We are still alive, but unable to post. I understand the GPS tracker hasn´t been tracking for a while (I have to send a congratulations letter to findmespot.com for that) so here´s the update: yesterday we rode over 800km through the pampas without encountering anything else than a gas station. We arrived in Rio Gallegos at night and fell asleep instantly. Today we will continue to Ushuaia. Once there, I will resume posting from the past. Cheers!
Santiago de Chile
Santiago de Chile surprised us more than any other city in Latin America. Nobody could guess this is actually in America. The feeling is so European! Walking around felt so much like a walk in Bucharest from Kiseleff to Romana Square and then to Cismigiu: small villas with forged iron fences, interwar era apartment buildings, palaces and parks everywhere. Wealth is everywhere, from luxury restaurants to abundant shopping areas to niche car brands like Alfa Romeo, Porsche or Rolls Royce. Traffic is no longer a big issue, thanks to the well developed mass transit system. This is definitely the best big city we encountered, surpassing Medellin in our top. Some sort of protest movement was also taking place so now we know how tear gas smells like 🙂
The Chilean “autobahn”
In Chile we found the best freeway system since USA. The road is properly insulated and has very good asphalt. The signaling looks pretty much like the one found on the German Autobahn. But the maximum speed is lower 🙂 The car pictured is a Romanian built Dacia 1310, still popular in Chile.
Antofagasta
This is the city that made us realize Chile really is different than other Southern American countries. Even though it isn’t a tourist destination, the city is perfectly well kept: flowers and grass everywhere, all buildings with fresh paint and streets so clean you might think you’re in the French riviera. Plus some art and other eye catching exhibits. And this is not something singular in Antofagasta!
The ore trucks
As a result of the War of the Pacific, Chile annexed it’s current Northern regions from neighbors Bolivia and Peru. Lucky them, since that part of land holds important mineral wealth that is nowadays extracted heavily.
I remember seeing long time ago one of these trucks at the Bucharest International Fair. Then, I was curious about how this machine can be moved from one location to another. Now I’ve got my answer: piece by piece!
