Safari's, Braai's, new friends and the Number 3

Well, as there seems to be a relatively strong general concern for my safety, I figure it would be timely to write a quick post to let you all know that I am in fact in one piece, and have not been eaten by any of the big 5 animals available for viewing at the Kruger National Park.  This is not through a lack of trying, or threats from my fellow travelers, I am just convinced that the buffalo pictured below was much tastier prospect.

The first day in South Africa was certainly an eventful one, with me getting a rather nasty feeling at the counter in Sao Paulo when they said that they didn’t have any record of my baggage.  I did however take them on their word that they would have it on the flight – perhaps my general cynicism should have prepared me for the inevitable event of landing in South Africa without a change of clothes, toiletries or virtually any of my chess books for the tournament.  Nonetheless, my lovely and extremely hospitable host Judy met me at the airport, took me back to my lodging for the night to allow me to freshen up before we went to go buy the essentials that I would need for my Safari.

After an eventful evening where I played a few games of chess, learnt some Afrikaans and had a really nice evening with Judy and her family.  The following morning, bright and early we headed off to meet the first of the Indian contingent to arrive.  Eisha, Harika and Meenashki (who spent the remainder of the tournament trying to shrug the various nicknames which were attributed to her), had all arrived slightly early to join us on the Safari and definitely appeared to be more than slightly apprehensive about being in such close proximity with dangerous animals… they were pretty excited about the safari though!

I took this opportunity to go and collect my luggage from the airport, as it had arrived just under 24 hours late before the group of us rendezvoused with Graham Jurgensen and Dave to grab a traditional South African lunch and finalize plans for heading up to Kruger National Park the following morning.  After a reasonable start on the Monday, we headed along the N4 at what would, to me 3 months ago have been an alarming fast rate.   Having experienced similar speeds and much worse driving recently, all without a seatbelt I felt “perfectly comfortable” (well that’s a slight exaggeration) knowing that this was the most secure I will probably be in a vehicle in the next 12 months.

A quiet evening ensued, in which a few beers and a rather good curry (thanks Dave!) were consumed, and we got ourselves into Savannah mode in preparation for going Lion spotting in the morning.

An early start meant that basically as soon as we entered the park we ran into a herd of giraffes crossing the road looking for an early morning feed.  Whether it was the way they chew their food (which is simply awesome) or the fact that I figured that all African wildlife feels the same way about early mornings that I do, but I was rather glad that the first group of slightly disgruntled animals we met on Safari were herbivores (or as some of our fellow travelers affectionately described them “vegetarians”).  Having these majestic creatures walk at some points comfortably within 5 meters of the cars was definitely the perfect start to a Safari.  Literally 3 minutes afterwards, we got waived down by a passing vehicle directing us to an area where we could go and view Lion.  We sat there, in awe for a good period of time as one extremely lazy male lion, and two female lions chilled out sleeping and giving us the opportunity to really soak in the beauty of one of the true beauties of the African savannah.

In awe of the luck we had just had, Dave and I were enjoying the regular banter that goes along with being stuck in a car with a good friend – especially when you have very different expectations of the wildlife you want to see.  For me, everything was amazing - at this point, Impalas, small birds, warthogs and native mice were still exciting.  However, Dave had seen all this and more having experienced three days safariing at the Pillensburg.  I did however get his nod of approval when I successively spotted Kudu and Giraffes one after the other…. Well that was until Graham, our wonderful host who was in the lead drove back and yelled at us something like (seeing as this is a pg blog I can’t repeat verbatim) “You silly damned Aussies, as if you are here watching flipping Giraffes… There are flipping elephant up ahead, and I don’t think you flipping well want to be you if we flipping well miss them!”

