Book fair in converted rail station, Santiago

November 10: Arrival in Santiago, Chile

Cell phone image inside airport, Santiago, Chile

By Dr. John

The overnight flight is not crowded and sleep comes while stretched across 3 seats. Entering the country the following morning requires three forms and a fee. The Pago de Reprocidad (Entry Reciprocity Fee) is $140; a credit card works fine.

The Tarjeta de Turismo (Tourist Card) includes your name, passport number, and the reason for the trip: Vacation, Business, Conference, Health, and Other. I am not sure of the Health one, but hopefully it refers to outdoor activities.

The third form, the Welcome to Chile Affidavit, a declaration of what you bring into the country. Items for disclosure include fruits, vegetables, and meats including "fresh dried, dehydrated, frozen, and argo-processed". I declare a package each of SeaBear wild salmon, Five Star teriyaki ahi tuna jerky, and several Tanka Wild buffalo sticks and bars. I should have brought more.

My oldest son, John Michael, traveling from Buenos Aires were he has lived since January, is there to meet me. Stepping outside, we find Santiago bathed by a clear, sunny, cool day. A cab takes us to the central market repleat with fresh catch from the nearby fjords and the Pacific. Lunch of sole and salmon at the Galeon, recommended by the cab driver, is delicious. Bottled spring water, Vital, found at almost every stop, is clear and without aftertaste.

Following lunch, we find a nearby Internet caffe - there are many around, however, most don't serve anything. Often small electronic stores, they sell internet access in 15 minute increments. After sending e-mails notifying family and friends of our arrival, we walk in the town center and stop at a book fair held in an classic, converted railway station.

A cab takes us to the Terminal del Sur (southern bus terminal) for an overnight ride to Puerto Montt. The small snack or breakfast boxes mostly contain grains and are avoided. Simple lesson: carry on your Paleo treats and declare them.

Travel - Chile / Patagonia, November 2011

By Dr. John

Boarding American Airlines flight 1028 from Denver on November 9 marks the beginning of a two week adventure, currently underway, to Chile, with the ultimate destination of Parque Nacional Torres del Paine in Patagonia.

Making a tight connection in Dallas-Ft. Worth on the 8:30 pm American Airlines flight 945 on a 767 Boeing, 9 hours 23 min later I land in Santiago, Chile. The first Paleo-Americans took several thousand years to travel from the Beringia, the landmass then connecting Asia to Alaska, to Monte Verde in southern Chile. Now, 14,600 thousand years later, the trip from Denver to Santiago takes half a day.

Those first Paleo-Americans, the ones traveling the western coastal route, likely paddled small hide covered boats and "fueled up on seafood, from shellfish to migrating pink salmon." Heather Pringle, writing in Scientific American, continues: "They may also have hunted waterfowl migrating along the Pacific flyway, as well as caribou and other hardy land animals grazing in the larger refugia." I am curious to see what my diet will be.

Travel: A day in the nation's capital

Post by Dr. John

Recently, we spent a few days in Washington, DC. Mother Hen attended a nursing conference and my youngest son and me, on the first day, visited the sites on the Mall. Morning started with the National Aquarium located on 14^th St. and Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House. Although our map suggested it occupied a large building, we found it to be a small area in the basement. As the nation's first aquarium, it can be described as antique. However, the tanks are well cared for and represent various ocean ecologies found off of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and a few fresh-water locations such as the Amazon basin. 

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Probiotics for Travelers

Guest Post by Gerard Guillory, M.D.

If you’ve had a vacation or business trip ruined by diarrhea and indigestion, you might want to
bring a probiotic supplement on your next trip. A good supplement will help your body protect
itself against the bacteria that typically cause “traveler’s diarrhea” and enable you to spend your
trip seeing the sights instead of the bathrooms.

Probiotics are a combination of living, beneficial bacteria that occur naturally in the human
intestinal tract. They are essential for maintaining healthy digestion. A growing body of
evidence suggests that the use of probiotics can help treat and prevent a wide array of intestinaltract
disorders, including traveler’s diarrhea.

Probiotics have been examined for their effectiveness in the prevention and treatment of such
gastrointestinal disorders as antibiotic-associated diarrhea, various forms of bacterial and viral
diarrhea, inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease), irritable bowel
syndrome, small-bowel bacterial overgrowth, and lactose intolerance. Probiotics may also help
prevent the development of colon cancer.

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