28 Long trip home

Holidays and short breaks
Argentina (2001)
Chile (2002)
India (2003)
World trip (2005-2006)
Libya (2008)

Pictures
1 Croydon to Arica
2 Arica, Azapa Valley
3 Arica, Panam + Codpa
4 Arica, PN Lauca
5 Calama
6 Chuquicamata
7 Salar de Atacama
8 San Pedro de Atacama
9 Tatio and Puritama
10 Santiago
11 Santiago to Pucón
12 Pucón
13 Pucón, a lazy day
14 Termas de San Luis
15 Pucón, horse ride
16 Puerto Varas
17 Ancud
18 Chiloé
19 Chiloé, pinguineria
20 Puerto Varas, casino
21 Torres del Paine
22 Torres del Paine
23 Torres del Paine
24 Torres del Paine
25 Zapallar
26 Zapallar
27 Zapallar, rodeo
28 Long trip home

Chile

Sunday 1 & Monday 2 December 2002

A lazy lie-in. We’re not in a hurry. All we have to do today is get to Santiago, fly halfway across the world, and get home… A transfer will pick us up at 3pm, although for some reason I am convinced it is 4pm. We’re not bothered about last-minute sightseeing, walking or shopping. It has been a long month of experiences and sights and now it’s time to go home. After breakfast we pack our stuff. That is to say, Ness packs everything while I “help” by staying out of the way. We leave the bags in the room and park ourselves on the sun-loungers by the pool, writing diaries, reading and playing cards. A bit before 3pm we check out. By 3.10 the transfer hasn’t arrived and we ask the receptionist to call ADSMundo to check. They left Santiago at 12pm and it should only be a 2 hour drive. We’re not worried yet but it does eat into our available shopping time. I hope we can stop somewhere along the way at an artesiana but it will probably have to be the airport for gifts now. Our transfer arrives at 3.20; Luis and Riccardo. Luis keeps our minds occupied with chat, mostly factual stuff about Chile, while Riccardo drives and sticks to the speed limit (grrr).

The last views of the rocky coast with small beaches and smart houses slip by and then we turn inland towards the Panam. At the coast it was cloudy again but inland the sun is shining and even with air-con we can feel that it is very hot outside. The landscape along the Panam looks dry, mostly yellow grass. We don’t stop along the way. I had asked Luis whether there would be anywhere for gift shopping but that didn’t look hopeful and Nessie’s “no!” convinced Luis we should drive directly to the airport. Probably just as well. Luis helps us with the check-in, finding the right desk. Although our tickets advertise an Iberia flight, the flight is actually operated by Lan Chile, yippee! Between Luis and flashing the BA Exec Club card we manage to get what we hope will be decent seats for the long-haul flight. Final thing to do before going through to the departure gates is to post the postcards. Correo is closed so I can’t buy a stamp for the last card home to Mama, but the others are all, finally, posted. Last minute in true Ness and Stef style. A few boutiques provide the gift shopping opportunity, leaving us with just enough time for a final chacarero, pisco sour and pre-flight smokes.

We board the Airbus 340, get decent-ish seats (two by the window, just on the front-edge of the wing so we have a bit of a view). Small screens in the seats in front of us, with a selection of films on demand, including Reign of Fire, Spiderman and The Bourne Identity. Wonderful views of the snow-capped mountains of the Andes, lit up in pink-orange in the setting sun. The sky quickly turns to night darkness as the day is shortened by our flight eastward. There is some turbulence as we fly into the night. This happens as I’m watching Reign of Fire, lending an extra quality to the film (it needs it!) I can follow the progress of our flight as I look at the in-flight “air show” an another passenger’s screen, a Chilean grandpa. We are still only over Brazil! It feels like we have been flying for ages and we’re still over South America. The film is rubbish so I follow up with Spiderman, then nod off; Ness is already asleep. When I wake up we’re flying somewhere along the North African coast, with only about an hour and a half to go to Madrid. Just enough time to watch another film? Ness switches to Spiderman, I select the Bourne Identity, breakfast is served as we are watching. We land in Madrid before the films end. There is a short wait before our flight, giving us time to change, freshen up, and have coffee and a smoke. The Madrid-London flight is operated by Iberia, back to “European” service. Good seats (row 11) on this flight too. The flight progresses uneventfully, apart from some turbulence just outside Madrid. Ness saw a woman one row forward doing a quick Hail Mary.

It is still light when we land at Heathrow, but fading rapidly and street and car lights are already on. By the time we have gone through arrivals it is dark and only then I realise my watch is still on Madrid time and that it’s not even 5pm yet! Cabbie is dour and doesn’t say a word the whole journey. It’s a long and expensive ride home through London rush-hour traffic. Emotions and thoughts are all over the place and we don’t speak much on the way.

When we reach home I’m relieved to see our house and Bruiser in good health. The lights are on inside the house – Nessie’s parents must have put lights on timer switches. But not just any lights…! Inside our house is “tastefully” decorated with Christmas decorations!! This includes an inflatable Christmas tree with fake snow inside and multi-coloured flashing Merry Christmas lights!! We both call home to make sure our parents are ok and to let them know we are. Then we go to the Builders Arms for a drink and dinner (pie, bangers, mash), now we’re definitely back home.

Our month-long trip through Chile has come to an end. It has been a fantastic experience, one that I’m sure we will look back on many times in the future. We have seen so much, uncovered new places, now no longer anonymous dots on a map but places with real memories for us. Will we ever go back?

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