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January 15, 2007 - The Streets and Parkways of Santiago
What do you eat when you return to sea level in just over 24 hours from 6900 meters? On the 13th most of us had enjoyed seafood or steak dinners at our favorite restaurant on the beach. Klaus and I struggled to finished our 350 gram beef steaks, after we both swore we could eat twice that much. Opus enjoyed a huge portion of Tandoori seafood. Just before we ate we spent some time on the beach as the sun set with the Bolivian staff. Five of the guys began the long drive back to La Paz on the morning of the 14th, while Oswaldo, Juancho and Joselito were on the night bus to Santiago and on to Mendoza where they will begin preparing for our Aconcagua climb. On the morning of January 14th, Martin, Claire, Erin and Dafna took off early for a long walk around the bay from our beachside resort. Jeff, of course, went for a run. He has missed his regular running very much as he learns about climbing at altitude on this trip.
When we arrived at the Santiago airport in the early evening – a beautiful warm summer evening here – the Starbucks on the way to baggage claim was a popular stop for members of the group. Just as expected we found Danny and Carol waiting at the Four Points Sheraton; we all shared a dinner at a great Italian restaurant a few blocks from the hotel. This morning, the 15th, I saw Danny and Jeff returning from a run when I went to breakfast and I know that most of the rest of the group will be out walking the summertime streets and parkways of Santiago this morning. Chile has been full of adventure and great times, from the highest altitudes on the continent to sea level and from remote corners of the desert to the cities of Copiapo and Santiago. This afternoon we have a flight to Mendoza, Argentina. Another beautiful South America city and our base to prepare for another great mountain: Aconcagua. Stay tuned. |
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Listen to Audio of Wally's Call (.wav) (no audio today)
On the afternoon of the 14th our 40 kilos of laundry was returned clean just before we left for the airport at 2:30 in the afternoon. Leila worked her usual magic with LAN airlines with regard to our extremely large and overweight duffel bags full of climbing gear and warm clothes bound for Aconcagua. It took a while, but we all waited patiently while she negotiated and in the end there were no extra charges.