February 11, 2004
We left Easter Island on February 10 and started back to California via Santiago Chile. We arrived late in the afternoon, and Alex decided to have the worst temper tantrum of his life in the luggage claim area of the Santiago airport. He tried to throw himself on the luggage conveyor belt, but we managed to stop him in before he was tagged and sent on his way to Lima, Peru. Sometimes, traveling with a toddler is not all it's cracked up to be.
Santiago reminded me a lot of Los Angeles, a gigantic urban basin packed with buildings surrounded by mountains. We checked into the Santiago Marriott, which was conveniently located across the street from a toy store. It was Sunday, so Alex could do nothing more than gaze longingly out twentieth-floor window.
We woke up in the middle of the night to loud thunderstorms, which lit up the Andes off in the distance. It was a dramatic scene, particularly from the 20th floor of the hotel.
The next morning, we woke up to the Andes emerging from the clouds off in the distance. It turned into a beautiful, clear day, with the rain clearing away some of the smog. We decided to go out for some sightseeing.
Frank arranged for the hotel car to take us to the Bellavista area, a Bohemian neighborhood full of shops, retaurants and bars. The driver dropped us off at Pio Nono Street, where there are a number of jewelry stores selling beautiful blue lapis lazuli jewelry. Lapis lazuli is a semi-precious gemstone found primarily in Afghanistan and also mined in Ovalle, Chile.
Bellavista is also home to Santiago's nightlife, and we passed a number of discos, including one catering mainly to extraterrestrial clientele. I'm not sure you could find that in Los Angeles.
It was a warm and sunny day, with clear skies, quite pleasant on the shady, tree-lined street. We walked passed several small shops including one mannequin shop with a charming, old-fashioned sign.
We walked to the end of the street to find the Funicular, a mountainside train that transported us up to the top of San Cristobal San Cristobal in the Park Metropolitano.
After a ride on the rickety funicular, we arrived at the base of the giant statue of the Virgin Mary. The park offered a spectacular view of the city, and the beautiful, white sculpture of the serene Virgin of the Immaculate Conception.
There is a plaza at the base of the statue surrounded by kiosks selling souvenirs and snacks. We stopped for a soft drink and a group of boys, about 13-14 years old, approached us. One of them spoke up and asked if we were Americans. He told us they studied English in school and wanted to practice. The other two were shy, and didn't say much, but the brave one asked questions about where we were from and where we had been. They all smiled when we said we were from California, which they recognized as the home of Hollywood and Mickey Mouse. They were charming, sweet kids, and ran around the plaza, chasing Alex, which thrilled him to no end.
We continued our journey by taking a gondola tram across from one mountaintop to another. The cars were old, and the door didn't shut all the way, causing Frank to get vertigo and nearly start hyperventilating. It seems odd to me that a guy who travels on planes all the time can have such a terrible fear of heights, but he does. He said it was because we were completely closed in and he could see the ground through the crack in the door. He started sweating profusely, and said, "I'm doing this for you, so don't ever doubt how much I love you."
Alex and I thought the ride was great fun, and every time the car went bumping past the cable towers, Frank would suck his breath in through his teeth, like he was being punched in the gut. At one point, he just covered his eyes and repeated, "Find a happy place...find a happy place...find a happy place."
Alex and I stopped laughing long enough to start letting him know when we were going to hit a bump, which seemed to make it easier for Frank. We made it across without Frank hyperventilating or plunging to our death about 1,000 feet down.
We got out at a place called the Oasis, and had some ice cream. Another funicular ride down, and we found the subway. We rode the fast blue train to Escuela Militar, caught a taxi back to the hotel and headed to the airport to go home. Our fabulous South American Adventure ended in Santiago, and we flew home full of memories to last a lifetime.
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