A very different kind of coffee

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Day 186 - Monday 24 March

Having not had much sleep I had to be up just before 5 am to catch my free pickup to the airport. Fijis been good but I think its more of a couples place so its time for me to go.

Unfortunately the flight was delayed for an hour so I ended up spending about 4 hours in the airport with nothing to do as everythings packed away in my bag. Finally we took off and I arrrived back in Auckland just after 1pm local time. Although we had a 5 hour wait at Auckland airport before our next plane they had the cricket on tv so it was quite easy to pass the time. If only England had been doing this well when we were staying here. At 6 pm we took off and were on our way to Santiago.

Having a quick look around my fellow passengers and at the air hostesses i´ve a feeling i´m going to like Chile. For some reason the air hostesses seemed to think i´m either Spanish or South American as whereas they spoke to all the other westerners on the plane in English they spoke to me in spanish. Amazingly i not only understood them but also knew what to say back. Trying to avoid jet lag I popped a valium pill shortly after dinner was served. 10 hours later i woke up just as we were beginning to descend. Even though we´ve been flying fo 12 hours its 11am again and I get to relive all those hours spent at Auckland airport once again. Its a weird thing the date line. Last time I crossed it a few years ago i´d managed to have a night out in both sydney and L.A. at the same time.

Once in immigration everybody kept asking me for my help in how to fill in the arrival card, even the immigration officer spoke to me in pure Spanish. I mean come on do I look Chilean to you?

We could have taken a taxi to our hotel but opted to take the bus then the underground instead for a tenth of the price. Amazingly I knew just enough spanish to get us there. After checking in (3 months of having to share a room having my own room again is great), we went for a walk around the city. First impressions have taken me a little by surprise. I´d expected Chile to be quite a poor country but they seem quite rich. The city centre looks similar to one back in the UK and everyone drives new Toyotas or Peugout cars. Everybody also seems to check everybody else out. Blokes openly stare and shout out too pretty girls and although subtley girls give a quick glance at blokes they like when they walk past. Luckily i´ve noticed quite a few good looking girls eyeing me up as I walk past so hopefully im going to have a good time in Chile.

As we´ve only paid for 1 nights accommodation we went around the hotels to see if we could find anywhere cheaper. Worringly nobody not even the receptionists spoke a word of english and as my spanish isnt´t that good, often we had to just walk away. You end up nodding and saying yes even though you haven´t a clue what they´ve just said. Dinner was just as bad we ordered one thing and got something completely different.

Although i´d tried to avoid jet lag it was starting to kick in so I turned in for an eary night.

Day 187 - Tuesday 25 March

After getting breakfast it was time to check out. We´d booked a room advertised on the internet for only 9p a night. We knew there was an error but were going to try and blag it. Unfortunately as nobody speaks any english here it might prove difficult to blag. Sure enough it did and we think we´ve settled on a price of $25 US for the 2 of us which although cheaper than anything we could find yesterday its also more than we were paying yesterday night. (We can´t go back there until tomorrow).

Theres a university and lots of bars around our hotel so we went out to check the surrounding area. Once again everybodies checking one another out so when in Rome ...... Unfortunately i´m not as used to blatently perving and ended up booting a curb. As I was wearing my flip flops I ended up with a big gash on my big toe and had to sit down for half an hour whilst the blood stopped. 5 mins after setting off again I booted the other foot and now i´ve a gash on that big toe as well. Next time ill look where i´m going.

It was a bit of a walk but I hobbled into town to have a look at the cathedral and the city centre. They seem really into astrology here theres people offering tarot readings everywhere. After Ji-Wons mum had got one back in February its made me curious and I was just about to ask how much one was when I remembered it would be all in Spanish and I wouldn´t understand a word. Another thing Chileans in Santiago seem into is junk food. Theres KFC, McDonalds, Burger King everywhere and all that the cafes seem to sell are burers, hot dogs or chicken and chips. Surprisingly though nobody seems to be fat. I don´t know how they do it. After yesterdays struggle we decided to keep it simple and go to McDonalds. Although we got what we wanted it was a struggle, why dont they keep it simple rather than ask you about 200 questions.

Another difference over here is that instead of a soft drink with your meal for the same price you can have a beer instead. Imagine going to McDonalds or KFC back home and being able to have a beer. Beers cheap though, you can get a litre for only a quid even the poshest bars only charge 2 pounds a litre. With beer being that cheap we gave up sightseeing and decided to do a pub crawl back to the hotel instead.

We were in one bar/cafe when 2 amazingly stunning girls walked in. All the waiters and chefs stopped what they were doing and all the male customers stopped talking (even those with their girlfriends/wives). The place errupted into a series of whistles and shouts. They don´t seem to have any feminists out here but then the girls don´t seem to mind. It was then that I had my first proper Spanish conversation. 2 blokes sat further down the bar commented to me how beautiful those 2 girls were and then for the next 5 mins we talked about general stuff and good place to go in Santiago. Granted i didn´t understand everything they said and they didn´t understand everything I said but we stumbled through. I was quite chuffed.

We carried on a did a few more bars but as its a tuesday it was rather quiet and mostly full of young couples.

