Sore Feet: Santiago 2-17-09

Between this (churrasco Italiano sandwich -- beef, tomato and avocado)



and this (razorback clams parmesana) today



The Great Plotnik's feet got really hot and his temper sour. Tight shins, burning toes, Plot and Duck have been walking too much on concrete. Plotnik should never be around other people when he has hot, sore feet.

Tonight, the man at the hotel gave them excellent directions to get to the Bella Vista neighborhood. He said when you get to the bridge over the river, turn left.

But when they got to the bridge, it looked too small, so they kept walking until they got to the second bridge. When they crossed the river Plotnik immediately realized he'd screwed up the directions again, and his feet and his temper got even more miserable.

Luckily, The Great Ducknik is the greatest travel companion ever. She said "Honey, you look hot. Let's take a cab." It took a few bucks and three minutes to correct the mistake Plot would have agonized and grumbled over for the fifteen minutes it would have taken them to walk back. He NEVER would have allowed himself to take a cab because it was HIS mistake, see. But Duck knows. If you ever need to take a trip, Duck's your girl.



Oscar, Alejandra and Agata are doing well -- on the surface, anyway, it seems a million times easier to live here. But Oscar hopes to someday come back to live in San Francisco. People are weird.

Tomorrow we're off to Valparaiso, the San Francisco of the South, supposedly. In fact, in the heyday of the clipper ships, both seaports were tied quite closely, as both were the principal ports on the West Coast of the Americas for the ships that sailed around the horn. In fact, Valparaiso was even known as "Pancho." Pancho is the Spanish diminuitive nickname for people named Francisco -- like Francisco "Pancho" Villa. So San Francisco and Valparaiso were Frankie and Little Frankie.

Then they finished the Panama Canal and that pretty much took care of Valparaiso. And both cities had devastating earthquakes in 1906. Valpo is said to be the most unique city in South America. We'll let you know tomorrow.