I overdid it today. I biked to the top of Cerro San Cristobal, which shouldn't be that big of a deal except I've been an absolute sloth recently. On the bright side, it was one of my best days here so far. I can't really describe it, it was just the right thing to do on the perfect day for it. I took a bunch of pictures on the 3 hour journey, absolutely an excuse to take as many breaks as possible, but it's all in the name of giving you, the wonderful reader, something to look at. Also, there will be a tiny bit of catching up on what has happened and not happened for me in the past two months. It will be interspersed throughout or possibly just thrown in really quickly at the end, either way, you're just in it for the pictures. Let's begin.
Sometimes Santiago reminds me of a poor man's Paris (please chilenos, don't take offense, I mean no harm). The architecture of the historic district buildings, the fantastic parks, and well, a "river" cuts through it...
Not to be confused with the Siene, if that's possible.
Every time I look at this thing all I can think about is this. A boy can dream...
Welcome back from the world of pure imagination, now sit and finish reading my story. So the ride to the hill is actually quite far, about a 30 minute ride through the streets. I don't quite trust Santiago drivers enough to be considerate of my life so I've chosen to stick to the sidewalks for now, which fortunately are pretty wide, then the bike lanes kick in as you get close to the river made of Yoo-hoo! Energy was still up as I got to the entrance, I slowed up as I got to a very inconvenient stop sign right before you start climbing, forcing you to lose all momentum and then OH. MY. GOD. DEATH. I was in first gear, standing up, pedaling as hard as I could, remembering I visited last week walking with my girlfriend and it would only get steeper. By the way, have you met my girlfriend? How rude of me. Marcela, this is the 5 people that read my blog. 5 people that read my blog, this is Marcela...
Why are you all surprised that I did well for myself? Jerks!
After much heavy breathing I made it to the first real picture-worthy stop. The Japanese Garden was the reason for our stroll last week and the motivation for the bike ride this week since I didn't take any pictures last week and it really does offer an amazing view.
I like to think this will be historically significant as that on the right is the tallest building in South America,
mid-construction.
Soaked in this view, fixed my chain which fell off as if my bike wanted no part of the climb, and kept chugging along taking in sights such as
This hairy spider that freaked me out,
this creepy statue,
and obligatory Asian tourists (this one with a kickass beard).
After about two hours of punishment, perhaps a little crying, I made it to the top! Only then did I remember I had been here before, the easy way:
The funicular aka The Lazy Train
No matter, I made it the hard way. It was a struggle and after the initial enthusiasm, I wasn't sure I was going to make it, but I did, and it was well worth it. So what if I got a little divine help.
I call her The Patron Saint of Rest Stops.
Getting to the goal was cause for celebration and all the reason I needed to fat it up again. Whatever, don't judge me.
Victory platter
That by the way is a chicken and cheese empanada and mote con huesillo. I'm not explaining it here so just do yourself a favor, click the link, and trust me when I say it's DELICIOUS, especially when its ice cold and you are quite the opposite.
The downhill was was probably my favorite part. Just under 4 miles, 800 feet straight down. What took forever to get up took a matter of minutes to get down. And here is where I get all metaphor-y. Things here are moving slower than I would like, but it has not caught me off guard nor discouraged me from enjoying the process of the climb. There are days when I simply cannot look at the computer screen anymore because there is just nothing new left to check out as far as a location goes. I reach the end of the internet at least 3 times a week and just need to step back, take that breather. But that's fine. If I tried to get to the goal as fast as possible I would be burnt out and probably make some serious mistakes. I do reach new levels occasionally, such as last week when my business accountant (yup, i have one) handed me a folder stating I am the owner of RUSCHMEIER EIRL, which is kind of like an LLC. It's basically done for protection so nobody can sue me for personal effects if something happens in the store, but regardless I'm proud of it. It makes me feel like I got to that Japanese garden level. Soaked it in, energized me and now I'm ready to keep going up, excited for whatever is around the next corner.
The downhill was was probably my favorite part. Just under 4 miles, 800 feet straight down. What took forever to get up took a matter of minutes to get down. And here is where I get all metaphor-y. Things here are moving slower than I would like, but it has not caught me off guard nor discouraged me from enjoying the process of the climb. There are days when I simply cannot look at the computer screen anymore because there is just nothing new left to check out as far as a location goes. I reach the end of the internet at least 3 times a week and just need to step back, take that breather. But that's fine. If I tried to get to the goal as fast as possible I would be burnt out and probably make some serious mistakes. I do reach new levels occasionally, such as last week when my business accountant (yup, i have one) handed me a folder stating I am the owner of RUSCHMEIER EIRL, which is kind of like an LLC. It's basically done for protection so nobody can sue me for personal effects if something happens in the store, but regardless I'm proud of it. It makes me feel like I got to that Japanese garden level. Soaked it in, energized me and now I'm ready to keep going up, excited for whatever is around the next corner.