Fortunately, as Dave and I do generally feel attached to our limbs and appendages, we managed to get to see two adolescent male bull elephants (don’t ask how we know they were male; let’s just say it was rather intimidating).  The experience was quite fascinating, the guys just eat and eat and eat some more – we were feeling pretty good about ourselves, as we were the first cars there and got to spend a good 5 or so minutes enjoying the site all to ourselves.  Not too long afterwards, other cars did arrive which began to ruin the tranquility of our moment – it also made us a little more wary of our surroundings, as most of the late arrivals weren’t as cautious about giving the animals (which were 3 times the size of the Audi) their due space.  In particular we decided that should Mummy Elephant show up, we probably didn’t want to be there. 

A few minutes later we hit the local watering hole, where we got our first sightings of Crocodiles, and Hippo… once again we got called “silly” Aussies as Dave and I were in awe of what we were seeing, completely ignorant of the fact that 20m away there were 3 leopards chilling out.  Fortunately, we arrived just in time to see one of them, albeit fleetingly as it ran into some bushes – it staggered me how small it was.  Sure, it was a juvenile animal, but it not only had the capacity to kill me, but also carry 3 of me up a tree, whilst being about 2/3rds of the size of me!  The assassin of the Savannah certainly was impressive, and seeing its sleekness and grace as it moved off was something to truly behold.

So far, we haven’t even had lunch, yet we have seen 3 of the Big 5 (Elephant, Leopard, Lion, Rhino and Buffalo).  We had lunch, looking out across another of the watering holes and, whilst seriously considering what life would be like if I lived here really I just soaked in the atmosphere.  So close to some of natures finest specimens, enjoying a cup of coffee with good friends seemed so close to paradise for me that I really didn’t want to leave.  On the way back to our accommodation that night, we completed probably one of the luckiest days of Safariing, by driving past two groups of White Rhino.  They were a long way off, and somehow – whilst driving – Graham (our wonderful host) managed to pick both of them on the horizon. 

This completed what I thought was the perfect day of Safari – I turned out to be wrong, when we arrived back at our wonderful pad, our good friend Gawain Jones had arrived with Heindrich, and we proceeded to have a Braii (South Africans do claim to chuck on a god BBQ, as it turns out they don’t have misplaced confidence in their abilities on that front!), and listen to the African night.  The sounds of lion roaring, general chatter amongst the animals turning in for the night and the sunset is something I will never forget.  So to Graham for organizing it, Heindrich for his help throughout the trip and to my fellow wayward travelers from (literally) all corners of the globe, thankyou the trip will be something I will never forget

A young bull going in for a fight.  One, two, three, four... five?? ooohhhh

Zebras and Giraffes chilling out.  Bridging fact: Giraffes have a heart which weighs 20kg, and only sleep around 20 minutes per day!

The lion cubs stole our Braai meat, we figured we'd let them be!

Whats the scarier prospect.  A lap around the car, or sitting across the board from this guy?  Right now, im closing my eyes and running!

The piercing looks these guys gave us made it extremely difficult to believe the driver when he said that they are unable to distinguish us, and only really see the larger mass of our car. Can you believe this was 4m away?

A tale of wayward travellers

As I write this (in all likelihood extremely pesemistic) post I am begging for a shower, waiting at the Mendoza airport for my flight to be called.  The volcano that erupted in Chile has wreaked havoc across the Latin American continent and has caused increasingly growing problems in Australia in New Zealand.
After having what could best be described as an interesting and educational weekend in Buenos Aires which included amongst its highlights: Visiting Uruguay drinking Malbec, more tequilla in an hour than can healthily be consumed, and inadvertently ending up in bar where I was offered significant discounts on the products available, I have finally arrived somewhere where it is possible to get home (flights being called, so will finish this later).

I finally made it back to Santiago just before midday, and had the absolute best shower ever - but after 18 hours in airports, 20 hours in a bus I was back, and feeling surprisingly good.  Fortunately for me my good friend Matt had his flight cancelled due to the volcano also, so we were able to spend some quality time complaining about the amount of seismic activity in this part of the world.  I felt terrible for him, but at least now he has gotten himself on a flight to Lima en route to LAX and the Sydney.  Have a safe trip mate!

