Ola from Santiago.

Pardon if this entry is a little rambling and sloppy but this day started at 11 AM Saturday morning, which is when I left my apartment. Other than a bit of a sleep on the flight (I landed 9:30 AM local time, which is 4:30 SF time) I haven´t slept since Friday night. Throw in jet lag, lots of BBQ, way too much whiskey sours (sister-in-laws´ family likes to have a good time- we like people who like to have a good time) and the fact I´m typing this on a computer with an international keyboard that, among other things, has the ç where the “enter” button should be and you have a rambling and sloppy blog entry. And yes, I´m on the computer now- my fantasy football teams are right now 1-1 with one team rallying, thanks for asking).

I have to say that even though I love travelling and should have been really excited about spending ten days in Chile largely through the largesse of the parents, I wasn´t acting all that excited about this trip. I would have been, but work´s been so crazy I haven´t had the luxury of being excited. It´s hard being exicted about something happening in the future when you´re just trying to make it through the day. I knew at some point it would hit and that somewhere along the trip the reality of it all would hit me and it did- pretty much on the flight over as I looked out of the window and saw the Andes below me. With the new Perfect Circle disc playing on the disc-man (my new fave CD), I did nothing for the last half an hour of the flight but stare out the window. It reminded me of when I flew to Europe oh so many years ago and spent the last hour or so doing nothing but staring at the window as we flew over the Mediterrean and the Aegean. Al I could think of was ¨woah-that´s the fucking Mediterrean down there.¨ Now I´m pretty excited. Ever since I´ve landed, every five minutes or so this voice comes to me pretty much saying ¨dude, you´re in South Fucking America¨.

So far, Chile has been rather first-worldy. Santiago has that European vibe to it- a mixture of old and ultra-modern, funky architecture and wide-boulevards where everyone´s out walking (memo to San Francisco- boulevards. Look into it). It´s really pretty nice. In some ways, it´s not all that different from anything. Mom and I had faijita´s at what was pretty much a sports bar with the Packers/Texans game on the background. Our waiter was such the prototypical stoner dude, in fact, type that I kept on speaking English to him because I couldn´t believe that somebody who looked like that wasn´t an American.

As we drove around to the BBQ this afternoon, it was amazing how normal everything looked. Turn the corner of one development and it looked like the Hollywood Hills. Turn another corner and it looked like Mill Valley. Turn another and it looked like the Los Altos Hills. The BBQ was at this typical suburban home and was pretty much your typical BBQ- lots of chicken, beef, and pork. Throw in all the golf shirts people were wearing, the sandals, and Disneyland kiddie pool and it could have been any family BBQ in Los Altos. Except, for the most part, everyone spoke in Spanish. It´s like it´s been your average, normal day except somebody hit the SAP button so everything´s in Spanish. Well, there is one big difference- in the background everywhere are these jutting mountainous hills- the Andes. They´re sharper, craggier and bigger than anything I´m used to and they give everything kind of an “edge of the world” feel. There we were, watching all the grand-kids run around the front yard, with these huge hills behind them. And yes, as I sat there, all I could think was ¨dude, I´m in South fucking America.”

One mo´thing- the big APEC meeting is happening in Chile this week. Lots of diplomats running around. Not to mention world leaders, including our “President.” When the plane landed, we passed Air Force One sitting in the airport, like it was looking to make a fast get-away, probably from the rampaging protestors. And yes, there´s been protests everywhere. Nothing like flying into a foriegn city where everyone´s gathered to protest the actions of the country you live in. I was joking to my dad that we should all have t-shirts made up that said “Don´t Blame Me- I´m From a Blue State.” Apparently, Smirkboy caused a bit of an incident that has pissed off all the locals, but I´m sure you´ll never hear anything of it on the news.

And yes, it took only fifteen minutes into the BBQ before the political situation came out. I don´t know whether it was just me being defensive or whether there was something there but I swear everyone kind of gave me a scornful look. I just gave them this really pathetic look on my face. I do have to say, however, that one thing about travelling is that you are aware, probably as much as you ever have, that you are an American. Which is why I felt a little put off by being lectured on politics by people who lived in a country famous for it´s military dictatorships. Cough-Pinochet-cough.
And that´s it for now. Hopefully, I´ll tour more of the city tomorrow and head for Valporiso on Tuesday.