Chilling in chilly Chile

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Anyway, we're back... in South America. Our crazy trip around the world brought us back here for five amazing weeks to see everything we missed the first time around (that's the plan anyway).On to Chile.Santiago is another well known city.. . fog The city is located in a beautiful location at the foot of the Andes, surrounded by mountains. The downside to this is that the area is exposed to low cloud cover, which in turn picks up the noise from cars and city factories. I'll keep my return intact by running until I leave Santiago.Our hostel, Happy House in the Barrio Brasil area of ​​the city, was possibly the best we stayed at on the entire trip (no mean feat). Not much to look at from the outside, the place is huge, beautifully restored in a traditional style indoors with high ceilings and lots of cozy wood. The first two nights our room was great, but on the third night we had to move and ended up in a room with not only a private bathroom but also a sauna! Good.Like most of the trips in the past few weeks, Santiago would be a place to meet up with old friends again. Two friends from England were traveling in the area and decided to meet us in Santiago to swap stories, and a local Chilean guy we met earlier on our trip to Buenos Aires wanted to hook up.What followed were two very unhealthy evenings. exploring Santiago's bars and restaurants, from the most casual locals to the sophisticated. Bellavista to the bars.Despite the reputation, we warmed to the city. The pollution wasn't bad every day, and while much of the city is pretty run down, there's definitely life here, lots of history, interesting buildings and very nice people (although it's not uncommon to see where taxi drivers will take you astray). earn a few extra pennies). Unfortunately, we made the mistake of visiting Mercado Central after lunch, missing out on great cheap seafood as it had the largest selection of fresh sea urchins outside of Tokyo. fish shop Maybe next time.Be sure to visit Cerro San Cristobal to ride the very steep cable car and some of the cable cars and the other small hill in town, Cerro Santa Lucia (but just look at the cannon at noon. ...).

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