Adios Santiago

The 2nd leg of this journey has been completed. Unlike our initial stop on this world tour where I fell in love with a city in Lima and adored my time in Peru overall, unfortunately not all cities are created equal. I never felt a connection to Santiago the way I did with Lima. I can for sure blame myself for part of this. I was less motivated to explore and to really immerse myself in the Chilean culture as I was in my first month of Remote Year. Even still though, many of my traveling companions admitted to feeling the same way. Was it burnout from feeling all the feels at the first stop? Was it because our group had gotten to know each other better and the honeymoon phase was waning? It's possible and even probable these factored into some of it. However, I just can't shake the feeling that Santiago just wasn't my city. When I left Lima to go to other areas of Peru, I missed Lima. I missed my home (in Miraflores). I was excited to get back into my life routines. I just didn't have that in Santiago and this city stop included my own apartment. It was the first time I had lived without roommates since my first year post-college and I did enjoy living by myself but even my comfortable apartment and solo living didn't spur the sense of home or the comfort of home that Lima did.

We do have a saying with Remote Year that comparison is the thief of joy. This is true, I hate to compare the two cities and countries because each one should be looked at in its own silo. My thoughts on Santiago do not reflect my thoughts on Chilé as a whole however. I left the city twice to go to Valparaiso and Viña Del Mar for a day trip and to one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in Patagonia for 4 days. The Patagonia trip by far was the highlight of the Chilé stop for me. Much like the Nazca lines and Machu Picchu were amazing life experiences in Peru, Patagonia was a major life experience in Chilé. I don't know if I ever thought I'd go to Patagonia or not. It was definitely on my radar. But I am unsure if it was on my actual bucket list. But after being there and seeing it's beauty in person, I can't imagine having gone through life not having a chance to experience it. From autumn tinge-colored trees, to beautiful waterfalls and lakes and rivers, to glaciers and icebergs, and those mountains. THOSE MOUNTAINS. We were lucky to reside in a lodge nestled up to those mountains. If you ever visit Patagonia on the Chilean side, I highly highly recommend the Pampa Lodge. The staff is super friendly, the lodge itself is very homey and clean, and it's pretty much brand new as of 2019. I loved it there. I would have been just fine spending a week or two there hanging out and soaking in the sights of Patagonia. Of course, we did more than that. We hiked the Base of the Towers hike in the park itself (Torres del Paine). This hike is not for the faint of heart and I'm not exaggerating when I said I felt like I almost died doing the hike. All in all, our hike was 14 miles, took 7+ hours, and included climbing about 700 meters (or roughly 2300 feet) on difficult terrain in certain areas, specifically the last 45 minutes where you're climbing up on slippery rocks. But the view point once you reach it is worth it (the pictures don't even do it justice). 


Aside from the hike, which was amazing once I could process it and recover and feel the soreness of my legs dissipate, we also went kayaking down Lake Grey. I can't recall a time I had kayaked before and if I had it hadn't been like this. Another adventure to go along with the water rafting we did in Maipo. I'm not normally considered a super outdoorsy type but it says something that my highlights of the Chilean stop were hiking in Patagonia, kayaking down glacial water, wine tasting in Casablanca and water rafting in Maipo. Speaking of the wine, definitely go wine tasting in Chilé. The wines in Chilé are great and a group of us had a blast going wine tasting about 1.5 hours outside Santiago (Casablanca specifically). I highly recommend La Recova which was my favorite stop along the tour.






The highlight of being in the city itself may have been my birthday celebration that my new tramily threw for me. All the events were a surprise and they aced each and every aspect of the night. The night started with a small group of the guys (Brolaris as we have dubbed ourselves) having coffee at an establishment that could only be described as the Hooters equivalent of a café. After that, we had a great steak dinner at La Biferia. After that, the gents got me back to one of the communal living buildings a big group of Polaris was staying with the excuse that some of the Poladies (our Polaris gals) wanted to give me a birthday cake. Instead, they surprised me with a pajama movie watching party (and cake). The movie? Just one of the best of all time: Point Break. This may have actually been my favorite memory of Santiago itself. 


This goes back to the notion that Santiago itself wasn't really my jam. It felt like a hodgepodge of different cities meshed together. Some of it felt European, some of it felt American, and some of it felt South American (though not a lot of it). I'm always grateful to see and experience new cities and new countries and I am still happy I got to cross Santiago and Chilé off the list. I would definitely go back to Patagonia in an instant but I'm not sure I would make Santiago a return destination. This yearlong trip will have its ups and downs, just like in life. While I would never categorize this stop as being a negative or even a bummer I am ready for the next stop and the next adventures to come in Medellín, Colombia. 

Macster Recommendations:

Definitely go to Patagonia. Use Bigfoot as a adventure group (it's who we used for kayaking but they also offer ice hikes on Glacier Grey among many other tours). They're really nice and professional!

Do the San Cristobal hike up to the Virgin Mary statue. Great Panoramic views of Santiago. 

Eat ALL the ramen at Ramen Kintaro. I ate here 6-7 times. It was legit. Get the gyoza too!

Eat the steak not just at La Biferia, but also at Santabrasa and get the tomahawk to split with 1-2 other people. The sides are really good too there!

Go water rafting in Maipo. It's a blast. 

Don't tell the Peruvians, but I actually like the Pisco better in Chilé than Peru. 

Bracelets collected: 1 (3 total for the entire trip)

Cats petted: 1 

Steaks eaten: 3 

Number of times my group won things: 2 (Team Blue Steel for Water Rafting and Polaris Videogame Championship!)

Until it's time to write up the next chapter about Medellín... Vaya con dios! 







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