Currently I am in the Atacama again, working on the commissioning of some new items at a plant we have up here, and whilst I am in the dryest place on earth, I can't believe how cold it is here.   Commissioning is for me the best part of the job, where you get to see all of the things that you have imagined in your head and then translated to a sheet of paper end up physically in front of you.  You get to do all the things that you never get to do (or are normally really bad results!) to the plant as well, and get to hear pumps cavitate, instigate trips, alarms and generally do all the stuff which in the future you will dread hearing about.

Immediately after I finish up on Friday, I fly back to Santiago, then to Sao Paula on my way across to a new continent.  I will be meeting up (again) with Dave to head on a safari with a couple of friends before we convert into table ridden jugadores de ajedrez, at the Commonwealth Championships.  It really is looking like a super tournament and I can't wait to get there.

I have well and truly cought the travel bug, and am extremely excited about getting to see everything else that the world has to offer!

Hope all is well back home, and I do apologise on behalf of the volcano here for making life for my New Zealand and Aussie mates significantly more difficult.

Tim Tams save me from the depression of a tigers loss

Well, after relatively regular baggings of Port Adelaide, my much beloved Tigers really turned it up on Saturday night against the Power. After getting up at god knows what hour to watch the game on Saturday morning I always had the feeling that Richmond were going to be slightly too good for the Power, and when in the third quarter the young tigers were 3 goals up, I thought that the dam was about to break. To their credit though, the port boys really stood up and (courtesy of some flick passes from Daniel Motlop that Billy Slater would be proud of) really dominated all but the last 10 minutes of the game. It was a really bad result for Richmond who would have been looking at backing up from a great win in the dreamtime game and getting themselves into the 8 with some momentum.

As disappointed as I was with the result, (personally I share the view with most commentators that at the MCG or Etihad Richmond would have won comfortably), the thing that really stung was Gary March coming out and slamming the team for the performance. I found it an extremely scathing criticism, and in my humble opinion pretty unwarrented - don't get me wrong I don't want to be excusing a poor performance, seeing as they have been served up to us loyal fans of the yellow and black all too frequently - however, the decision to sell the game was not made by the players. Of all the teams to play in Darwin, seemingly Port was the worst team to play there, not because the Power were going to be a tougher proposition than Collingwood or Geelong, but not only was the expectation that we would win, but we were playing against a side who has played in Darwin several times, and comparatively much more accustomed to the heat and humidity that the Northern Territory presents. This combination means that we not only lost, but the Tigers appear to have (by no means deliberately) traded the 4 points for a $500,000 injection to the bank account. All in all, I think those who made the decision to sell the game should shoulder an equal proportion of the blame as those who ran out onto the field in 75% humidity.

Now I have had my rant about the depression that is associated with being a Tiger supporter (which most of you aren't in the slightest bit interested in) I should provide something of an update on things happening in the eastern hemisphere. My good friend Matt has arrived from Newcastle, and whilst he was only here briefly before he departed for Brazil as the first leg of his whirlwind work trip around South America, it was nonetheless good to see him and catch up on the wheelings-and-dealings that have been going on in the Hunter. Also nice was the new football and guernsey that he brought with him.... although both of those things were massively overshadowed by the Tim-Tams he brought across also. Having a hit of Australian chocolate was something I had been craving for a few weeks, and luck would have it, my lovely grandparents (there you go guys, you got a shout-out!) had sent me a package of Haighs chocolate frogs which were a treat from them and my mum when I was younger. So a combination of those and the Tim-Tams means that my endorphin levels have been rather high this week. Add that to the fact that I have been able to do some longer runs, and have been training with a local triathlon club (who just about killed me on one of the hills on Monday night) I am feeling pretty good about everything right now.

