I've had another sleep-in this morning, which is great, however my total hours of sleep still haven't increased. I wake up later, but am also going to bed late - not the smartest thing to do! The main thing I guess is for my body to wake up when it wants, rather than at the insistent beeping of the alarm, as happens for most of us during the working week!
Given that I've seen most of the historical buildings that I wanted to see yesterday, today will be about wandering mostly aimlessly and seeing what I come up with. My one "mission" is to find some kind of spice grinder, so I'll be heading for some shops to see what I can find. I don't know much about them, other than that they exist, so it will be interesting. I've seen it written that a coffee grinder is a good alternative?
My shopping target is the enormous mall that is Parque Arauco. Three extensive floors of expensive shops to wander amongst the jostling crowds. It shouldn't actually be too bad if I get there before mid-day, but mid afternoon is absolutely flat-out, so hopefully I can get away by then.
The best way to get there (via public transport) from my hotel is via the bus, as the nearest train station is about a 20 minute walk. My experience of the bus system in Santiago is relatively limited, but it appears to be similar to the trains - frequent, on-time and fairly clean, although it is well supported by the locals and the buses are therefore usually packed with commuters. The buses are a bit older than you'd really like to see, belching black clouds of unburnt diesel as they accelerate, but it is still better than having all of those people travelling by car. The roads are busy enough as it is! Today, being Sunday, and in the morning, it should be OK.
My first step in trying to find a spice grinder meets with success within 5 metres of entering the first shop. There, in front of me, is a spice grinder. Manufactured in Germany, sure, it's a nice looking gadget, but it doesn't look fundamentally different than a garden variety pepper mill, and at about A$60, it's a bit over what I was looking at paying, particularly when I find a pepper mill at about half the price! The next step is to see if they have any coffee grinders to go with all of the coffee machines in the shop. I decide to try my Spanglish on one of the unsuspecting assistants in the store who is foolish enough to offer some assistance. It rapidly goes badly. Not only do I immediately forget all of my practiced lines, but I can't remember the words for coffee beans (granos de cafe), which would be particularly helpful. Charades doesn't help, and we both look at each other with a mixture of bemusement and frustration. I give up for the moment and walk away to compose myself and consult my phrasebook...
The next shop is an expensive kitchen items shop. Lo and behold, there in the front window is an ELECTRIC coffee grinder. Oh yeah! Small problem, it is about A$60 as well and despite being powered, still seems a luxury for something that, realistically, won't be used too often. I continue onwards.
The third store of homewares brings success. One of the obvious ways of mixing spices is via a mortar and pestle. My apartment has a crappy wooden one that is only effective up to a point, but here I find an adequate ceramic (or similar) one for the equivalent of about A$4. Bargain. Along with that, I manage to find some other furnishings that I've been looking for but have seemed to be in short supply in Chile, so I'm extremely pleased with myself!
In order to celebrate, I head off to buy some wine to take back to Copiapo. While Chile does some excellent reds, and I haven't made it to the whites just yet, they don't seem to do fortifieds (e.g. the muscats or tokays from Rutherglen, nor even vintage port) or decent dessert wines. There are the occasional late-harvest things that are suitably sweet, but nothing like the botrytis-affected styles from the Murrimbidgee Basin. It's hard to believe that at some point in the country, they don't have suitable conditions for growing the grapes for these styles, so perhaps it is more about there not being a market for them? Anyway, I manage to find a couple that I have yet to try and buy them. One of them even claims some botrytis influence, so here's hoping. Alternatively, I'll just have to bring some back with me when I'm next visiting Oz!
Further celebrations are aided by a couple of empanadas. These are a Chilean fast food - they come in a multitude of varieties, but the ones I have chosen are basically cheese filled pastries that are baked in an oven. Other places are known to deep fry them (not the best), others do them over a charcoal BBQ. For me, they're a curiosity, but the locals seem to be fairly polarised by them (love or hate them, with not much in between).
Next stop is one of the little plaza's on the immediate outside of the mall. I've been able to hear some music for a little while now and am very pleased to find a live jazz band playing for the passing hordes. I take a seat out of the way and settle down to watch the passing crowds and enjoy the music - they are very good. Parents stop with their kids to have a little dance, and the whole scene brings a smile to many people's faces. I lose track of time and before I know it, I've been sitting there for over an hour.
I wander off towards the bus stop and at the next plaza, find a string quartet playing as well. Talk about being spoilt for choice! They're playing out the front of the ubiquitous Starbucks, so I grab chai latte, but this unfortunately coincides with the end of the quartet's session, so it's "home" I go via a combination of bus and train. Again, I can't help but marvel at the trains with my 2 minute wait at the station!
After I drop my shopping at the hotel, I head back to Providencia for a walk. While doing this, I notice that there is a large amount of tooting of car horns, and become aware of all of the people driving around with Chilean flags hanging out of the car windows. I'm even on the end of some waving and special tooting just for me! Something is obviously going on that is inspiring the fervent behaviour, but I'm not too sure about it. I idly wonder if it is something to do with football, which seems most likely, however there is a passing thought that it might be something to do with the miners.
During my walk, I manage to run into Ivan again. It seems he is everywhere in Providencia! We spend maybe 15 minutes chatting again before I manage to escape. Fascinating guy, in the mould of "able to sell ice to eskimos" and/or talk the leg off a chair!
Back at the hotel, I flick on the TV to see what's on before heading out for dinner and as I flick past one of the news channels, there are wild celebrations going on. It seems that at long last, they've finally managed to get a drillhole into the refuge chamber at the Mina San Jose and have got a note back from the guys down there. Amazingly, all are alive. That has obviously sparked wild celebrations at the mine site, but also in Santiago, thus explaining the tooting and flags from the cars. I share the excitement of the Chileans - it's hard not to! It will be interesting to see what it turns out to mean for the trapped "mineros"!
Dinner is a pizza at the place recommended in my Lonely Planet book, which I saw yesterday. No need to line up tonight, however I get one of the last available tables. As expected from the fact it was so busy, the pizza is excellent! A good glass of red, and I'm in a pretty content place, ready for bed and the flight back to Copiapo tomorrow.
Chao chao!
A
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