A WEEK AWAY

There are times when, as a staff member on one of TDA’s illustrious cycling Tours, it’s important to remove oneself from the day to day grind and find peace, or at least some kind of quiet, or at the very least a dark place to be slothful.  This is how Hatice and I found ourselves leaving the ambitious cyclists and fellow staff of the Vuelta SudAmericana, in Santiago, and venturing off on our own for some R&R.   We didn’t venture far.  We took the subway to another neighborhood of the city.  To anyone who has been to Santiago before they may know that the Subway system is immaculate.  The tile work is very 1960/70’s brownish hazy hopeful socialist style.  It made me think of the Metro lines in Montreal, and my mind wandered into thinking whether the engineers/architects of these two distant subways may have had some relation.  At one point there was even the thought in my mind to actually research this curiosity, but as of yet it hasn’t happened, so I’m still pleasantly believing that the two subway lines have some affinity with each other.  By the way there is really no particular way to describe what brownish hazy hopeful is, and I wouldn’t want to finger socialism as an inspiration for the Santiago subway system, though perhaps any kind of public transportation system is intrinsically for the people/socialist in nature.  Regardless, the wall art/graffiti in Santiago is joyous and full of political intrigue, and could also lead one to believe that the city is romancing the left (though in most other aspects it appears to be the most commercial/corporate city in South America, so forget everything I’ve said)   Anyway, Santiago is a great city for cycling, there is a river which runs through the city and lush parks line each side of it.  Bicycle paths loop their way through these parks, allowing cyclists to reach their destinations safely (though to cycle on the roads, as in most cities requires patience and much alertness in traffic)  To conclude, though I’ve barely started and have said very little…
After moving everyday for almost 4 months (cooking on cycling tours) stopping in one place for even a couple of days can feel like being marooned on an island (luckily one where my wife is also marooned, the wine is splendid, there are busses that can take you anywhere you want to go, satellite television so you can watch bollywood movies into the wee hours, a hardcover copy of Roberto Bolanos’ final book (a Chilean author recently deceased) Well… I forget what the point of this paragraph was, but in essence, Chile is a wonderful country, so if you get a chance, hop on a bike and ride your way across it (or just laze around Santiago, you won’t regret it)