Return to Santiago (Tues 4/6)

We woke up again to foggy skies.  Arn's upper back is still very wrenched and he moves a bit like the tin man.  After breakfast, we packed up our stuff and hung out reading. We had time to kill before getting the bus. "Packing up" is such an overstatement. Most of what we are carrying has not been opened or touched since we finished cycling. I would say that everything the two of are actually using would fit in one brown paper grocery bag. The rest of it is just heavy gear. 

 As an aside, I have to admit --- I have had some time in front of the television.  I have to tell you about South American infomercials.  While I think the ones in the U.S. can be crazy, the ones here are totally over the top.  Last year, we watched this "thing" that was the super push up bra.  Women were supposed to wear it in addition to their regular bra.  This thing hoisted everything so high that a woman could rest her chin on her boobs.  The before and after photos were comical.  This year, I have watched adds for this super chopper thing.  It beats the ginzu knife commerial and it total crazy.  My two favorite ads have been for the shoes you wear 10 minutes a day, 3 days a week.  The result?  Buns of steel!  Abs of steel!  And legs of iron!  Give me a break.  Then, there is the "hand massager" that you use to increase your muscle tone.  I was not really sure about this..."hand massager" or "sex aid tool".  I will leave that one to the customer to decide.  It can be ordered everywhere from Panama to Argentina.
 
Today was our last bus ride and our return to Santiago.  It was uneventful.  Our hotel is more of a small apartment.  It is in a complex next to the Marriot and a block from the super-high-end mall with tons of restaurants and a movie theatre.  Our room is nice and on the 35th floor over looking the city.  Now, how do we feel about being on the 35th floor after the earthquake?  Well, the building is still standing.  In fact, we have not seen damage as visible as along the coast.  Once we checked out the hotel a little more closely, we noticed the main entrance into the Marriot is closed.  The glass atrium has several panels of glass that have shattered.  It looks like one giant shattered windshield about two stories over head.  Good thing the area is taped off.
 
We checked out the nearby mall.  It is a very nice mall.  Clearly, there are some people in Santiago and Chile that are doing extremely well to support such high end retail.  On the top floor of the mall, there is the design center.  It is full of super modern furniture and accessories.  I would love to have this Seattle!  For lunch, we had a great salad and pizza.  On the way back to the hotel, we stopped in the biggest grocery store we have ever seen in South America.  It was huge even for the U.S.
 
As luck would have it, Arn met a fellow American on the elevator.  And then as luck would have it again, I ran into them as they were getting off the elevator (I was headed up).  The three of us stood and talked for a while.  This guy is living and working in Santiago for 2-3 years.  He has been here a little over a year.  He and his wife were in Santiago for the quake.  For those of you have have been in a quake, you'll appreciate this.  He said the shaking was so violent that it would have been impossible to walk out of their condo without falling.  They decided to stay in bed.  He said many people were injured in the process of trying to leave their beds.  He also said their offices in Santiago were completely destroyed --- roof collapsed into the building.  He felt sure people would have been killed if it occured during the work day.  They have rented suites in our hotel and set up their offices.  He said they checked out the fire escape and wondered if the building is really safe.  There are cracks 8 to 12 inches wide in the concrete inside the stairwells.  They talked with the hotel manager and he assured them a structural engineer had signed off of the safety of the building.  They were still concerned and hired their own structural engineer.  This guy explained that the cracks are how the building absorbs the shock.  Okay.  I still have not checked out the stairwell -- maybe tomorrow or maybe the day we leave so I don't have to think about too long.  I did tell you we are on the 35th floor?!

After the earthquake discussion, we moved onto restaurants.  This guy gave us a great tip and we took it.  We enjoyed the best Italian dinner of the entire trip.  Arn had a stuffed pasta with seafood and cheese.  Mine was pasta stuffed with pumpkin and ricotta and a black truffle sauce.  It was sinful.  I hope I can get outside for some cycling when we get home...I am going to have a lot of meals to pedal off!  Tonight was probably the first night ever that it was too cool to sit outside for dinner in Santiago.  This and the fact it is getting dark by 7pm are two clues that fall is here.  In the mall, I noticed that all the stores are showing sweaters and boots.  So, we are looking forward to a return to spring.  While Seattle will be much colder, the days are growing warmer and longer.  Well, at least longer.  The snow levels are forecasted at 500 feet for Friday.  Can you imagine if we fly home into snow in the hills?!?!