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Finding Cardinal Newman and Victory

By Dan Wallace - 2009-06-14

“So I’ll see you guys up there then.” These were the last words I said to my teammates before I boarded my Fuji spaceship, hit the launch button and blasted out of the city of Temuco. I was so excited to finally be on the home stretch to the grand city of Santiago that my legs did not stop pedaling for the first two hours out on the highway. I knew it was a week’s ride to the capital, but after the initial 30 miles, my legs told me that I’d reach Santiago in less time. Four days later, I reached the outskirts of the “city of smog.”

I couldn’t believe it. I was finally there, Santiago, the place that had been my object of desire since arriving in Chile. The highway rose up with the terrain, and I stopped on top of a small hill overlooking the city. It was around 6 p.m. and the sun was beginning its descent towards the horizon, burning up the valley of Santiago with hues of orange and yellow. The silhouette of the skyline against the background of the setting sun was breathtaking, and the scene prompted me to reflect on my last four days.

The trip from Temuco was a lot of things for me: a physical test, a chance to think deeply about my life and future, a time of devotion to God, an opportunity to experience a rare freedom that accompanies “just riding“. I had pushed my body to its limits, experienced a myriad of emotions, and witnessed beauty in landscapes I thought I could only dream of. I felt like I had done a special thing, and as I sat on the edge of Santiago, watching the sun light up the horizon, I felt incredible, like a new person. I better understood how surviving through tests and trials alone, can be very special. Being together with others is critical in this life, but it is also important for a person to learn about themselves on their own. Not that company would have been bad in case, but it’s beneficial for a person to know themselves through a significantly trying experience. I would have liked those fifteen minutes of meditation to last longer, but the fading light forced me to get riding again.

My excitement was at its peak upon entering the metropolitan area and I could barely keep my eyes on the roads and sidewalks. I’m sure people had to jump out of my way a few times as I marveled at all the buildings, busy people, and life happening all around me. I had directions to our contacts’ house from Google Maps and had some sense of where I was heading. I knew I was heading Northeast; and this helped me more than the directions did, throughout the two and half hours of navigating the lively city streets.

One thing I didn’t realize when copying the Google Maps directions was that Google did not know that I was traveling by bicycle. This fact became glaringly apparent as my scribbled directions led me onto some very busy and dangerous freeways skirting the city. The roads were busy because there are over seven million people that inhabit Santiago, and dangerous because there were absolutely NO shoulders. After about twenty minutes of near-death experiences on the freeways, I could take no more and abandoned my Google directions. I exited into the north section of center city, put on my adventure pants, and set off eastward. I was up against the odds, armed with little more than broken Spanish and an address in the community of Las Condes.

Moving at a turtle’s pace, I made my way uptown. I was polling locals from time to time, as to the whereabouts of Las Condes, while riding on the main drag next to the famous and highly toxic Mapuche River. Night had officially fallen around 7:30 p.m., which made navigation harder still. However, riding under all the bright city lights, and through the romantic parks still filled with people, was very nice . After another 30 minutes of riding, something told me I had arrived in the community of Las Condes: I asked a random guy where we were and he replied, “Las Condes.” Duh.

My next move was to try to use my old directions to get me closer to the house. Fortunately, I didn’t need to, because by God’s good graces I ran into a Copec Pronto gas station. For those who don’t know, these gas stations are the best in the world. They have free WiFi, a cafeteria, showers, great bathrooms, patios and more. They are the five-star hotels of the gas station world. I reconciled with Google Maps, and after five minutes, had my new directions. Nothing is 100% though; I still managed to get myself turned around before arriving at Cardinal Newman, the street I had been after for the last two and half hours.

I found the white gate that my contact Alister described to me in his email, and with a steady but oh-so-grimy finger, I reached out and pushed the call button. After a short and dramatic pause, the voice of a young man came through the speaker saying, “Hola!” From my voice came a weary but joyful reply, “Hola, es Diego”; but in my mind the Lord of Rings theme was playing, and there shined only one word : “Victory.”