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Chillin in Santiago and Mendoza and how to get your backside thoroughly whopped- breakdancing with  Chilean teenagers!

 

Well on my first night out in Santiago, after hearing that Silvano had not managed to get her flight to Santiago from Madrid, because of the very shoddy service from LAN overbooking the flight, as I no longer had to get up at 5.30 to get to the airport, I decided I’d check out what the night-life in Santiago had to offer. I walked from my hotel – the Hotel Kapital- to Parque Forestall, where, after about fifteen minutes of wandering, I could hear the sound of some hip-hop music. I wandered over to find a group of young lads breakdancing. They were pretty good, but it was all very acrobatic. None seemed to have mastered the finer art of bodypopping. So, after a few minutes I asked if I could cut in. Of course they looked at me in amazement, wondering what the hell an old man could show them about breakdancing!!!  Well I started to do my thang! They looked on suitably impressed and I thought now you young whipper snappers....try and beat that or go home.... in that “’I’m the daddy (or granddaddy) here sort of manner”. At which point one of the breakdancers got up and started this slick slow motion movement then went into the best staccato body popping routine I have ever seen together with some crazy mime and contortionist moves! I of course stood calmly watching this young guy rip me apart, as I slowly but surely realised that I was no longer in the same league as today’s young talent. I showed my respect in the traditional hip-hop style and slipped away quietly. I’m not too big to acknowledge when I’ve had my backside well and truly whopped, albeit by a young guy who was much less than half my age. Time, perhaps to leave the breakdancing behind and stick to something I know a little more about, like free cycling!

 

I even succumbed to a Chinese meal after that escapade, as it was the only type of restaurant that was open on a  Sunday downtown in Santiago. I then headed over to Bellavista where I stumbled over an Irish bar run by Damian, an Irish guy from Dublin, we were joined by another group of lads from Uk and America, Martin and his Chilean girlfriend, Chris from Nottingham and Roger from Texas, who all worked with Experian in Chile, America and the UK. It was a nice friendly bar and the waiter, Marcella was also really good company, full of stories about his adventure around the world with cruise ships. Got back to the hotel, packed my stuff so that I could leave the next day and book into the hotel that Silvano was arriving at assuming she managed to get out of Madrid that is!

 

When Silvano arrived 28 hours after she left UK, on a flight via Lima, Peru( and without luggage), we just relaxed with a bottle of champagne in the hotel Orly.  After a well earned rest we walked around Bellavista, Providencia, and over the next few days listened to some live jazz, ate some nice food ( and some not so nice) and then I convinced her to take the seven hour bus ride over the Andes to Mendoza,  which was not an easy thing to do! Getting a bus across the city was bad enough, but asking her to take a bus across the Andes was definitely pushing my luck. However she agreed to do it, and we left on the Sunday to scale the Andes by a semi cama, having at least guaranteed a decent boutique hotel in Mendoza. It meant that I could do a recky on the tunnels, after having been told once again, that it would be impossible to do the journey by bike because of the tunnels.

 

After a pretty awe inspiring, but for Silvano; terrifying trip over the Andes starting following a 6.30 rise, we arrived in Mendoza at 4.00 pm. I concluded that the tunnels were indeed impossible to do by bike, which meant that I’d have to find a friendly pick up prepared to stop and put my bike in the back at the toll gates, and chance my luck on the Argentinian side.

 

We shared a taxi with Nils who was here on a Biodiversity conference, to expound on his theory of sustainable hunting of Mooses in Sweden...that’s mooses rather than mice! We were both staying in hotels on 25 de Mayo Street and agreed to meet up for a drink afterwards.

 

Anyway, after a relaxing couple of days in Mendoza, we finally found a restaurant to die for. Now, as you know I don’t do this recommendation thing lightly. It has to be good. And as I tend to eat some fairly basic food when I am cycling ( honest!), I don’t have a lot to write home about. Azafran on Avenida de Sarmeinto was something different, and I mean different!  You know you’re on to interesting experience when the Sommelier comes out to take you to the cellar to choose the wine to go with your meal. Of course, you feel obliged to take his recommendation even if it does exceed your whole week’s (that’s a cycling week) budget on food and drinkl! I wasn’t disappointed and neither was Silvano. It is real pain when one only drinks red wine, and the other only white.....and the restaurant only sells full bottles....a real pain!!!! I indulged myself on a Luca Malbec 2006 and Silvano on a Torrontes. Both were absolutely excellent, however my Luca Malbec was a real treat and served with exquisite skill by the sommelier. However, the food....the food!..... it was to die for. My petit filet of medium rare steak with goats cheese and spinach in a filo wrap with pumpkin and red pepper sauce and blackcurrants mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Silvano had almond and herb encrusted chicken with a herb mash which was also delightful . We followed this with a selection of taster desserts! Was this special or what?

 

The next day we decided to do some wandering around the city park, Silvano agreeing to this reluctantly on the condition we had a decent meal. In my quest to find a Thai restuarant in all the main cities in the world, we chose to go to a Thai restaurant that evening. The owner was really nice...the food was absolutely awful. The simplest of dishes, Tom Kha Gai arrived at the table in a deep dark colour of brown, smelling of bisto. I thought at first he might have confused it with Tom Yum, but decided as he’d checked with me twice whilst taking my order, I assumed that he’d understood exactly what I wanted. The rest of the food was pretty awful, so we were very disappointed. And I’d made her walk around Mendoza’s gigantic park just to have to suffer some really poor food afterwards.

 

Now remember Barabasi’s law- 6 degrees of separation from everything. During Silvano’s horrendous journey from Madrid, a young couple, Tam and Helen, came to her assistance, Tam giving the airline company a real dressing down and both offered support when she was feeling a little distressed, not  knowing whether she’d end up in Chile or Australia. They were on their honeymoon and travelling to Buenos Aires, whereas Silvano was hoping to get to Chile. So as we are sitting enjoying a light lunch and a drink on Avenida de Villanouva in Mendoza, which equals ground zero for bars in Mendoza, who do you think were sitting at a table in the next bar? You guessed it...Tam and Helen. I was able to thank them and we were also able to enjoy a full-on session of local beer and wine, which was good preparation for our trip around a couple of top vineyards the next day!