Category — Chile

We have posted our country reports on Argentina and Chile.

We loved our time in South America. This short video, set to Smitten’s “Todas Esas Cosas” (“All of These Things”), includes some of our favorite images from Ecuador, Peru, Argentina and Chile.

When I was about 16 years old, our family loaded our blue Pontiac station wagon and, for our summer vacation, drove north to Montreal.

I had two years of French from Madame Ewell, and I had assured my father I’d be able to translate for the family while we were in Canada.

I’ll never forget arriving at the Montreal Holiday Inn.  As we pulled our car into the hotel garage a bellman approached.  I got out of the car, ready to parlez-vous francais.  The bellman spoke.  To me, it sounded like unintelligible gibberish.  This wasn’t the French Madame Ewell spoke.

I stood there in stunned silence.  I could see my father’s face getter redder and redder.  I can only assume he was hurriedly devising a Plan B since I would clearly be no help.

My own experience as a father has been quite different.  Quite simply, I’m not sure how Dani and I would have managed if our kids didn’t speak Spanish.  They have handled all the difficult transactions, the questions and answers, and when required, the small talk.

When we did find people who spoke some English, comical conversations often ensued.

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A Day in Pictures
Santiago, Chile

From the minute we arrived in Santiago, I wished we had more time to spend in Chile.

Santiago is a world-class city, with nice neighborhoods, good restaurants (with more variety than you are likely to find in Argentina), and beautiful public parks.  This, based on the 48 hours we spent there.

It’s a cultured city with a thriving public arts scene. We noticed lots of small theaters, buskers, sculpture gardens and beautifully landscaped parks.

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One thing stands between Mendoza, Argentina and Santiago, Chile:  The Andes, the highest mountain range outside Asia.  They cover 4,400 miles, are three hundred miles wide and average 13,000 feet high.

Aconcagua, at 22, 841 feet the highest mountain in the western hemisphere, lies in the Andes between the two cities.

Our plan was to take a bus – but when the kids saw Dani and me reading “Miracle in the Andes,” and “Death in the Andes,” they wondered what we had signed them up for.  As it turned out, it was one of the most spectacular journeys we’ve ever made.

Leaving Mendoza, the Andes form a formidable wall – and you have to wonder: How will a bus ever get over them?

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