Blogs from Providencia, Santiago Region, Chile, South America - page 5

Im am here, and am sooooo happy to have internet. I don´t have any pics yet, that will have to waite unti i have a computor i can use more than 10 min. I just wanted to let you all know i am safe and happy. I will buy a telefono celular, so i will send the nuber when i can. Santiago is soooo huge, but i have already learned the metro system. I have class mon thru friday.my host family will pick me up from the hotel on monday, and i am excited to meet them. tonight is the first night we are going out, but not until 1 am! i hpe all is well in bushlandia... read more

Hola! On the second day of our trip we ventured out from Barrio Brasil and explored the greater Santiago metropolitan area, primarly the congested Providencia and the bohemian Barrio Bellavista (pronounced Be-yell-vista). I was very excited to visit Bellavista as i knew it was the Santiago home of Chilean Poet and activist Pablo Neruda. After successfully using our basic spanish to purchase a ticket and unsuccessfully attempting to use what is actually a very efficient underground train system, we disembarked at Baquedano station. We headed across the horrible city river where we found ourselves in Bellavista. The province is spread out at the foot of the beautifully named ´Cerra San Cristobal´ upon which a statue of the Virgin Mary purveys majority of Santiago and the snow capped Andes. We wandered around this patchworked neighbourhood for a ... read more

So departures and farewells over we set off from Auckland airport on this great excursion that for the next 12 months will see us traverse 6 continents, 32 countries, 31 flights, travel on 4 cruises, 2 ferries, 3 trains, taxis, public buses, 4-wheel drives, rental cars, camels, donkeys and whatever form of transport we can lay our hands on. Accommodation along the way, like everything else, will vary from the sublime to the ridiculous. Our expectations are that we will follow the sun and seasons around the globe. Our first stop, Santiago in Chile. We arrived early in the afternoon after a seemingly uneventful 12 hour flight on Lan Chile. The service and food were up to the usual standard we had come to expect out of New Zealand, and the staff were helpful and polite. ... read more

Left Regina at 9:00 am on Saturday and arrived in Santiago, Chile on Sunday at 10:30 AM EST. We cleared customs and found no one at the Alamo counter to help us apply for permits for Argentina. Also found out that we cannot get seats on our LAN flight until 2 hrs before boarding time. Hopefully it will all work out. We will be at the airport for 5:30AM on Tues to ensure we get on our flight to Easter Island. Taxi Cab ran out of gas half way between the Airport and the Hotel on the freeway. So the cabie gets a tow truck to drive us to the nearest gas station. We finally make it to the hotel and have the cabbie try to scam us out of $130 for the trip. We didn't ... read more

Hi everyone well I arrived two hours before I took off from Auckland, how that works I'm not real sure but I am in the past as far as Australian time is concerned, about 14 hours in the past to be precise. The people of Santiago are so happy. I went out to a street restaurant tonight and they are on every corner here. Carlos was serving me and boy the service was really good and so was the steak. At one stage it broke into a hale and paice sketch with the language thing, but he was very nice and very attentive. Tonight I'm staying at the atacama hostel in provedincia, it is very clean and very nice, I've got a bottom bunk. I tried to upload some photos earlier but alas the server stalled. ... read more

Hi everyone I have arrived ib Santiago in good spirits but boy is the language thing a barrier. I ended up staying at the Hotel belle vista. its a swank upper lass hotel in the restuarant side of town. Its quater to midnight here and Boy am I tired. The Aucklank thing is something else. THERES A CURENCY EXCHANGEEVERY TEN YARDS AND THE WHOLE TOWN IS GEARED TO ACCEPT THE TRANSIENT TOURIST DOLLAR. THEY DONT MOND EXPLOITING THE TOURISTS EITHER. heres a lurk, I wander past this sports bar come breakfast place and see two mauries out the front chowing down on half a dozen eggs and half a pig in bacon on the windows a sign saying egg & bacon breqakfast only $6.00. well I order it and out comes a piece of toast, two ... read more

This last weekend I went on a trip. A long trip in a little bus. When will I ever learn. Like I said on my last entry, I had signed up for a camping trip to an island up north. It was going to be my big trip here in Chile and I paid big money for it accordingly. The flyer made it sound to be all planned out and I figured we would be well taken cared of. It had so much potential, it really did. The island is named Isla Dama and is famous for its penguins, dolphins, and lobos (sealions). The currents bring water up from Antartica so the water is frigid despite being quite close to the equator. Oh, and Dama means lady in Espanol. The reason its named lady island is ... read more