'European' Santiago

Day 96: Friday 4th October - Sterile Santiago

My bus leaves Valparaiso for Santiago at 10.40am, plenty of time to walk to the bus station - or so I think. After taking my time over breakfast, packing my bags and checking something out on the internet I end up leaving the hostel at 10.15am. Its a good mile and a half to walk and I end up hurrying along the main street with all my bags, making it with just a minute to spare. Need not have bothered rushing as the bus breaks down (or something is wrong with it) and we have to change buses shortly after leaving Valparaiso. Arrive at Santiago 2 hours later and after catching the metro for a few stops, arrive at my hostel around lunchtime. There doesn´t seem to be anyone about the hostel, which is kind of disappointing as being in a capital city at the weekend I´m hoping to get out for a night on the town. Maybe I'll find some people later?....

Walk into the city centre, its not far, only a mile or so. Santiago is very much like a modern, European city and after the crazyness of other South American cities feels a bit sterile. Its home to a third of Chile´s population and with over 5 million people living in the city its quite a size. Although its 3pm decide to take the walking tour recommended in Lonely Planet. It says it will take 4-6 hours in the guide....don´t have that much time, so will have to skip some of it. Ends up taking much less time anyway - must finish it in two and a half hours, the highlight is almost certainly the park at Cerro Santa Lucia, which sits on a hill which is right in the middle of the city, which offers some great views across Santiago and in the late afternoon sunshine is pleasant. Other than that the tour picks out the main landmarks in the city....the plaza, cathedral, museums, the presidential palace etc. Catch a metro back to the hostel in rush hour in the hope I'll be able to find some people who fancy going out.

Back at the hostel there's no one around in the dorm and although there's a BBQ at 9pm where I'm sure to meet some people, I don't fancy waiting that long for food and I'm not particularly up for a BBQ. Instead head back to the city centre and after getting dinner decide to go to the cinema. I've been wanting to do something normal like go to the cinema for a while now and I find a cinema that has a few films in English with Spanish subtitles. End up watching 'We own the night' with Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg. Unsurprisingly its a film about cops and drug barons (do those two do anything else?!), but its quite good. Leave the cinema at going on midnight and the metro is closed so end up walking back to the hostel. On the way back realise I've lost my key to the dorm room (probably in the cinema) but I can´t be bothered to go back and ask. End up paying another 2000 pesos (2 pounds) for another. Great! Most of the rest of my dorm have been out as they end up waking me up most inconsiderately at 3am.

Day 97: Saturday 5th October - A Dream Day

Some days you have one of those days when you can do no wrong.....not often mind....but today end's up being one of those days. Before even leaving the hostel bump into James and Charlotte (who I met in San Pedro). We said we'd meet in Santiago, and its good to see them and does mean I'll have some drinking buddies for this evening. Not much planned for the day....Santiago isn't full of things to do.....think I'll head up to the metropolitan park which overlooks the city - you can take a cable car to get up to the top. Before that I'm going to call in the cinema and ask about the key and sort some things out on the internet. The hour and a half I spend on the internet proves to be time well spent. I end up getting a return flight from Auckland to Dunedin (which you may remember I had to book due to not being able to get the dates I wanted for the Milford Trek) for 100 pounds not the 200 I thought. I also find a flight from Ushuaia in Argentina to Puerto Madryn with LADE for 700 pesos (120 pounds) which is considerably cheaper than the 320 pound flight I thought I was going to have to book with Aerolineas Argentinas. After talking to James & Charlotte later in the day it appears that geting a bus is an option from Puerto Madryn to Buenos Aires, rather than flying which will save me another 100 pounds. So in sorting flights and journeys out for the month ahead I end up saving 400 pounds - or should I say I don't spend 400 pounds I hadn´t budgeted for....result! I then catch a metro into the city centre, pay the cinema a visit, they've got my key so that´s another 2 quid that's turned up......when you're travelling on a budget it all counts!

Walk through the city centre in the direction of the metropolitan park. When I arrive there I can´t find any sign of a cable car and the funicular is closed for maintenance so it looks like I'm walking up! Takes 45 minutes to reach the top, but its well worth it as the views are amazing across the city and also out towards the Andes. Read a book on the top for a few hours before taking the cable car down. When I reach the bottom I haven't a clue where I am - I later realise I must be a good couple of miles to the East of the main entrance to the park when after walking for around half an hour I stumble across a metro station. Catch the metro back to the hostel, where I've agreed to meet James & Charlotte at 7pm. The three of us head out to the supermarket as we're going to cook tonight. Its the first time in 3 months I will have cooked - a factor of it being so cheap to eat out in South America in the main. Get a couple of bottles of red wine to watch the meal down with - a steal at around a pound a bottle! After the meal, we don´t end up going out, rather we head to the bar in the hostel where myself and James stay until around 2am when we decide to try and find a club in the nearby area. We can't find it so head back to the hostel...its 2.30am and I have to be up in two and a half hours for a flight to Easter Island!!

---

---