Fantislandia

We have been in Santiago for about a week now. So far it has been pretty uneventful. We’ve learned quite a bit in the short time we’ve had Spanish school. We lived with some crazy people that could probably tell you what life without electricity was like. I was laid up in bed for a couple of days sick (I think it had something to do with the food at the dirty old people’s house). Now Stef is sick with a head cold, but still able to get out and around.

Yesterday was probably our most exciting day so far. We went to Fantasilandia. It is an amusement park within the larger O’Higgins Park in Santiago. O’Higgins has a lot of empty space, a theater teaching center, an outdoor inline skating rink, an insect museum, an aquarium, some sort of indoor sports complex, and Fantasilandia.

The skating rink was kind of weird because there were people of all ages dressed in very official looking singlets and taking their skating very seriously. They all looked like the speed skaters in the winter Olympics. This must be a really big deal here, but I can’t ever remember the Chileans dominating speed skating in the Olympics. Then again, I haven’t ever paid much attention to the Olympic sport of speed skating.

Fantasilandia itself is pretty small for an amusement park and cost around $14 to get in. Most of the people there seemed to be local and most were about 7 to 14 years old.
Most of the rides were like those found at carnivals, but there were a couple of small roller coasters and a log flume, which we did not partake in, because I didn’t want to get soaked.

This worked out well because we went on one ride called Top Spin that could best be described as some sort of German torture device. I say German because there was German writing on the sides, Aus-this and Ein-that. I don’t remember exactly. It was pretty typical for a carnival ride except for the fact that you were really secured into place well. A little too well, actually. A neck / shoulder restraint came down over your head. A t-bar closed in between your legs and there was a big bulb in the seat between your legs. It was a little faded, but I think the patented name for the safety restraint was “The Nutcracker”. Once you got in, you couldn’t move at all. And the torture was ready to start with your unwillingness to participate no longer a factor. The ride goes up in the air and spins around backwards and forwards, upside down and around. This goes on for a few minutes and then the ride stops at its top height and slowly starts to lower back down while you are facing the ground. Stef, who is not a fan of heights chose this moment to close her eyes. In retrospect, this was not such a great idea. About 10 or 15 feet above the ground the ride stops and while you are suspended there without the ability to move, except to turn your head slightly, a stream of dirty amusement park water is blasted at you. I turned my head slightly and took the brunt of it on the top of my head and also got a fair amount that made it look like I peed my pants. Stef didn’t get off so easy. With her eyes closed and mouth open because she was screaming, she wound up with a nice refreshing drink of Fantislandia. She was able to spit most of it out, and fortunately she was upside down when it happened, so gravity was on her side. But still, nobody wants that stuff in their mouth.

So that was our exciting Saturday in Santiago. We didn’t go out that night because Stef is kind of sick and I need to start watching my cash flow a little better. Today we are planning on going to Plaza de Armas, which is the oldest part of the city. We’ll probably just wander around and check out some museums or something. Then it’s back to school tomorrow. At the end of the week we plan on heading out to the coast for a few days before heading off to Paraguay.