Goodbye Sarf America

I've managed to wangle another cheap Biz Class upgrade on the BA 747
home from Sao Paulo (departing in an hour and a half) and this and
previous postings come from the lounge, thank Christ.

Because I've come up from Puerto Montt in Chile, the northern edge of
Patagonia, and that is the furthest I have ever been from home in my
life.

PM to Santiago, Santiago to SP, SP to home. I'm not even going to think
about what it is in terms of hours (got a few hours' kip in a hotel room
oin Santiago last night).

God, I love Chile. Really, really, really want to live there.

 

I'd second that.

Also, I'd like to hear your general thoughts on South America. I'm
planning on doing some serious travel in the next year or two and
that's on the 'hit list'.

 

AOL

--
Krusty

'03 Tiger 955i
'02 MV Senna (for sale) '96 Tiger (for sale)
'79 Fantic Hiro 250 (for sale) '81 Corvette (for sale)

 

I'd love to ride a bike down to Patagonia but I don't get enough
holidays to even consider it.

The only parts of the World I haven't visited are South America and
Australasia and South America appeals a lot more out of the two. I
know I can swing a trip to Chile any time I want because Adie wants to
go there to watch football but I'd want to go a lot further south and
do it on a bike.

 

Go to Pembrokeshire. Same people, same language, same sheep, same rain.

 

OK: for a start, it's like a modern Mediterranean European state,
especially in the region round Santiago. Similar climate round Santiago,
and the people are just 'European' (and acknowledged as such by the rest
of Latin America). Colombia for me is definitely 'foreign' and Ecuador
is 'alien' (I like 'em both, mind) but Chile is like a cross between
Italy and Spain.

Oh, and the Paddies and the Porridge-Wogs both got there in force. The
hero of Chile, whgo liberated them from Bolivia, rejoices in the name of
Bernardo O'Higgins, which is just one of the world's great names.

Next, everything works. As in, communications of all types are modern
and fuss-free, the rules of the road are obeyed (probably more than in
Italy...), and all the infrastructure functions.

Next, it's safe. Politically stable (now), good finances, apparently
very little corruption, and no drugs industry like Peru, Colombia or
Bolivia to **** things up.

Next, the country is beautiful. From the Atacama in the north to
Patagonia in the south (and I was there on Friday), it's just
eye-achingly lovely. A massive variation of landscapes, as you'd expect
from a country as long as Chile. And you can ski there, too.

Next, it's got some of the finest food on the planet. Fruit, vegetables,
seafood, dairy and never forget the wine. Meat - yes, but you don't eat
it that often.

Next, there are two Triumph dealerships in Santiago, so I can get the
Street Triple fettled.

Next, it's cheap. Cheaper than Brazil, about on a par with Argetina,
costlier than Peru, Colombia, Bolivia. We have been doing some very,
very serious snooping and have worked out we can get a hectare or two of
land, for The Doctor to play with her bees, chickens and plants[1], with
a house built to our design[2], and four to six separate guest rooms in
an outbuilding for about £180,000. This would be a few hundred miles
south of Santiago, in the best part of the Lakes region where people
holiday, and where the travellers pass through on their way to the ice
floes and penguins at the bottom.

If that sounds like a Plan in the making, it is. Deadly serious about
this, and I know what I can do out there. Got to get the kids into
university first, mind. So a couple of years.

[1] Oh, and alpacas. She wants alpacas.
[2] ie: a massive garage with some bedrooms adjoining and a wine cellar
underneath.

 

You know that that's probably because a lot of boxheads emigrated there
in the past century, including some rather unsavoury types?

Like these guys: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Baviera

The good news is that most of those unsavoury types have probably
croaked by now .

Hmm. So your planning a to run a guest house down there? With the odd
motorcycle trip?

And for me it'd be almost jet lag free, too. Well, if I ever get this
damn US visa of mine sorted.

Looks like someone's been borrowing the plans for my ideal house.

 

<seriously considers adding TOG to Xmas Card list>

 

Oh, yeah, the Huns still have a presence. I know a Gundermann and a Kuhn
out there. Quite a few blue-eyed Chileans, too. And I think they founded
a brewery which is still there. (The Brits built clubs wherever they
went: the Huns built breweries....)

Ye Gods. They had a tank???

<Reads further>

Hidden in the ground? They *buried* a fucking main battle tank?? I mean,
how did they get it there without anyone noticing?

 

Ok, but *apart* from that, what's it got?

Heh, I don't think even I would count that as being important.

Blimey. And I thought getting a place in Normandy was adventurous. Can
you get pet passports for bees? Getting 'em chipped must be finicky.

 

I can't see much wrong with building breweries .

They had *very* good connections to the Pinochet regime. IIRC some
German investigative journalists dug up some rather nasty evidence that
the military dropped off dissidents for a thorough working over. Of the
sort that gets them buried in a conveniently located patch of jungle,
that is.

There was a lot more to them (and most of it bad stuff[1]) than the info
in the English Wikipedia article. The article in the German Wikipedia
mentions that Colonia served as a basis for the Chilean secret service
during the Pinochet years and also served as a basis for a cooperation
project run by several latin american secret service agencies. All of
them right wing, of course.

<continues reading article>

Oh great, it gets better. They seem to have held Chilean citizens
prisoner during the Pinochet years and used them as forced labour. Right
down to using people for medical experiments. No wonder the English
version mentions a certain Dr Mengele.

That's where kiddie fiddling combined with religious nutterdom gets you,
by the looks of it.

[1] That's "bad" as in "appearances in The Hague" as opposed to
"cool". Just to make this very clear.

 

"Permanent Uncle". Heh.

 

That would be tough. Chile doesn't have jungle ;-)

 

I know. But then again you can just lose them in the Atacama.

 

Yup. Easily mislaid, dissidents.

"Oops, another one has fallen out of the helicopter."

Seriously, though, I'd never *heard* of that bunch in Chile. Very odd
and unpleasant lot.

 

The only reason I know about them was because they were in the press in
Germany an awful lot back in the 80s and 90s when some journalists were
on the trail of the remaining Nazis in South America and stumbled over
this lot with their nasty connections.

 

Shee-it, you can have llamas here.
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/eb73a8872a.jpg

 

I know. Llamas are in the top of Chile. Down south, it's alpacas.

 

Painted it red and hid it in a tree?

 

And alpacas - http://www.wellground.com/ is a trailriding mate's
business.

--
Krusty

'03 Tiger 955i
'02 MV Senna (for sale) '96 Tiger (for sale)
'79 Fantic Hiro 250 (for sale) '81 Corvette (for sale)