Red Book Entry: December 2, 2010

Santiago airport. 3:20 am. Flew from Cusco to Lima to Santiago (with a stop in Antafogastas). Next up: Punta Arenas. I have never hung out in an airport overnight. Unlike in Canada, the Santiago airport does not shut down. After an extremely painful landing here, due to a nasty, nasty head cold, I am having an "individual" pequeñita bottle of Vina La Rosa (La Palma) from the Cachapoal Valley in Chile, of course.

Already the Chilean Spanish is challenging me -- Peruvians and Bolivians are so much easier to understand for me. In any event, it's all great practice for my language acquisition.

So what happens at the Santiago airport in the middle of the night? Tonight is not a typical night: we are entering Christmas season at the airport. Inga and I watched a huge tree being decorated with white lights. Aside from this "special event", the more "regular" activities are taking place: sweeping and dusting and washing and structural maintenance. As for me, I have just finished my wine ... and am contemplating (oh, now have) ordered another "individual" bottle and a cheese plate to share with Inga. Indulging seems to be the thing to do at this time of the night while waiting for a morning flight.

The (legible) itinerary: overview

• Oct. 11: Ottawa to Lima, Peru (fly)
• Oct. 12-15: Lima to Huaraz, Peru (land)
• Oct. 16-31: Huaraz - Cordillera Blanca
• Nov. 1: Huaraz to Lima (land); Lima to La Paz, Bolivia (fly)
• Nov. 1-6: La Paz (meet up with friends)
• Nov. 7-17: Cordillera Real, Bolivia
• Nov. 18-21: Lake Titicaca, Bolivia
• Nov. 21-22: Lake Titicaca to Peru (Puno)
• Nov. 22-28: Puno; Arequipa, Peru
• Nov. 28: Arequipa to Iquique, Chile (land)
• Nov. 28-Dec. 5: Atacama Desert, Iquique/Arica, Chile; Sala de Uyuni, Bolivia
• Dec. 6: Iquique to Punta Arenas, Chile (fly)
• Dec. 6-12: Punta Arenas
• Dec. 12-26: Torres del Paine, Chile
• Dec. 27-Jan. 5: Ushuaia, Argentina
• Jan. 8: Head north to fly home (via Buenos Aires) Based on my early ventures into airfares, it looks as if we would be going through Buenos Aires.

The Andes

The grandness of the Andes as seen through layers of connection.

Santiago: Ecclectic and very real. A lot of character and beauty. Also, smog in the winter with a population of 4,650,000.


The Andes: Excellent skiing. Magnificent vistas. Grandeur.