Santiago de Chile

Next stop Santiago! We made a tremendous jump forward in our way down south from Calama straight to Santiago in a good 23hours bus.
As we arrived we directly met up with Julio a good friend that Geo had when he satyed for a year studying in Chile. Julio took us around for a quick tour of the city. We visited the central market and the old train station, beutiful buildings made by Eiffel's students. Passed by the famous fruit market of La Vega and ended our walk in the lively neighbourhood of Bellavista for a well deserved beer. The first thing that stroke me in Santiago is how European it was. After these many months travelling through South America and the last months in Bolivia and Peru it really seemed like being back to civilisation. Museums, art centers, metro, big avenues, clean streets and hipster bars it could have been a version of Paris or any big European capital with 30 degrees celsius in the middle of January.
For the first week we stayed at Julio's flat, a chance. He showed us his really cool project of a back-pack, clothes and footwear brand.

Santiago city centre

For a few days we went paragliding at the flying site of Vizcachas. A small take off at the South of the city offering great thermic conditions and a good potential for XC flying. It is pretty amazing to have such flying potential available right next to a capital city!

Vizcachas Take Off

Sailplane passing low over the take off

The take off is managed by a paragliding company and they charge you a small fee to use the spot. It is possible to climb by foot. A nice 20 to 40 min walk. In Santiago the main mountain range is exposed to the west so it is better flown in the afternoon. A classic time for take off is between 2 and 4 p.m. for cross country flying, but expect strong conditions the earlier you go there!
I had a few good flights there fighting in the very stable air with only big bubbles passing through. The flying wasn't particularly enjoyable as it was really strong, but the technicity was interesting and the views over the city and the huge peaks rewarding. TRACK1 TRACK2.

Considering the conditions I didn't take many pictures, but here are the ones from the two flights.

Flight 1:

Residential leaf

Getting to the north of Santiago

Flight 2:

Cerro de Ramón

Santiago City!!!

Northern neighbourhoods of Santiago

Landing in the golf

The reward

I never managed to pass the 30km key point in the cross towards the north, but I think that with experience and some regular flying in the area it is possible to achieve some beautiful flights.

On the 14th my good friend Fred arrived from France to spend with us a couple of weeks. January has been the time for visitors to distract us in our trip. Great to see known faces on this continent!

FRED is HERE!!

La casa Moai

Pebre y Melon con Vino 

Carrete!

We had a good few days partying in Santiago trying the local cocktails:
- THE Terremoto a devil's invention that consist of cheap white wine with a massive scoop of pineapple ice cream and some fernet (a bitter herbal liquor)

- Melon con vino, a yellow Melon filled with white wine and sugar

We had the chance to assist to some great gigs as well. A festival featuring Chico Trujillo. It seemed that the party spirit and the warmth that we had lost in the high Andes was back!

Bonus Pics:

Learning about the future....

Chorillana, a typical dish