January (2020) – Torres Del Paine Hike – Getting there

Happy New Year!

This month has been busy organising many things for the wedding next month, plus what to do and see when my parents and grandparents come to visit in February! Joaquin and I along with his parents went to the meal tasting for the wedding. The food was delicious; I booked my vehicle and tried to find a good hairstylist but no luck yet! I finished off the last preparations for the Scout Jamboree, as I was going straight there from the hike.

All packed up and ready to go on our holiday! There were 9 of us going on the hike together – we were heading to the south of Chile to a famous national park to hike for 5 days on ‘The W trail’ in Torres Del Paine.

Firstly, we had to take 2 flights, one from Antofagasta to Santiago and then one on to Puerto Natales, it would take us around 5 hours to fly (not including stop over time). The plan was for me to fly with Michelle, Juan Pablo and Karen on the first flight of the day and Joaquin and Carolina would fly on the later flight. This was so we could take their backpacks as they would be travelling straight from working the night shift to the airport. There was only one problem! They had cancelled our flight and put us on a later flight that day and we didn’t even receive an email informing us, we only found out when double checking details!!!

Which means we would have missed our flight from Santiago to go on holiday. There are only flights to Puerto Natales 2 times a week so we would have missed the whole trip! Luckily, we managed to get our flights changed to the evening before (Saturday) and we would be able to spend a restful night at Jorge’s flat (Joaquin’s brother also coming on the hike). This would have been a great plan if everything had been like clockwork.

I make my way with 2 backpacks to the airport, then we wait and wait for ages for the desk to open so we can drop the bags. This is when we find out our flight had been delayed but it wasn’t a problem. Until the plane didn’t arrive for another 5 hours! The airline did give us a voucher for some food and drink as I was starving by 12:30am and they offered a free transfer to our destination in Santiago!

Finally, we were on the flight and asleep straight away. Needed to get those hours of sleep in! The next part of our journey was smooth. We rushed breakfast at the airport, boarded the flight and I was excited to see what the south of Chile was like from my window on the plane.  

Finally, we arrived in Puerto Natales but all super tired. We grabbed our last bits of food and gas for the hike, ate a good meal and to bed for a much-needed good night’s sleep.

 

 

Riots in Chile

The start of the riots for me started on October 19^th (2019). That was the day I visited the Paranal Observatory, on my return there were riots kicking off in Antofagasta after they had started in Santiago (the capital) a few days earlier. 

  

The riots started after a rise in metro (underground for Brits!) prices, it was a rise of 30 Chilean pesos (which is around 3 pence in U.K money). Some students had jumped over the gates to avoid paying altogether. This was the start of the months of protests in Chile.

These months of riots are not because of the rise in price to the metro but because of the unjust system they have in Chile. There have been many small protests for years and years but the price rise was the straw that broke the camel’s back…as we say! 

The main slogan for these protests is ‘dignity’… they are protesting for equal rights and to bridge the gap between rich and poor. Chile is one of the top countries in Lantin America that has a high GDP but its gap between the wealthy and the underprivileged is one of the highest. The protests are also about health, education, the pension system and to change the constitution that was made in the dictatorship in the 1980’s.

From the month of October 2019 to the start of lockdown for COVID (April 2020 – well even the lockdown didn’t stop everyone!) there were riots all the time and very big protests every Friday. 

In Antofagasta there were many protests every day to start with. Many fires being set off in the streets, buildings looted and burnt down. We were at school one day and they had to send us home early due to a lot of fires surrounding the school which caused many roads to be blocked. That day the buses stopped running but lucky for me Joaquin wasn’t working and managed to come and collect me on the motorbike. We went passed a few burning barricades on the way home.

Due to riots, curfew has been enforced from 10pm to 6am. The times have changed slightly but we have been on curfew since the riots (October 2019) and it continued through the Pandemic too – so we are now still living with curfews (writing this in January 2021). 

School was closed for a few weeks and then it got extended for a little while longer. I was able to keep working on my projects from home but trips to the supermarkets were an adventure.

