the beautiful thing about the adventure motorcycling community, is that wherever you go, you have family. i invited one of my container-mates, "bear," to stay with me in santiago. i knew he has rushed together this trip. he had a weekend to prepare everything, whereas i had a year. turns out that we are the same age more or less, and that he is the engineer responsible for the focus mechanism of the camera on the
james web space telescope. if you are a astronomy nerd like i am, then you will know that this is a big deal. i cried during the
hubble imax movie, because the beauty of what was accomplished with that device overwhelmed me. the james webb is the next generation scope after the hubble, with many many times the resolution. it launches somewhere around 2018, i believe.
james web space telescope team by
porkandcorn, on Flickr
hubble deep field image of cluster of galaxies by
porkandcorn, on Flickr
hubble image of sombrero galaxy by
porkandcorn, on Flickr
so in addition to having the coolest job ever, bear happens also he's a great guy and we've been having an amazing time exploring chile together. of course there have been the expected pitchers of cristal beer to have conversations about the effects of traveling on the soul and mind. there is so much to absorb, so many new things to see everyday, that time effectively slows down. i've not even been here for a week and it easily feels like twice that.
pork and bear, telephone box bar, providencia, santiago, chile by
porkandcorn, on Flickr
bear at telephone box bar, providencia, santiago, chile by
porkandcorn, on Flickr
telephone box bar, providencia, santiago, chile by
porkandcorn, on Flickr
visually, it's overwhelming. he and i have both noticed that when we shut our eyes for naps, in the blackness, there are images, almost like hallucinations, in black and white - images of people and places we've seen, people we've met. very intense and hard to describe. mentally, we are both pushed to our limits. we could admittedly use more sleep, but just processing everyday things is challenging.
tangled powerlines, santiago, chile by
porkandcorn, on Flickr
tangled power lines, santiago, chile by
porkandcorn, on Flickr
we only had a couple of days to explore santiago together. near
plaza de armas, in santiago, we when to a famous 100 year old bar called
la piojera - which translates to the "louse pit". it was a real stick to the floor kind of place, with some real characters. felt like the
bar in that scene in the movie airplane, where the girl scouts are in a fist fight, and the old man gets stabbed on the dance floor. they serve a drink there called a terremoto (earthquake), that is a base of grappa wine with ice cream and fernet. it was disgusting, and very powerful. i can see why they need the sign that you see behind the bar.
la piojera bar, plaza de armas, santiago, chile by
porkandcorn, on Flickr
la piojera bar, plaza de armas, santiago, chile by
porkandcorn, on Flickr
we ran into some kind of student protest in the plaza. i guess college students everywhere have too much time. there were a lot of riot police around, but they were all just hanging out.
riot vehicle, plaza de armas, santiago, chile by
porkandcorn, on Flickr
friday morning, we took the santiago metro to the outskirts of town, to the pajaritos bus station to catch a ride to valparaiso. we have a meeting with our group's customs agent on monday, but we wanted to spend the weekend at the beach anyway.
pajaritos bus station, santiago, chile by
porkandcorn, on Flickr
valparaiso, and it's sister cities to the north (vina del mar, playa renaca, playa concón) are were santiaguinos go during these high summer months to relax and party. i also here that lots of argentinians come here, because it's cheaper than the beaches of brazil. we stayed the first night at an over-priced shit-hole in vina del mar, but are moving today to downtown valparaiso, which is where you want to be. "valpo" as it is called, is a
UNESCO world heritage site. looking forward to getting some photos and posted a report.
valparaiso, chile by
porkandcorn, on Flickr
pitcher of schop, vina del mar, chile by
porkandcorn, on Flickr
my new plan is to joint bear for the last two stages of the DAKAR rally, that are working their way down toward valpo, before they turn inland to finish in santiago on january 20. getting pretty excited about that. i should be reunited with my bike on tuesday or wednesday and actually be able to start riding.