Pisco'd in Santiago
MALARKEY
Jo & Trevor Bush
Thu 10 Nov 2011 16:32
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As much as we love being on the boat, all cruisers
reach a point where they need 'Land Time'. Our point had arrived with a bump and a serious dose of Land-Time was
what the doctor ordered. Jo came up with a
plan.....a big plan, to exercise those 'terra demons' .........A two
month tour of South America.
The South American Indians had it tough during
the Spanish Inquisition of the 16th Century but were they ready for a
couple of English Conquistadors.
'Nobody expects the
Spanish Inquisition'....... especially when its English........Sorry I
digress,....one of my favorite Monty Python sketches.
Moving on, our 'cruisade' started
with a trip down to Chile to stay with old sailing pals Vicki & Roger (S/Y
El Vagabond). Yes, even our sailing heroes 'The Vags', needed land time. They
managed to land themselves with a superb gig........''you Vags look after our
farm for a few months in the lake district of Chile while we (the English
farmers/sailors) go back to the UK to do stuff''. Well, you can imagine,
they took the opportunity with relish, just like Jo & I did
when Roger & Vicki invited us to stay on the farm with
them.
This farm was more of a ''gentleman's farm''. A
farm where one didn't have to get up at o'silly o'clock to do farmie stuff
like stuffing turkeys and turning out the dairy-maid... or is it the
other way round? Anyway, the deal is, one has to stay in a very nice farm house
in a beautiful area of Chile, walk the dogs around the extensive grounds and
cast an eye over the live stock....which happens to be 5 or so nags. A very
nice gig indeed! And we fancied some of that.
But first, we had to get there, and that included a
flight to Santiago and a bus ride to Valdivia. Fairly straight forward you might
think but we didn't account for 2 things
1. The size of South America & 2. Our encounter
with the local cocktail.
We arrived in Santiago after a long plane ride from
Panama City via Lima in Peru. The plan was to kill some time in Santiago
and catch the overnight bus. And so a leisurely stroll around the city
centre and a light meal before our mammoth bus ride, was the
order of the day.......WRONG.
Our timing was perfect, or not, as it turned
out. A large group of Bolivians had invaded Chile.
Peru and Bolivia still have some
outstanding border issues and it was the Bolivians idea to promote a
friendly non invasion policy by undertaking an invasion, D'oh.
  Bolivian
invaders
War-like party animals
There were hundreds of Bolivians in national
costume dancing and singing down the main streets. The centre was
brought to a stand still. Local shoppers were gob smacked and we thought we
had landed in La Paz not Santiago. Yet another carnival South American
style........splendid.
We got a tad caught up in the fervour of the moment
and found ourselves in a bar on the main high street. It was not much of a bar,
in fact it was a dingy little joint and we were the only ones in there. I
ordered one of the local draught beers and Jo asked to try one of the
famous PISCO SOUR cocktails. I don't know whether to put it down the
days' carnival atmosphere, the fact that we had just started our South American
Inquisition proper or that we were just plain thirsty.....or even all three, but
we were knocking them back big time. I put some local toot in the
video/jukebox and we were having a great time listening to Led Zep while getting
slowly tipsy. We seemed to bring the place to life because before we knew it,
the bar was full to overflowing with revelers and a good time was had by
all..............Except, that is, until we needed to leave for the bus station
and went outside.
You have it on good authority that these Pisco Sour
cocktails have a Jeckle & Hyde type character. They taste very harmless
and sweet but really they pack a severe punch. No wonder the bar tender was
looking on with admiration as Jo kept knocking them back..........Jo was
completely mullered and could hardly walk. I wasn't much better and as
funny as it all was, I still had to get us both to the bus station on
time........no easy task when the Jo's legs ceased to work properly
and all bodily coordination had gone wacko. It wasn't just a simple
walk either, we had to negotiate the underground metro and everything that
entailed. Getting her up and down all those steps was not easy
and Jo wasn't helping by accosting locals as she went and
starting coversations in a completely uninteligable Nottingham accent. ''Bloody
English tourists'' I could here them say while politely pushing her
aside.
.......... Then the tube train experience. There
were no seats available so we had to stand on a crowded train.......Well, I was
standing but Jo was doing her floppy puppet impersonation with one arm around my
neck and the other flailing about telling everyone in the carriage
that...''it will be alright if we crash 'cos I am so floppy, it
wont hurt a bit''. She had them all laughing and was very much enjoying the
whole experience. That is, until we arrived at the bus station and it suddenly
dawned on her that we had a 14 hour ride in a bus on dodgy Peruvian roads.
The gravity of the situation suddenly struck home like a 'strongbow arrow' and I
was sent off to look for sick bags. When I returned 10 minutes or so later, Jo
was on our UK mobile phone having a drunken chat with Vicki &
Roger which cost us over £30. It was at that point 'I' realised the gravity
of he whole affair!
  On the
bus
Our host, senor Roger
Well we finally reached Valdivia without too much
more drama. Thankfully, Jo slept the most of the way and we met our
gracious host in the morning sporting almighty hangovers. Roger found this most
amusing and declared having a few too many to drink and generally abusing
the liver, was the order of the day for the next 2 weeks.
After a relatively short drive we arrived at the
'Fondo' and we were shown our accommodation. Roger couldn't resist it and took
us to a beaten up old donkey shelter and suggested this was to be
our pad for 2 weeks...but he couldnt keep that one up for long
before falling apart laughing and then took us to our real
home......a pretty little 'cabana' overlooking the valley.
  The
cabana
A cosy pad
We'd hit the jackpot. A cosy little
cabin. Time to chill out in Chile and spend some time catching up and
listening to ye old sailing yarns with the 'Cape Horners'
Vicki and Roger had an even more splendid pad.....a
4 bed character farmhouse with all the mod cons. No wonder they had smiles from
ear to ear. Monty their pet mutt was also enjoying the long walks and company of
the other two farm dogs and a locals dog who just tagged along. An idyllic
situation which was appreciated by us all.
  Smiley
pals
A sample of Chile
We were quite happy just generally chilling on the
farm and didnt do much by way of sight seeing. We did have a
nice day out in the port of Valdivia to buy some fish, fruit and veg
from the open market and do the touristy thing.
  Fruit, Veg & Fish market,
Valdivia
Monster sea lions waiting for a tasty morsel
The sea life there is of huge proportions. It was
the first time we had seen sea lions outside of captivity.
We made the most of the fresh fish and veg
available and knocked up a couple of splendid meals back at the cabana. Of
course, all was washed down with copious amounts of vino in company
with Roger & Vicki's and local friends from the farm.
The whole affair in Chile was just what the
doctor ordered and our thanks for that go to Roger & Vicki. We saw
enough of the locals and the country-side to know that we want to return at some
stage. We like Chile.
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