Another way people were protesting was to hit pots and pans either on the marches or during curfew from your garden, balcony or windows.

Once things had calmed down a little during the day, life started returning to normal but you never left the house without a mask (well I didn’t anyway). This was because of the teargas used, the police would use it all the time to disperse the crowds but it didn’t usually work as they kept fighting. Even the teargas was around the next day in the street and when driving pass or walking out you would still feel the effects from the gas - coughing, getting a sore throat and eyes watering!

 

One evening I was out for a walk when I stumbled upon a protest. One afternoon many people joined together to walk the length of the city. People started off in the south and walked for around 3 to 4 hours on the main road along the cost to the north. We started to walk back home among the protest. At the traffic lights the people were stopping the cars and making people get out to jump with them before letting them pass.

Some of the lines that the protesters shout:

El que no salta es paco – The one who doesn’t jump is a cop

Renuncia Piñera – Piñera quit (this is the president of Chile)

El pueblo unido jamás será vencido -The people united will never be defeated

 

In Santiago there is a place called Plaza Italia, this has been the centre of the protests and has been renamed to Plaza de la Dignidad (Dignity Square) this is where on March 8^th 2020 where more then 2 million people gathered to protest.

There is also a square in Antofagasta called Plaza Sotomayor which has also been renamed and is now known as Plaza de la revolucion (Revolution Square). This is where a lot of protests start and finish.

One day there was a motorbike protest which Joaquin wanted to join in with, so we went on a nice ride with at least 50 other bikers and rode down the coast, we entered the square to join with protesters for a little while before continuing to the south of the city centre and then had a lovely drive back home.

One of the scariest times was when Joaquin and I had to go into the city centre for him to do some paperwork. We took the opportunity to take a bike ride into the city for a bit of exercise. This is when I experienced first-hand the front line of the protest. We had to travel near to the square where protestors were gathering, it was peaceful and a band was playing music, then on the next road down there were police throwing teargas and shooting rubber bullets and protestors throwing rocks and setting of fires. The front line are the ones who stop the cops from dispersing the peaceful protesters.

One day in Santiago the protests were so close to the Coin Palace (where the government work) that the Senit gathered to agree on a change in the constitution voted by the people in a bid to stop the rioting. The people voted in October 2020 on this matter and 78% approved to have a new constitution. Due to the pandemic protests have decreased as we are under many strict rules and quarantine, but I do believe that when the pandemic is under more control then protests will start up again and continue.

December - ¡Feliz Navidad!

I am so far behind in writing my blog that I am having to remember what happened all that way back in December (last year now!) as I have been doing so much this year, 2020. I must catch up!

Well December wasn’t that interesting but it was festive time. Again, I spent December in the summer and the heat but it still doesn’t feel like Christmas to me…I don’t think it ever will, even though I have had 9 years of hot Christmases! The Christmas tree was put up in November so that job was already done but I missed having an advent calendar. They don’t sell them here in Chile so I actually made one for everyone in the house. I put some treats inside, Monty enjoyed the treats too! 

This year I had to write a letter to Santa (in Spanish too) and post it, this was so we could buy each person in the family a gift that they wanted/needed.

Our tent arrived for our camping trip in January…a little bit bigger than we expected but we are excited about the trip. I am doing a lot of planning on the route and menu for the hike!

This month at Scouts we did a Christmas craft and have been getting ready for our Jamboree trip in January, preparing all the girls for activities, checking all the equipment and going on Scout camp.

Scout camp was fun, we had designed a game for the whole camp to enjoy which took longer than expected, some scouts need to get better at working in a team but everyone had a lot of fun. Monty visited the Christmas tree at the site. We passed one of the girls up to the next session and we had another of the girls make their promise. One night we had a campfire but I was so tired I had to go to bed early!

After camp Cheetah had to have a bath, he was so dirty, camp was so dusty and I got covered head to toe in dust that on the way home I think my trousers were a different colour.

