but a very nicely manicured park with lots of terraces, nice flowers and benches. I could start a photo series of sleeping dogs, you see them everywhere. Street dogs that walk with you for a while and then take off and sleep anywhere they feel like it.

All the way on the top at the viewpoint (mirador) this guy was playing nice Beatles tunes.

It looked a bit like a small fortress and when we walked out we found the sign that explained it had been the location of an army battalion at some point in time. Down below you see a tiny clip of one of the people that stand up and preach on Plaza des Armes that I talked about earlier. I didn't want to film her in full view and take the risk of getting a private preaching session.......

The former train station in Santiago Estacion Central was severely damaged by an earthquake and then fell into disrepair. A few years ago it was saved from destruction and turned into a cultural centre where now performances are held were once the trains stopped. On the sides lots of galleries and little bars. A quiet oasis in all the hustle and bustle close by of the Mercado Central (very large fish market). It reminded me a lot of old European train stations like the one in Amsterdam and The Hague.

To avoid rush hour in the metro and because the weather is nice, we decided to walk the hour back to our apartment. One of the footbridges over the canalised river that runs through the city - full of locks of lovers and well wishers.
There are lot of parks alongside the roads with fountains and lots of benches with always lots of cuddling couples on the grass. We've learned that youngsters live at home until they marry so all the hanky panky happens outside the house and a lot in parks. So it's a good thing they have many many parks!

Finally a picture of one of the seed selling shops that of course we had to take. Again just like in a lot of English sayings, the Dutch name is used in combination with bad things (according to some). Dutch Passion no less it's called. This must be from someone that doesn't know the Dutch very well haha -

Ok this is it for this week - we need to go hunting for stuff for our trip!
adios - un abrazo from Nienke

5 September 2018: Or is it?

This is how we left the house for our house sitters. Not exactly the paradise we had hoped to leave behind, but we had started the replacement process of our leaky shower a few months ago. Unfortunately; mañana mañana", as they says in Spanish speaking countries. Things did not go much different with our also leaking first flush system. Again waiting for the moment the tradies have time for you. Imagine us doctors working like that. "Ah, I see the problem, you bleeding heavily from a wound. OK, I'll drive to the shop and go buy the stuff I need to stitch you up. Probably will pick up a coffee on the way. Will be back this afternoon, or, at least before the weekend". Anyway, our old sparky did a marvellous job on the ceiling fan in the other shower that broke just before we left.

"See you on New Years eve" our friends mentioned to our house sitters when they left. You have to honour good old traditions ay? We had a kind of a farewell party with some friends and introduced them to our house sitters. 2 days in the kitchen for a good old Dutch 'rijsttafel'.

Last game of golf just before we left. Only one golf ball permanently submerged this time.

We decided to bring only the essentials with us to South America. I know, many years ago it would have been a spare T-shirt, togs and some clean undies. Now it only just fitted in 2 really big backpacks, 2 small ones and an extra suitecase. We'll probably have to buy a proper DHL van in SA to move all the stuff around.

Luckily I do not have to think about our return trip yet. Not sure how we'll manage to come back as Nienke has already discovered that shoes are cheap as chips over here!
Dutch Kiwi just before our departure in Auckland.

Farewell from his big brother.
OK, we did NOT miss our flight. We did learn something from our previous mishaps (3 missed flights of which 2 by 24 hours). Something did go wrong though. We left Auckland on the 2nd of September at 18.15. We did not arrive on Monday though, but on Sunday, about 3 hours before we left Auckland. Slight miscalculation, understandable confusion, we think...... And that's not easy to explain with our still basic Spanish. Embarrassing moment when I opened the door of the apartment (electronic lock) to find to a bewildered couple trying to stuff their belongings in shrunken suitecases (déjà vu). One extra night in a hotel as a reward.

Pretty good weather here. Nice to see the snowy caps of the Andes between the buildings. After dropping our stuff at the hotel we had a walk through the park. It clearly wás a Sunday, as love birds were lying everywhere. Must be spring in the air.

And a special welcome gift from the local council for us (how they knew we'd arrive on Sunday is still a mystery); a nice water show with coloured lights

Found a nice area with fancy restaurants near the university (of course). Looks pretty cool. Strangely enough it was the scene of open drug dealing and use the night before. Police used all possible means (as we saw on the news) to catch the crooks. Seen a lot of police in the streets. Maybe that's why we haven't been robbed yet? Santiago really feels safe.

A billion choices at La Vega central, an enormous market. We took a bit of everything home with us. Forgot to bring the donkey though (said the donkey). At least we finally had success with a phone card. Three 'specialists' had a look at Nienkes phone which did not seem to agree to a marriage with the Movistar sims card. The brief engagement died on the spot and WOM is the new love of Nokia 6.1's life. It works. Unbelievable, Ajax won 0-4 at Vitesse!

Today was an important day. We were going to get a RUT-number. Is absolutely essential if you want to buy a car in Chile. Hablo Castillano un poco (I speak South American Spanish I bit), but not at the speed they do. Luckily we found a nice lady who helped us through the tangled web of Chilean administration. Sign here and there, smile at the lady and pay at the counter. You don't know if you just signed over your NZ home to them, but at least they didn't ask for the house keys. 2 Different offices, 4 different forms, about 20 km's walking and at least 3 hours of waiting. Not to mention a blister. Anyway, tomorrow we're going to look for a car.

We had a nice homemade lunch at our apartment, where discovered that the tradie that had promised to repair the shower (there's a pattern here) copied the New Zealand style of work ethics. Nada, no work done, mañana mañana. Not to worry, we're on a holiday, so we visited some interesting museums in town.

Beautiful street-arts and architecture.

Mixed with a few good restaurants. Great find.

"Hans, take a picture!" So I did. Almost married 25 years, so you do as you are told.

The Museo de Artes Visuales had some nice surprises. Among others this display where you can see Nienke dancing. A bit like in Te Papa. But here the security guards actually applauded my wife.

Unfortunately outside in the courtyard where the youngsters  were practising Nienke had to acknowledge the quite obvious age gap. Hey, I know, I'm not even trying. It's the old battle wound in the leg......

As a reward she bought herself some nice well deserved cookies on the way back home. Adios amigos.