Philip Greenspun’s Weblog

Flying from Santiago to Miami one is faced with some rather rude shocks.  The Santiago airport is gorgeous, full of glass and light.  Rents are obviously fairly low because every nook and cranny of the airport is crammed with the kinds of shops that you’d find in any Chilean business district.  There is a full-service pharmacy.  There is a communications center where you can close yourself into a private phone booth, make calls, and pay for them at the end.  There are Internet cafes.  Miami, like most U.S. airports, seems only to be able to support the $5 slice of pizza store, the $5 magazine store, and the $5 coffee store.  If you want to make a phone call you do it from a noisy public space.  If you want to relax you pay $500/year to one of the airline clubs.  If you want Internet access, you’re screwed.  Most of the spaces in Miami are bleak empty wastelands of concrete and/or glass.  In Santiago you feel like you’re in a shopping mall where occasionally a couple of hundred people leave en masse.

Oh yes… my feeble attempts to purchase Internet access for my laptop in MIA and LGA have led me to the conclusion that the U.S. will not, in the foreseeable future, have an 802.11 network with useful coverage.  So I’ve decided to buy an $80/month unlimited data PC card from Verizon or Sprint.  Anyone have experience with these services?  My tendency is to want to go with Verizon because (a) they have the best coverage for voice calls, and (b) I think in the D.C. area where my family lives, they offer some kind of near-Broadband speeds on this service.

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As George W. is sworn in today for a second term, it occurs to me how grateful American Jews should be that he won.  For those Americans, of whom there are a fair number (see my Israel Essay for statistics), who believe that Jews have too much political power and, in particular, that Jewish Wall Street financiers control American politics behind the scenes, imagine what feelings a Kerry victory would have provoked.  We had an anti-gun candidate who had presented himself to voters for decades as Irish-American but was in fact one-quarter Jewish.  A majority of American Jews voted for this candidate, who was also supported with massive funds from George Soros, a Jewish baron of Wall Street, resulting in Kerry and Democratic “527 committees” spending $292 million during the campaign (versus $113 million on the Republican side, according to www.publicintegrity.org).  If it were Kerry being sworn in today that would have confirmed everything that a lot of folks believe about a Jewish conspiracy controlling American politics.

One group that does seem to be celebrating today are America’s gynecologists.  My aviation habit has thrown me into contact with a lot of ob-gyns, none of whom have shed a tear over the defeat of John Edwards, the Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate, who made much of his money suing ob-gyns for cerebral palsy cases.

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Some notes on Chilean cuisine…

Mayonnaise goes with everything.  A standard snack is a “Completo”:  one very mild almost tasteless hot dog, steamed or microwaved rather than grilled; Wonder Bread-style bun, microwaved for warmth, chopped tomatoes; onions or sauerkraut; avocado spread; a copious quantity of mayo spread over the top.  A “Cesar Salad” at a fancy restaurant: iceberg lettuce; shreds of local Parmesan cheese; lots of mayo.

What you order is what you get.  If the menu says “lettuce and tomato salad” you get a plate of lettuce, almost invariably iceberg, and tomato.  No garnish.  No spices.  No dressings or sauces.

Canned fruit salad is good for everything from the breakfast buffet at a top hotel to part of an ice cream dessert.

Corn chips and salsa are almost impossible to find.  An enormous Lider supermarket in La Serena had a few bags in the bottom of a small “international food” section.

“Chilean sea bass” is not available in Chile.  It would be called “Bacalao” (cod) on a restaurant menu, supposedly, but nearly all of the Patagonian Toothfish steaks are exported to the U.S. or Europe.

Local seafood can be very good.  It is generally available in a tasty soup, plain, or smothered in a heavy cream sauce.

Best meals so far… (1) a chic 6-table pasta place in Valparaiso, (2) the cafeteria at the lodge at Las Campanas Astronomical Observatory (lots of spices and veggies for the Americans observing there), (3) steamed shellfish in Achao, part of Chiloe in southern Chile

Just about every meal is served in a stylish environment by friendly and attentive staff.

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