It was also time to finish school/work not only for Christmas but for the summer holidays. Here in Chile they start the school year in March and finish in December and usually only have 2 terms with the winter holidays in June or July. My school has 3 terms as we are a privet school and have another break added in September. On our last day of school we only had Christmas breakfast and then it was holiday time. I still had a bit of work to do over the holidays but only a very little.

As it was the month of Christmas, we had a few parties and nights out for drinks. We did secret friend (they call it that here instead of secret Santa). We went over to a friends house before we entered we had to put our secret presents in a black sack, we had some food, played a fun game and then it was time for “Santa” to give out the presents (Joaquin had this job)…I got a bar of Chocolate and a pair of cycling gloves…a perfect gift.

Another night I went to Jaime’s house (works friends) for a small work party. I left the party at 2 am, when we had to leave the BBQ area but some carried the night on up in the flat and I think finished maybe around 5am!

Monty and I making some mince pies…they were a hit with everyone who tried them. 

Mince pies are also something they don’t have here in Chile! I also couldn’t find Christmas pudding…oh how I missed all the yummy treats from England at this time of year!

No advent calendars, no mince pies, no Christmas pudding, Christmas dinner is not the same either. So you are thinking what do they eat at Christmas time??? They do have a lot of different types of Christmas cake here and they are all nice but so different to how I know Christmas cake. 

In Chile they celebrate Christmas Day on Christmas Eve. So usually the whole family sit and have their ‘Christmas lunch’ on Christmas Eve then everyone stays up including the kids. At midnight the kids run outside to see if Santa is flying passed and when they return inside Santa has delivered all the presents. Then they all open them then. What happened to telling al the children he won’t deliver the presents if you are still awake? Christmas Day is then a day to sleep and relax. As Joaquin had to work the night shift on Christmas Eve, we actually had a usual Christmas for me on Christmas Day. Joaquin came home and slept then I made a typical Christmas Dinner for the family, so they could try it for the first time. Then in the afternoon we could open all the presents and have a lazy day.

The dogs also loved their new toys, which were destroyed in a matter of minutes!    

Not much happened between Christmas and News Years for me. I just spent time planning my next few trips away!

New Year Eve!

This year we had a small party at the house with some of Joaquin’s family. We had our last meal together for 2019 and when it came to midnight we got the party poppers and hats out had a dance then it was time for me to hit my pillow before the sun came up!

November - uneventful but very eventful!

This month has been a little boring as I’ve not got much to write about; I’ve been doing a lot of wedding planning and haven’t been out and about. However, this month has been eventful with the protests and riots still going on, I have many things to add to my post about all the protests in Chile...post still under construction. 

I finally managed to get Joaquin’s birthday present as the shop had reduced opening times due to the protests. 

He is very happy with his new bike and we have been on a few cycle rides up and down the city!

I’ve been on another hike to see more flowers in the hills, Sarah and Felipe invited us to join them. It was a very interesting walk where I saw some rare flowers and ones that only grow in the area. The cacti are amazing and huge. I learnt that they only grow a few centimetres a year (or when the rains come) so some of these cacti are hundreds of years old. We also went up a sand dune; I got so much sand in my shoes as I was jumping down it. I emptied my shoes at the bottom and then again about 5 times when I got home, I don't know where the sand kept coming from!

Found a big spider...well not as big as ones in Australia!

This made me laugh...

A parking space only for pregnant woman! What is happening...they don't have a disability! I think they see it as an illness here in Chile.

In scouts the girls have been practicing their camping skills, one of which is putting up a tent! Problem is it took them about 45 minutes to put the tent up. I think they need more practice to get quicker. I also now have my uniform.

I had to visit the British Embassy in Santiago to sort out some paperwork to be able to get married so spent a few days there. We visited the centre and saw the impact the protests have had there and been researching on what we should to when my family come to visit in February. 

So here in Chile they have refillable bottles for fizzy drinks. First you buy a bottle and your drink, then when you have finished you go back with the empty bottle, pick a new one and return your old one.

The Christmas tree has already been put up...it’s only November! The kids have been singing Christmas songs I banned them till December then they can sing to their hearts content.