Santiago, Thursday

Fri 0157 Not a bad day if not super action filled. Felt bit iffy this morning, was drowsing in bed around midday when the intercom (presumably from reception, not right outside door - there's no bell AFAIK) rang. I ignored it and got up and dressed just in case but no one came up and no one has slipped a note under or anything. No idea why, probably an innocent mistake or something but did worry me a bit.

Walked over to Parque O'Higgins and did a circuit. Was very very slightly tempted to go into Fantasilandia but rides are not really my bag (I'm too scared of just about everything) and it's a pay-to-enter not pay-per-ride thing (which is probably good if you're into it) and it was a bit pricey to go in and ride on nothing and I wasn't really in the mood, just observing I did feel that v slight temptation. Park OK and quite nice little island in the lake, but parts of it are a bit blocked off. There's an aquarium there but I wasn't that interested in it.

Was planning to have a beer at that bar near Parque Almagro (sp) afterwards - hadn't taken bottle of water or backpack with me, I wasn't in dire straits or anything but thirsty enough - but it wasn't open, tho looked like it was half open (metal shutters half way up) when I got there about 4. So I decided I'd buy a beer at ekono and have it at flat tonight as I did yday. All well and good, and I also splurged on a half litre can of wheat beer+grapefruit I noticed, and a bottle of water and a bottle of coke zero. But it turns out not only (by fucking law, as already bitched about) do no supermarkets give out free plastic bags, ekono wouldn't even sell me any kind of bag - I don't know if this is the law or just them. (One other supermarket does appear to have sturdy paper bags, I haven't needed one but I suspect they are available for a price.) Heaven forbid anyone should be so ecologically irresponsible as to go to the supermarket on a whim! I always have a plastic bag in my back pocket to cater for this eco-fascism, but it was pretty worn - I struggle to replace it because plastic carrier bags are like fucking hen's teeth these days. I say carrier bags because to underline the stupidity of these rules, it seems standard for supermarkets here to require you to put your own fruit in a large plastic bag and weigh it at an automated machine (they usually just have one and there's often a queue for it too) and attach the label printed by the machine to the bag for scanning at the checkout. So if you buy, say, a few bananas and a few apples, that's already two big plastic bags you are *forced* to use - but they're no use for re-use as carrier bags because they have no handles. (At least when I go to supermarkets in UK, I think I have the fruit loose and just put each different type separately on the weighing platform built into the self-service checkout so I can put it in my bag afterwards, but not wrapped in its own plastic bag. It is just possible my memory is playing up here, because with the Guatemala trip and then mostly being at my parents' place between that trip and this trip I haven't done much UK supermarket shopping in the last four or five months. But I'm fairly sure my memory is right.)

So I'm lugging my three bottles (one glass) and can of grapefruit beer back with the ropey carrier bag in my arms to try to keep the weight off, cursing like mad at the fucking wanky rules. And - not directly related - at one junction about six (I'm not exaggerating) guys were sitting on a wall chatting and there was a (smallish; 1 metre square?, though irregularly shaped) damp looking patch of pavement with some cones scattered around. I walked across the damp looking patch to avoid crowding up on the group of guys - not needing to tiptoe between cones or push any out of the way to do so - and then I felt the damp patch sort of squish under my shoes and they all started shouting, they'd obviously just repaired the pavement. I felt a bit bad and did apologise a bit (with my unwieldy plastic bag of heavy bottles in my arms), but at the same time if the lazy fuckers had simply actually put the fucking cones to block the area off and/or been watching and shouted *before* I trod on it and/or hadn't all been sitting around chatting instead of guarding the repair it wouldn't have happened. And of course the pedestrian crossing was against me so I had to stand there (back to them at this point, and to be fair they didn't keep having a go) for what felt like minutes waiting to move off.

And the bag did essentially disintegrate a block or two from home so I was limping a few metres at a time with the serrated-cap glass bottle in one hand, the two large plastic bottles awkwardly clenched in the fingers of my other hand and the can half sticking out of the knee pocket of my combats. Serves me right for impulse buying, I should have walked five or six blocks home and come back out with my backpack.

Anyway. I cooked some tuna+rice+veg tonight, still felt bit hungry after but never mind. Had the grapefruit+wheat beer a bit later which was nice but evidently a kind of shandy thing given it's only 2.5%, and a bit later had the litre of Cristal later still. Not super healthy but not ridiculous either. Watched some stuff on Youtube and done a tiny bit of chore-ish admin.

Not sure exactly what plan is for tomorrow (well technically today); I plan to go out tomorrow night but not sure where. Maybe Pio Nono (partly cos it's Fri whereas when I got into Santiago and went out there last on 26 Jan it was a Sat and maybe it will be different), tho if do go there will prob head out about 10pm so as not to be too drunk too early, so to speak. I may also see (not overly optimistic) if Google can turn up a low key live music venue. I might also go out in that via Paris/Londres area (not sure if exactly same area but tho perhaps a touch pricier than PN I seem to recall from previous visits years back some bars/cafes with tables outside in streets round that vague area) for a few beers, tho perhaps would do that Sat.

Plan is to eat out tomorrow so I mix it up a bit eating out vs cooking at home, just possibly "topping up" any eating out with some hot dogs at late-ish in evening before going out.

Took some day and night photos from balcony tonight. Incidentally, since it confused me while looking at photos as I copied them to phone, the photos taken from high up which show Cerro San Cristobal (a few days ago) are taken from this building, but from the lift lobby window on my floor (16th local style, 15th UK style) *not* from my flat, which looks south (I think) not north.

Got e-mail re return flight this morning (nothing to do with my ongoing complaints) about it being rebooked. Of course they can't actually point out what's changed, it all looks massively formal and worrying, but having compared what they sent me with what I had, the departure has merely been pushed back ten minutes and the arrival in Zurich (where I don't have a tight connection anyway) pushed back twenty-ish, so no big deal.

A random observation I've been meaning to make for a few days - and probably not original - is that having rented maybe four or five different flats in central Santiago over the years, they all seem to be on the same pattern. Not a bad pattern, but still. They're roughly square. Subdivide that into four roughly equal squares. Two of the squares which form a half of the entire flat are an open-plan kitchen/lounge. One of the other squares (adjacent to the lounge end of the kitchen/lounge) is a bedroom, separated from the lounge by a big sliding door. And the leftover square, off the bedroom, is the bathroom. My memory is obviously going to be fuzzy but this really does seem to be some kind of standard. It works quite well, I might find these flats a bit small (but not intolerable) to live in permanently (I am slightly spoiled in this respect for the last few years), but it's a pretty decent design really. Just wanted to bash this thought out.

0241 Bed. Not showered just in case (pure speculation) it's not allowed to shower late and a neighbour complaining to concierge is what the attempted intercom call this morning was about. Will shower in morning.