We've made it to Santiago! Long trip, lots of packing. Looking forward to decompressing a bit.
We flew into Madrid airport. The plane was only about a third full - probably should have been a warning sign - and the pilot didn't think much of this new-fangled concept of keeping his plane going in a straight line on takeoff. The airport was massive and completely empty. It was like wandering around in a ghost town. The size and quiet brought to mind a concrete cathedral. It reminded me of the new terminal at Dublin before it got airlines, or the cinema in eastpoint. Why do countries always decide to upgrade their capital airport just before the money runs out?
We had a many hour wait for the next flight, so we popped into Madrid on the metro. The metro was completely packed. Theory one: Madrid is some sort of prison camp for obnoxious people from all over Europe. They get carted off, taught spanish, and told to live there until they get manners. The only reason we haven't heard about this is the eurozone - if Britain would just join or Ireland would just stop losing money, we too could ship our folks off to Madrid. I also suspect the Spanish are dreading the arrival of Cameron. Theory two was that it was rush hour, which has the advantage of being simple and is probably true.
As I said, we've been working on speaking Spanish. Fears became flesh when we heard the first announcement in Spanish on the plane. We're probably doomed. Getting dinner in Madrid did nothing to reassure us. Leaving the restaurant, we promptly found ourselves close to a demonstration, along with many riot police. And when we got back to the airport, it was announced that Spain was having a general strike. This possibly explains the quiet airport.
I read through "In Patagonia" and "The old Patagonian express" on the flight; good reads. We'll probably get rid of the books soonish to save on weight. Paul Theroux makes fun of travel books that talk about arriving in places by plane "the toy town appearance of a city in the Andes" but for us it wasn't like that. We got on the plane, rejected the food and fell asleep. At some point - possibly after coffee - we flipped up the window blinds and the Andes were right there. Quite a sight. (Note from Laura: this is a classic case of Pete's reserve - it was an outstanding view).
We've survived Chilean customs (quick panic about the pepper pot we were carrying), pushed past the taxi drivers and got into town by bus. First impressions are its somewhat like California. Its hot and dusty, roads are big. They seem to be building concrete tower blocks here - possibly due to the earthquake. Seems crazy to me to build high and heavy on top of a fault line, but what do I know. Laura thinks the place is crumbly. No idea what she means. I fear her apple crumble. The hostel is nice, and has good internet. Woo.
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