Traveling with Chernack

As my plane was pulling away from Logan with the beautiful skyline in the background, it finally hit me that I am not returning to Boston for at least one year. The trip to Santiago, Chile, was without incident, although the couple sitting in front of me told the flight attendant they were just married and heading on their honeymoon. She graciously brought them free champagne. My longing for Boston was quickly replaced by jealousy for my husband and a nice bottle of free bubbly! I was heading on my honeymoon too, but without Dave by my side, I figured it would be a tough sell. Moral or the story...don´t start your honeymoon solo : - )

Dave and I met up at the airport in Santiago. His friend Fernando picked us up. First stop was the bus station, so we could buy our tickets to Mendoza, Argentina, for five relaxing days in wine country. For those of you who don´t know, traveling with Chernack always entails a little more adventure than you bargained for and this time it didn´t take long.

I had been with Dave for about one hour when we found out the border crossing between Chile and Argentina just closed (Argentinian custom officers are striking for higher salaries) and wouldn´t be open until Friday at the earliest, so Dave and I will get a bottle of Malbec later and head to Pucon, Chile instead, as we need to get south. Pucon is a town at the base of an active Volcano, which I attempted to climb three times with Wendy a few years ago.

For our one night and two full days in Santiago, Fernando treated us like royalty. We stayed in his girlfriend Valeria´s home (a one bedroom, one bathroom, lodge) situated in the back of her parent´s house.

It is common for children to stay at home until they are married even when they are in their 30´s and 40´s. (I can only imagine!)

For dinner Valeria´s family made us a traditional Chilean meal full of steak, sausage, potatoes, wine and an odd, yet tasty combination of Fanta orange soda and lager beer. Fresh apricots from a backyard tree and pisco sour (a lemon alcohol) were served for dessert.

Valeria, Fernando, mama Lola and papa Juan.

Fernando kept us busy during the day. We went to a large, outdoor craft market, a bizarre cheese, olive oil, and jam trade show, and one of the busiest malls I´ve ever been too with every store you can imagine, including live entertainment in the outdoor courtyard. Plus we met a famous, yet extraordinarily kind and humble Chilean athlete, Christian Bustos, a friend of Fernando´s, who ironically works for Boston based New Balance in Santiago. The mall security guard was in awe of Christian, a man who had a great career and was wildly respected in his country, even earning a visit with Chile´s President.

Pueblito Los Dominicos market in Los Condes, Chile.

The boys enjoying some java at the market!

And before hopping on an overnight bus to Pucon I took a spinning class that Fernando (a professional triathlete and sports coach) was teaching.

Now in Pucon, I can report I wasn´t sitting next to any livestock on the bus, but the snoring and snorting was out of control. I was awake for most of the 10 hour journey and I wasn´t even allowed to stare out the window. For security reasons all shades had to be closed for the duration of the ride. Hmmm.

We´ll be back in Santiago to do more historical adventures in six weeks.
- Eliz