Another charter airline failed to deliver. The L1011 didn't have the capacity to carry everything no matter what the airline thought. So, 79 bikes, all the TK&A stuff (including Karen-Anne's clothes), and two staff members, waited back in Panama City for a 707 to bring the rest of the stuff here. Tim said, "From now on we're flying 747s."
We'll lose layover days in San Carlos de Barlioche, Argentina and Johannesburg, South Africa. In the meantime, we got two extra days in this wonderful capitol city of 5,500,000 people. The downtown pedestrian malls are crowded well into the evening. Why not? The temperature after the 8:47pm sunset drops into the 70s and people partake of the national food - ice cream cones. The local parks are occupied by people engaged in the national past-time - kissing.
There is one fantastic park built around a rock mountain on which stairways and switchback cement trails lead to a turret-like castle top hundreds of feet above the busy boulevard. At the top, people (usually tourists), are engrossed in admiring the panoramic view. Around the base, each bench is occupied by a couple engrossed in each other.
If you watched CNN today (1/31), you saw something having to do with the government here and former President Pinochet. I have no idea what's going on because all the news is in Spanish. The only news I understood was from the front desk for my roommate, Elbert. He had another grandchild, his 15th. His oldest grandchild is 17. Elbert is the only person on the ride who, after Baja, had a lower lip that looked worse than mine. (We're both much better having gotten out of Baja's dry heat and applying Neosporin at night.) At 70, Elbert isn't the strongest rider, but he never quits. He rides everyday as far as he can and only sags if it gets dark before he gets to the day's destination. He's not like the 170 people who skipped cycling into Panama City. They missed cycling OVER the Panama Canal. Many of them also bused/taxied out to the airport and missed riding with a police escort thru the city and on the freeway. Dan (looks like Tour de France winner Pantini) & I rode behind the police car leading parallel pacelines a quarter mile long. It was a terrific unique experience.
English is much less common in Chile (except at the local internet cafe). One good way to learn another language is to watch English movies with the other language in subtitiles. If I knew Spanish, I would have been able to bargain for the headset I bought from a bike shop in Santiago. There are about 20 bike shops in a two block area near downtown. Most are VERY small, and all cater to mtn bikes and kids' bikes. There is very little in the way of touring or even racing equipment. None-the-less, you couldn't walk around the area without seeing a bunch of Odyssey riders. They were all over the rock mountain, also. The internet cafe is packed with Odyssey riders. The same is true of any nearby museums or bus tours. And, you can spot our hotel by the drying bike clothes in the windows. We are predictable.
Happy Trails,
Bruce