Had some on and off naps in the flight and while it was still dark, was trying to see signs of day break. Our flight was such that day break was chasing us right and we were trying to avoid it till as late as possible. Finally when the day did dawn with fantastic display of colors, the show was a bit dampened by the clouds, but by this time, we were already south of equator and in western hemisphere. somewhere over Brazilian territory and Amazon basin. We still had quite a few hours to cover, which included flying over Andes and skirting the tallest peak in the range (flying over Argentine, just before reaching Santiago), little short of 7000 Mtrs. My camera was in the handbag stored up and with other folks asleep, had to rely on my phone to click some of these mountains.
Andes are a contrast to Himalyas (or most of it) except the region close to Ladhak. They are rock hard, with hardly any growth on them. Every time we are flying into a Himalyan region, we are first welcomed by green hills (including the majestic Deodhars) and then snow clad peaks, but rarely these sights. But then Himalayan region is not known for volcanic activity while Andes has some of the highest Volcanoes in the world. Second highest Plateau after Tibet is here too.
Soon we cross and head into Santiago. Given the height of Andes and approach to Santiago, seat belt signs are switched on more than 45 mins before expected landing time. Anyways as we get closure to Santiago do see the greens and potential wine-yards of the region.
Approach to Santiago was smooth, and we had a serpentine queue ahead to clear immigration. Once done, we were at the baggage area to collect baggage and then heading to customs. Having declared food material, customs inspected and did not allow me to take Dates (seedless) from Saudi Arabia, which were more for teams taste, from my last trip to that region, just couple of days before this trip.
Well this is the first time dates have not been allowed for me. Even in countries where plant origin is not allowed, have rarely had problem with dates, but then each place has different laws and off-course different law enforcing agents.
Out of the customs and exiting the departure area, we head to find an ATM. The options there are in Spanish and a local tour operator just shouts with option to move to English, and that was helpful. Finally with Peso in our hand, we felt more comfortable going ahead.
We immediately headed to the domestic terminal, checked into the next flight and headed to the gates. We know we would find other members of the team there. At the gate we do run into Gayathri, Waran and Tricia. Zuzana was somewhere around buying her coffee. Deirdre, Julia, Tricia and myself to head out to get some coffee and then meet Zuzana as well. Anjana and David left by the earlier flight to Puerto Montt.
Flight was short and baggage was quick to arrive at Puerto Montt. The air was full of moisture and I could smell it. What a wonderful change from the arid desert climate in Riyadh. Eric and team were at the airport with 2 wagons to receive us. Colin also joined us at the Airport. He has been in Chile for a week and has been avoiding rains by being in parts where the forecast of rain was not there.
We drive out from the airport and when we are two blocks away, I start getting the view of the Pacific with some small cruise on. Soon we were at our hotel - HotelApart Presidente, Puerto Montt, our adobe for next 4 weeks of #ibmcsc Chile. Across the road from the hotel is the vast Pacific Ocean. What a sight, from a sea of sand to desert of water, but yes, I like this better. Marcia was already at the hotel waiting for us and will be supporting us all through these 4 weeks. One by one all of us checked in and headed to our rooms for a refreshing our selves. Many wanted to sleep and relax, i wanted to head out. We also had an optional dinner at 7:00 PM and had to be at the reception at 6:30 for the same.
As I entered my room and saw the view from the window, it was mesmerizing. Pacific visible right from the window towards the side (no it was not facing the ocean, but still was awesome). I freshened up and heading on a walk on a small walking track along the coast.
Saw some nice views, captured a few added them here.
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| Pacific from outside the hotel |
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| Our Hotel for next 4 weeks |
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| Evening Shops on walk-ways - Indicating the upcoming winter, Locals were knitting and selling |
We then walked up for our first team dinner together, Eric picking the tab for food, while all of us going dutch for Wine. Warran decided to stay back in the hotel and rest while all others came along. Masahiro is going to post pictures for the dinner, below is for the group that I clicked
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| Dinner with Pyrexa and IBM team. Missing from the pic Warran and myself |
Anyways now its time to catch some sleep and start again tomorrow.
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