This coming weekend I am heading across the Andes to catch up with Dave in Buenos Aires, who returns from Iguazu falls to explore one of the most amazing cities in South America. A couple of days of sightseeing in clean air will be a nice change from the dry and smoggy environment here in Santiago (the lack of rain has made the smog extremely bad right at the minute!)

Anyway I will post some photos and some rants when I return from BA (or if I have internet there, possibly a post from the hotel room).

Que tengas un buen fin de semana! :)

Santiagocation

So a big night, primarily based around the celebration that was Dreamtime at the 'G meant that this morning getting out of bed to head to training was something of a struggle.  The alcohol induced celebrations from Richmond doing the deed against the 'Dons,  leaving them outside the eight only on percentage, meant that the alarm going off to tell me that I was about to have to see sunlight, kick a football and do physical excercise was nothing short of nightmarish. 
A few hours later, a bunch of water and some fresh air cured the "caña", however as I right this post the cold is rather doing its worst to make me feel as though I have a guerilla army going at it in my throat,,, one moment I feel pretty reasonable, the next I crash and burn into a coughing fit.  I think tonight is going to be a quiet one, where Dave and I enjoy some fajitas (god bless free delivery) and watch some Californication.... probably followed by Rogue Assassin (one of my favourite Jason Statham movies).  I really need to thank Dave for intruducing me to californication, it is hilarious and, lets face it is lucky to only have an MA15+ rating.  Its got plenty of "action" and some great one liners, none of which are repeatable on what I like to consider a respectful blog (more to the point I don't feel explaining some of the concepts to the less "savvy" members of my family).
What these one liners did do though was make me thing about some of the more humorous lines which I have enjoyed on the TV screen.  This is a completely subjective list and I guess is largely based around movies and shows which have significance for me, so I encourage you to include some more in the comments below.

"He's not the Messiah, he's just a very naughty boy" - The Life of Brian
"Stop talking about the war!" "Why?! You started it" "No we didn't" " Yes you did, you invaded Poland" Fawlty Towers
"Oh gravity, thou art a heartless bitch" - Sheldon Cooper
"I must say, Amy, pretending to have intercourse with you has given me a great deal of satisfaction" - Sheldon Cooper
"Thats the reason that your headache didn't go away, its pronounced analgesic, not anal-gesic... the pills go in your mouth sir!" Dr Turk, Scrubs
 "Siiiiiilenceeee. I kill you!" Achmed, the dead terrorist
 "Are my boxers made of wool, cos my weasels getting heat stroke" Dr Kelso, Scrubs
"Ted, even if she is married, its a Canadian marriage.  Its like their currency and their army...  nobody takes it seriously" How I Met Your Mother
 "According to most studies, peoples number on fear is public speaking.  Number two is dying, does that sound right?  This means that to the average person, if you go to a funeral you're better off in the casket than giving the eulogy" Jerry Seinfeld
"Antiquing" Bender
"Cmon, Europes the size of a postage stamp... we can practically walk to Berlin" Eurotrip
"Two fingers? Better make it three" Roadtrip
"I gueess this is an insight into marriage with Ike Turner" Wedding Crashers
"Theres my wife, see that? Always smiling? Hi honey.  Judging, watching, "Let it go"  Old School

A lot of honourabl mentions, most of which revolve around legen... wait for it, and I really hope you are not lactose intollerant... dairy!

Suit up!

Coming off second best.

