Santiago, Chile, Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza, Tuesday, 1995-12-26 11:30 local (Z-3)
Sigh! We're still here. C.J., right after I talked to you on the phone I got a call from the captain saying to forget getting out of here today. Late yesterday afternoon I was all packed, had my uniform on, and was about to walk out the door when the phone rang. It seems that crew scheduling had neglected to inform us that our scheduled early evening departure had been changed to this morning at 10:00. That would mean a 07:00 wakeup call. It never came, but I didn't care because I had decided to sleep until the phone rang. However, I got up at 10:00 so I wouldn't miss the free breakfast that ends at 11:00. Right after I talked with C.J., the captain called, obviously unhappy, and said the damn airplane hadn't even left Miami yet. So, here we set. At least today I'll be able to buy sun screen.
Downtown Santiago came alive again about 16:00 yesterday afternoon. It was like someone threw a switch. Traffic, lots of people on the streets, parks filled. Quite amazing really how quickly it changed. It is now once again a bustling city. When I found out we weren't going out, I put on my running clothes and attempted to run up the mountain park that I had walked up the day before, except that I stayed on the road rather than taking the steeper foot trails. I did pretty good. Didn't poop out until almost to the top.
There were a lot of people on the road, mostly coming down from the mountain since it was now late. I got the feeling I was being looked at lot, and started trying to figure out why. They weren't disapproving looks, merely curious. I was shirtless, but so were a lot of other men, especially runners. It was true that I was the only runner going uphill, but I imagine the runners coming down had earlier run up (unless they cheated and took the funicular railway or the tram). I think I finally figured it out. I was the only blond and the only one with chest hair (although for a European American, I'm about as hairless as they come). Absolutely no one else that I saw after I started looking had any but jet black hair. Also, ALL the men had absolutely no chest or arm hair and very little leg hair.
The last time I was the object of this kind of curiosity was in the Juyaimah bachelor camp in Saudi Arabia—6000 black-haired men and only about 300 Westerners—maybe 100 Americans. Goodly numbers of the Indians, Sir Lankans, Phillippinos, Koreans, Pakistanis, etc. used to turn out to watch the few of us that ran, who oddly were all blonds, and in that sun my hair really bleached out.
Maybe though the reason I seemed to be the object of curiosity was just that my skin was so pale or that I was wheezing so hard struggling up hill. <g>
I think the average racial stock here is much more indigenous than on the other side of the Andes. It stands to reason. During the large European migrations to South America, the east coast was relatively easy to reach—Argentina, Brazil. The west coast was a different matter. You had to either cross the Andes or go around Tierra del Fuego. For sailing ships that was a major problem. Anyway, whatever the factors of the mix here, it has produced a beautiful people. Their coloring is almost golden rather than brown. Santiago is famous for its good looking young women, and justly so. However, I would point out that they don't keep their figure as they age. <g>
It just occurred to me that being in the park among those who had to walk, I was not among the middle or upper class, but among the poor. Probably as you go up the affluence scale here you get more European characteristics.
This is the land of the ex-dictator Pinochet (he's dead now), but vestiges of his police state remain. While I was running, a police or military (or something in between—tan uniforms) pulled up. Three men emerged. Two of them went over to talk to a policeman (black uniform). The third had an automatic weapon. He strode to the front of the van, stood at attention, and cocked his weapon, obviously chambering a round. That really turned me off. The idea that he would in the presence of totally peaceful civilians do that I found repugnant. Of course, he probably put the safety on, but still....
Off to buy sun screen...Terry