Day 188 - Wednesday 26 March

Were going to move back to our first hotel today as its cheaper. On checking out we learnt that its not $25 US for the two of us as we origionally thought but $35 US each. Its a good job we only stayed the one night. It wasn´t that great either.

After moving back to our hotel in the pretty old colonial part of the city we headed out for lunch. We both ordered chicken and chips which is easy enough to say but for some reason ended up with only a plate of chips each.

Scattered over the city are coffee shops but unlike Starbucks back home the girls serving just wear a bra and g-string and nothing else. So obviuosly as we were thirsty we thought we need to check one out and went for a coffee. I´ve read about them in guide books and even the magazine on the plane listed it as one of the 10 must do things in Santiago. Its all above board and apparently the girls get offended if you try and ask for any type of extras. So in we went and everything was going well. I was even having my second big spanish conversation purely in Spanish with one of the waitresses when suddenly she put her hand down my pants. Maybe we´ve stumbled into a less reputable one. Its only 2 in the afternoon!

With England playing France we were going to try and catch the game this afternoon but as Chile were also playing someone at the same time we didn´t get chance. Instead we sat on a bench and people watched for a bit.

Russ´Thai girlfriend is flying over for three months to join us. Only time will tell if its a good thing but as he has to pick her up from the airport later tonight we stayed in and watched a dvd.

Day 189 - Thursday 27 March

I must still be suffering from jet lag as it was 2pm before I woke up today. I left Russ to be with his girlfriend and decided to go for a walk around the city. You can always see far more on your own as its much quicker.

I was still quite tired in the evening so stayed in and watched another dvd. Looking in the mirror I noticed my tan is peeling off. After 6 months hard work it might all be gone in a few days time. If only I hadn´t got burnt in Fiji.

Day 190 - Friday 28 March

Theres a bit of James Bond fever going on in Chile at the moment, they´re filming the new film here and its on all the tv channels at breakfast. Daniel Craig flew in last night to much hysteria.

I´d just finished breakfast when I heard a huge racket outside so I went to investigate. Just as I did about 500 tenagers came running past as fast as they could. Most had scarves wrapped around their faces. I asked reception what was going on and from what I can gather (It was in Spanish), its the anniversary of a student protest were some students were gunned down by the military during General Pinnochetts rule. Suddenly all the nearby shops and buildings pulled their shutters down and shut their doors. A police watercannon drove down the road chasing more students.

Unfortunately by the time I´d ran upstairs and grabbed my camera it had passed. I cautiously ventured out and on the corner of the main road there were groups of riot police everywhere some with sub machine guns ( i´m sure just for intimidation). It was then that I noticed I kept sneezing as was everyone else nearby. I think it must be the effects of tear gas thats been fired over the area. Suddenly a military bus pulled up and about 30 riot police got off and ran past me. I thought it best to keep a low profile I didn´t fancy getting a batton wrapped around my head, so instead I headed for the bus station to buy my bus ticket to La Serrena tomorrow. It only cost me 5000 pesos a lot less than the lonely planet says.

After all this mornings excitement it seems to have quitened down so we headed off to look at the central market. It turns out that the iron building was built in Birmingham until the Chileans bought it and shipped it over piece by piece.

Whilst Rio de Jenero has the statue of Jesus, Santiago has the virgin mary situated on top of a huge hill in the city centre. From the top are supposed to be splendid views of the city, so we went over and took the lazy option. Rather than walk up you can take a train up for only a quid. Its a long way up I can tell you. At the top it was indeed beautiful with a great view of the city below. For another quid you can take a cable car across the park so we did that as well before having a rest.

With it being a Friday night i´m hoping its going to be busy and can experience a night out local style. We headed over to the bar area i´d gone to a couple of nights back. A bit into the second bar we were in, there was a group of amazingly pretty Latino girls sat at the next table. They asked me if I had a light as te candle on their table had gone out (I didn´t think people still used that line). When I replied I hadn´t they suddenly realised I wasn´t chilean (again do i really look like i am) and asked me where I was from. After saying England they insisted I join their table, well whats a bloke supposed to do. Russ´girlfriend was being a bit boring so I left her and Russ to it and joined the girls. After stumbling through a conversation (my spanish is really starting to improve now) they asked me if I wanted to join them they´re off to a salsa club.

At the club they gave me my first Salsa lesson. Now I reckon i´m an ok dancer (maybe some of you will disagree), but they seemed to think I was rubbish and kept laughing at my attempts. "Feel the music" they kept saying, what do you think I was doing. I´m english for Gods sake this is me feeling the music. However I have had 4 litres of strong beer (by my reckoning thats about 8 pints) and a quadruple size measure of Tequila so i must be well pissed.

They were great company I only wish I had brought my camera out with me. One girl called Pamellita was especially nice. She´s only about 5 foot tall but has so much energy shes amazing. Unfortunatly she has a boyfriend but she still gave me her phone number and email address and told me to call her. If only I wasn´t leaving town tomorrow although I do have to return via Santiago soon.

After a great night they even drove me back to my hotel. I´m not sure what the drink driving laws are but they didn´t seem bothered and I must say I can think of worse things than being squashed in the back seat of a Peugout 206 with 5 scantly clad beauties.

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