$200,000 Spells RELIEF

That is not a typo. We are so relieved to have found success on our mission to go ATM hopping in the tiny town of Santa Cruz, Chile. After having no success at raising cash on either or our ATM cards while in the mega-city of Santiago, and quitting after several tries so that our cards would not be confiscated, we had called Washington Mutual from here to ask about the cards. Apparently there are four or more banking networks that allow member banks to check the balance level of an account at another bank before authorizing a withdrawal. Washington Mutual belongs to the Mastercard network (Maestro) and Sirrus, but not the Visa network, Plus. All of the Chilean bank machines we tried were tied to Plus. We got the list of Maestro ATMs on the website and went to Santa Cruz to get cash. The Santander Bank branch that we tried had huge lines of people to see the teller, but we had only a short wait for the ATM. I guess the folks in town either don't trust the ATM or don't have accounts. The bad news is that our cards didn't work there either, even though the Maestro logo was prominently displayed.

We were very nervous by the time we walked across the main plaza to our next listed ATM in the Farmacia Ahumada. No cash would mean difficulties with things like paying the parking attendant watching the street where we parked, the toll collectors on the highway when we drive to Santiago tomorrow to pick up our passports and visas, and the miscellaneous vendors selling things like critically needed bottled water. After waiting our turn behind a threesome that was unable to get cash from the ATM in the pharmacy, despite three people trying to figure it out, we were both able to extract the maximum withdrawal - $100,000. Although the Chileans use the dollar sign in front of their currency, their pesos are worth much less than our dollar. The 100,000 pesos is the equivalent of $200US. Flush with cash and relief, we went on a spending spree and left town with a bottle of diet coke and two bottles of fizzy water. Yahoo!

Like almost all Chileans we have met, the man collecting parking fees on the city block where we stored our car spoke no English. We managed to have a friendly interaction with him in which we think we paid him correctly, although the price sounded like it was $100 at first, and ended up being $300, possibly a misunderstanding and possibly an opportunity to collect additional permit fees from the unwary. He was quite engaging, asking us a long winded question which we did not understand at all with the exception of two words, "Barak Obama". Not sure how to respond to the conversation gracefully, Mike got in the car saying, "we like that guy", confident that our answer would be as hard for him to understand as his question was for us.

Confident that we can move around now without running into a cash crisis, we went in search of a restaurant for lunch recommended by our hotel manager, Barbara. PanPanVinoVino, or BreadBreadWineWine is a large restaurant on the 75 km road between our hotel and the main Chilean North South highway, the PanAmerican which brought us down to the wine country. A historic building that once served as a bakery, it has been charmingly remodeled as a nice restaurant. Barbara had called its menu Chilean, which she said is a hodge podge of foods borrowed from other cultures. She has recommended a second restaurant to us, offering a Peruvian menu, which she finds to have a more authentic menu tied to the traditional Peruvian culture. For a total price of $44US including tip, we had a delicious meal of steak in red wine sauce and caramelized bell peppers (Mike) and lomo, or steak strips with green pea salsa (me) accompanied by potatoes in bacon and fennel and creamed corn and a glass of wine each.

On our return to the hotel we stopped for gas, a complex and confusing exercise both times we have done it. A uniformed employee pumps your gas but not until you have waited in your blazing and suffocatingly hot car long enough to hop out and wonder what to do to get service. A casually dressed teenage boy washes your window and hangs out in the area in case you want to tip him a few $100 coins.

Today is warmer than usual. As much as we appreciate the warmth after the constant rain, snow and cold of home at the holidays, we don't enjoy the flies and mosquitoes that accompany the heat. Once again, a la Italy, I am spotted with swollen mozzie bites. Our bedroom is too warm at night to even consider a closed window and screens are just non existent.

It is 5:00 PM and we have a minimum of three hours before dinner. Like Spain, the Chileans wouldn't think of eating before 9:00 although the restaurants open at 8:00 in consideration of their visitors. I am going to sign off and spend some quality time at the swimming pool to cool off. My apologies to all of you in the rain, snow and cold.

Love, Deanne