Its Friday night and apart from it meaning that I don't have to work tomorrow, it also means that as normal I have enjoyed the delights that are Serrano 14, the location of the Club de Ajedrez de Chile. One of the unfortunate things associated with my friday night pilgramage along the metro is that I always seem to end up out of the prizes on tiebreak (tonight was the 4th time I have come 4th on tiebreak).  Dave won our bragging rights game tonight, and as expected won the tournament undefeated, and as always we enjoyed some blitz slanging matches where the sledging was as much a part of the game as the ability to move the pieces (just as well, seeing as its probably the only area of the game I would have an edge!)
When Dave and I got off the metro tonight, I commented that it was nice to not see riot police and that tonight must be a quiet night... I clearly provoked the locals who are passionate about their education system and the new hydroelectric proposal, because no more than half an hour later there would have been 10,000 protesters marching and chanting... causing such a scene that the riot police duly arrived, and charged the protestors with horses, riot shields and then ultimately armored trucks with water cannons.  I must admit I was extremely impressed by the determination of the protestors, returning mutlitple times and making sure that their message was heard.  I'm assuming that the repeated offendors will wake up in the morning feeling sorry for themselves after coming off second best... oh well I guess at least they are not Port supporters (watching the game, and 10 minutes into the second quarter thay are 59 points down against the Dockers.)  I Its a cracking Saturday afternoon at football, the Demons vs the Saints... a battle which is hardly going to live up to the fight which normally happens between my left and right shoulders... Although I must admit its interesting watching the priority picks struggling :)  The other game, the Power vs the Dockers at AAMI stadium is just a dreadful game of football, and from the looks of the crowd, more people were needed to be employed to put tarpaulin over the seats than have shown up to watch the footy.  Its really sad to see the state of things in SA footy, in particular the club spawned from the Port Adelaide magpies which I grew up following - hears to hoping that the move to Adelaide Oval will not only breathe fresh financial life into the club, but also toughen them up - right now, I think Fremantle would get a harder hit-out from the carebears!

Tomorrow, Dave will hopefully have overcome the nasty bug he caught in Mendoza, and I will go to a belated "dreamtime at the 'G" with some of the Los Santos crew.  Going to be difficult for me to restrain myself from checking the result, but hopefully my Tigers boys step up against an undermanned Essendon.  I look forward to seeing a few of the Essendon boys feeling a little sorry for themselves after receiving a few of Dustin Martins trademark don't argues.

Dustin Martin one had a fight with Superman for a bet.  The loser had to wear their underpants on the outside of their clothes for the rest of their lives..... that is all.

A tale of two cities (in one day)

So after a lot of planning my good friend David Smerdon finally arrived yesterday, and after having a few small issues getting through the customs line and el taxista being extremely worried something had happened to him, Dave arrived at my place in Las Condes.  It was great seeing him again, and the shenanigans that will ensue over the next couple of weeks will no doubt, as always, go down in the memory book as some of the best times of my life.

Last night was the second social event for Los Santos for the year, where at the Bar California we all got together and watched the Pies vs Geelong game.  The game was an absolute belter and I think apart from some technical issues which will see me fined it was a good night.  A big thanks to Bar California for the happy hour drinks and putting on the venue.  The supporter base was a little lopsided with the usual Pies vs The World mentality, but the cheering was done it good spirit and the atmosphere in a pub a 20 hour flight from the MCG was awesome.

The weekend ahead doesn't hold too many big plans, we have footy tomorrow and are going to do some exploring around Santiago, some markets and possibliy head to Saint Cristobel and have an Apricot nector and Barley drink.. hmmm Rico!!

Anyway amigos, just a quick post - I should probably make start on the day!!
Heres to hoping the Tiges can get up tonight... Eat 'em alive!!

I'll put "Rare dry spell" in the column.

