Santiago: 21/12 - 31/12

At below left (town square shot) from left, The Milky Boobs Band - Glen, Tom, Giacomo, Denis and Michael. Absent: Tommy and Tristan.

Santiago is a great city. With a population now close to 6 million, it still retains a small city atmosphere in the inner suburbs and centro. While it seems Chile has hook, line and sinker swallowed the Western capitalist model, Santiago has retained many of its historic buildings and an very accessible city centre. The underground Metro system is impeccable - cheap, fast, safe, incredibly frequent and jammed with passengers. Take note Australia.

The culture is also very alive here - dare I say it liberal and artsy. Homophobia and other base discriminations appear far less obvious than in other places I have been to in South America. The Bellavista barrio supports a lively and popular gay and yuppie scene as well as the best nightclubs.

However while an environmental consciousness exists here, it certainly isn`t foremost on the governments agenda. --> The Mapocho River which crosses the city from the north-east to the south-west of the Central Valley remains contaminated by household, agricultural and industrial sewage, and by upstream copper-mining waste (there are a number of copper mines in the Andes east of Santiago), which is dumped unfiltered into the river. <-- (taken from Wiki). The river is also the worst example of river altercation I have seen in an urban area. This rapid flowing waterway has been concreted and straightened to force maximum velocity, and a literal torrent of filthy water gushes through the cement half-pipe past riverbanks completely devoid of habitat.

I stayed at Otro Mundo Hostel in Los Heroes, a great spot close to town and soon got to know the fellow backpackers from all over the world and lovely staff. A group of us went to a free concert on San Cristobal, the main green space and only hill in the city really. There we enjoyed a night of Chilean musicians, including Chinoy, whose male lead singer sings exactly like a crooning middle aged woman, and not in falsetto. His voice reminded me a little of Edith Piaf. The other great band was Banda Conmocion, whose energetic 30-piece troupe take their cue from Balkan and gypsy music and tradicional northern Chilean and Peruvian music. Their accompanying choreography consisted of spectacular diablos (devils) and other tradicional figures spinning and gesticulating wildly in time with the music. Excellent and a great dance band.

On Christmas Eve, we enjoyed a lovely Italian meal prepared by Giacomo from Florence, who used his family`s own organic olive oil (sent direct from Italy), produced exclusively for use by family and friends. Then once the drinks started flowing we enjoyed and joined in to impromptu songs by Glen the Ozzie on guitar and Tommy the South Korean on lead vocals. The theme of these great tunes was Tommy`s love life, or lack thereof. The main one centred around his frustrated love for Iglesia, a gorgeous waitress from a cafe down the road. His primary reason for loving her¿ Milky boobs. But the match was not to be, for he soon discovered she had... armpit hair. " Oh, Iglesia, won`t you let me shave... your armpit-hair? " Hahahahahaha!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWbW2D7_0lgNext a posse of us took to the streets of Bellavista, all of us joining in to serenade the lovely ladies of Santiago as the Milky Boobs Band to varying degrees of effect, before hitting a club for a bit of boogying and break-dancing. :)

On Christmas Day I moved myself to Providencia to Kaatje the Belgian expat`s house. She had kindly offered me a room free of charge and I gladly accepted, considering prices in Santiago are on a par with cities in Australia. I met her at the independent cinema where I saw Buddha`s Lost Children, a story of a Thai Boxer converted to a Buddhist monk who rallies the local and regional communities in the fight against drug addiction in the jungles of Thailand, while also caring for and training poor boys from the local villages.

Having been in Santiago for over a week, I got to know the people better than many other places I´ve been to. I am now of the opinion that a lot of Santiaguinos are quite unhappy and therefore unfriendly, some of them downright rude, especially to gringos. It´s certainly a town with a lot to offer but seems to lack a personal touch. I have also in Chile spoken with a lot of people who are strongly anti-Argentina, criticising anything they could lay their hands on from there. Of course there is a rivalry between the two countries but I definitely observed it as more obvious here than in Argentina. They seem to take a lot of pride in their country, which is great, but I´m constantly being asked what I think of Chile, where I´ve been (although only in Chile) and being given advice on where in Chile to visit. To be sure there are many awesome folk here and I´ve had a great time. But please, "Chile, don`t become America¡"

On a lighter note, the traditional medicinal practice of smoking dried vulture brains to induce a vision of winning lotto numbers is killing off the bird's population in South Africa, researchers say.

I spent NYE with Kaatje and her friends Pinky and Jorge from Santiago and from France, Willy and Juanito - we had a quiet night with great food and a bit of rooftop dancing and general silliness. :) Yay 2010¡