Sick in Santiago

Chile – Valparaiso – Bicentennial walk along Pacific Ocean

We started the week in Valparaiso, which has quickly become one of our favorite cities on the entire trip. On our last night in Valpo, Lindsey came down with a nasty cold that kept her up all night. The next day, Wednesday, we went to Santiago where we had an apartment rented. This was perfect timing since Lindsey’s cold completely knocked her out. She laid in bed watching TV (with several English speaking channels) for the next few days. Over the weekend, she started to feel a little better and made it out of the apartment for some short walks. Despite getting sick, we really like Chile. There’s just something about it that makes us comfortable.

1. Go

Bus – 120 km. Ride from Valpo to Santiago.
Taxi – 10 km. Rides to and from bus stations (this luxury was due to Lindsey’s illness).
Foot – 58,000 steps in 7 days (approx. 29 miles)

2. See

Like we said last week, Valparaiso is messy, rambling, and chaotic, but also beautiful, charming, and mesmerizing. We spent our last few days in Valpo wandering the streets and admiring more street art.

Chile – Valparaiso – Street Art

We went on a surprising pleasant walk along the Bicentennial trail on the waterfront south of downtown. The water was so clear that we were able to watch an otter play. We climbed Cerro Artilleria, which had splendid views of the city and harbor. We watched the cargo ships load and unload while naval ships left the harbor for maneuvers. At the top of the hill, we visited the Naval Museum. Among all the naval artifacts was the pod used to save the 33 Chilean miners back in 2010 (see the photo of Pat in it below).

Chile – Valparaiso – Cerro Artilleria

Chile – Valparaiso – Pod used to save the 33 Chilean miners in 2010

Chile – Valparaiso – Bicentennial walk along Pacific Ocean

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see much of Santiago this week. We still have a few more days in the city, so hopefully Lindsey will feel well enough and the weather will cooperate enough for us to get out a few times. Our apartment is really close to all the downtown sights, so we were able to get out on a walk on Sunday.

Chile – Santiago – Paris Londres neighborhood

Chile – Santiago – Palacio la Moneda

3. Eat

We are still eating empanadas every chance we get, but other than that, we’ve mostly eaten in. Having the apartment in Santiago has been a great change. We have been able to get into a groove with our food and eat a lot of our old comfort foods from home, like oatmeal. To our surprise, there’s a dairy brand without lactose that’s sold at all grocery stores. They have great chocolate milk and yogurt.

Chile - Valparaiso - The best alfahores and empenada in Chile

Chile – Valparaiso – Pat going crazy for the best alfajores and empenadas in Chile

4. Drink

After all the wine in Argentina, we’ve had our driest week in a month. Although we have been enjoying a few beers. We found an artisanal beer company called Kross with decent brews. The beer has been mostly imbibed by Pat since Lindsey has been on a steady regime of tea with honey and lemon all week.

5. Sleep

We really enjoyed our hostel in Valparaiso. After a few days, the only thing missing was a porch to enjoy the beautiful weather.

For our week in Santiago, we booked an apartment through Airbnb. This is our second try with Airbnb – our first was a week in Buenos Aires and was disappointing – and we were a little nervous about it. It turned out to be perfect. It’s a cute one bedroom with a complete kitchen (even an oven), a comfy bed, and cable (with lots of English channels). Lindsey couldn’t have gotten sick at a better time. She has been able to lay in bad watching bad TV to rest for a few days.

6. Move

This has been out lowest step count on the entire trip. This is obviously due to Lindsey’s illness. Wednesday through Saturday, she was pretty much bedridden, only getting out on Saturday for a six block walk. Sunday was still low, but closer to normal at 11,000 steps. Pat was able to get in a few runs in Santiago, but they were a little slow going since the streets were packed with pedestrians.

Check out Pat’s CADENCE Week 14 post for details about this week.

7. Etcetera

Being sick has been easy on the budget. Chile isn’t very expensive anyway, and we would be under budget even without being sick. We’ve been able to pick up beer or empanadas without worrying about spending too much. It’s a relief to not have to stress about money for a change. We know our next few weeks are going to be over $100 a day (Easter Island, Tahiti, and New Zealand), so we are glad to be able to save some cash now.

Check out our Flickr album to see all our photos from this week.