Its been hectic as hell here, continuing to work on my spanish and (thankfully for the recountable past) I haven't made any more significant gaffs with my spanish.  I am across the idea that to say "es bueno/a" means thats good, whereas a similar "esta bueno/buena" means you are attractive....  This has made my time here a whole lot less awkward and consequently a little less entertaining, but to be honest it has just been nice to be living in something of a routine and feeling as though Santiago really is my home, rather than being on a secondment.
I went across to Mar del Plata for the easter, or Semana Santa break, and whilst the easter bunny left me out of his delivery schedule (I guess he is as discerning as Santa when it comes to those who have been naughty and nice!) I had a wonderful time which was assisted by making some fantastic new Argentinian friends who I will definitely look forward to going to say hi to in the next year.
Mar del Plata is an extremely accomodating city, similar in size to Newcastle and has equally beautiful beaches with plenty of interesting history.  The chess tournament was a success for me, scoring a respectable 5.5/9 where I played once again significantly above my rating.  However if I can learn to close out tournaments I will be able to convert my 4.5/6 into a slightly better score in the future.. nonetheless good signs!
Here in Santiago, its bloody cold right now, single digits during the day, and low single digits and hitting 0 a few times..... and apparently its only going to get colder.  Due to this, and in combination with being a touch sick I have had a lot of time in front of the television, rugged up trying to keep myself warm.  Watching Chileno news and combining it with reading the various news webpages in Australia has kept me up to date on the current state of the world.  Heres my two cents on the news I have read in my blogging absense.

So its been way too long between drinks here, so I will be do my utmost to find the time necessary to continue to keep this updated,

• Gold Coast Suns win a game.... well whilst its great that they young list have been able to get a win, it just goes to show what a joke the Power are, bordering on irrelevance at the moment. Primus appears to be doing a really good job in stamping out some of the alleged cultural issues inside the club, but its a sad state of affairs when the best players in the side need to be banished to the SANFL.  I can't possibly fathom how you can win the showdown and then lose to the GCS, a side who had 15.4 94 to 0.1 at quarter time against them.  I like the call "Gold coast were out to make a point in the first quarter... looks like they achieved it!"
• The royal wedding.. wow I can't believe it was news here in Chile... it was broadcast here, but in all seriousness, without wanting to be too disparaging, because a wedding is a fantastic thing for those involved, how is the wedding in a family with nothing but symbolic relevance to the modern world such big news!?!  I at least understand why it is news in a commonwealth country like Australia, but seriously in a country conquered by the Spanish, it staggers me the amount of airtime it got.  I think the last time I was over something as much as I was over this international event was when was sitting in a Transfer Phenomena lecture.
• The new substitute and concussion rules in the AFL.  Love the new concussion rule, its been widely recognised that the potential for lasting damage due to recurring hits to the head is a serious threat and I really applaud the AFL for putting the health and wellbeing of its players (and in this context, effectively their employees) ahead of the potential result of the match.  I think the debate about losing a player for the remainder of the match being to severe is nothing short of ludicrous, as is the supposition that the club doctors would ever compromise their professional standards (and dare I say it the Hippocratic oath) to win a game of football, regardless of the stakes.  It obviously hit the Richmond side pretty hard, losing Jack Riewoldt early in the first quarter against St Kilda, but there is no way I would trade his health for the extra two points.  As for the substitute rule, GET RID OF IT!!! I am sick of seeing blokes in my dreamteam get subbed off for no damn reason, other than the new player has the chance of making an impact.
• Osama Bin Laden - not a lot to say here, but surely it its more important globally than the Tiger Woods scandal!?  Can't say it seems that way from the media coverage I've seen.
• Paul McCartneys concert in Santiago....  Once again, not heaps to say here - but the prices of the tickets are an absolute disgrace.  For the cost of entry, I would hope that there is a filet mignon for dinner, a champagne bath and a massage during an interval.  Australians would scoff at the prices for the tickets, and this is a country where the median monthly salary is less than 20% of that in Australia (numbeo)

On Sunday, the Los Santos footy club had their first intra club game, and all up it was a great day. I was pretty excited about playing my first game of football in several years.  Its a good way, in conjunction with the variety of footy podcasts I have been able to feel like I am still in some way involved in footy. It looks like the plan for Friday night will be to head to the California bar and watch the (hopefully) cracking match between Collingwood and Geelong. Hopefull my good friend David Smerdon won't be too tired for it, as he arrives on Friday to check out Latinoamérica as part of his slightly bizarre route from Australia to Amsterdam.

I hope my first post back on the horse and regularly blogging will keep some of those of you off my back for a few dats .)!