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Published: November 8th 2011
Day 1 - Manchester to Heathrow, to Madrid to Santiago!
The flight from Manchester to London was particulary uneventful. Why they feel it necessary to have any sort of cabin service on a flight which was basically up and down, is anyone's guess. We traversed Heathrow from T5 to T3, and queued for our Iberia flight to Madrid. The 2hr 20 flight was one of the most turbulent flights ever. It wasn;t that there were lots of drops in altitude, more the fact that it was constantly jiggling around. It was worse as they were trying to serve the food, as it always is! When we arrived, we had little time to get to the next flight which was from an ancillary terminal so far from the main terminal we had to take a train. The first four signs to our boarding gate said 24mins, and the flight was leaving in less than that. When we arrived at the gate, the board was flashing "boarding", there was the usual bun fight as everyone tries to board at once. They didn't seem to have any sort of system to board by rows, meaning the business class passengers got pushed to one
side whilst cattle class made there way on. As we boarded we could see into business class, and you could certainly see what you got for the extra money, chairs that folded down into beds, and personal entertainment systems. It was no wonder business class was full given the length of the flight! There was no way it was going to depart on time given the number of passengers. We made our way to our seats, and were disappointed that there was no individual entertainment system. On our way to our seats, Russ was hit on by one of the air stewards who "liked his t-shirt", thinking he was Spanish! What a way to start the holiday! I spent my time getting increasingly frustrated with Professor Layton on the Nintendo DS and my inability to solve the easy puzzles, whilst solving all the hard ones. Russ however, whilst watching the main screen was treated to a promotional video inviting you to holiday in Guatemala !!, until now not on our radar! We had to resort to books, the ipods and DS for the duration of the flight. We did however manage to get some sleep, before they brought us a
ham and cheese sandwich, cake and yogurt for breakfast. Unusually, there was no map on the screen, so as we looked out of the window down on the desolate land below, we had no idea which country we were looking at. We think it was Argentina. We also had no idea how long it would be before we landed, or if we had made up any time on the journey, nor what the local time was, as this was never announced.
The first we knew that we were nearly there was the seatbelt sign going on. As we looked out of the window, we saw some greenery and the Andes, but no city. It was only as we got really close we saw any civilisation. It was literally over the mountains and then the city was in front of us.
The cabin crew handed out immigration and customs forms to complete. After much debate, we decided to declare that we had our cereal bars, as they contained nuts and dried fruits. When we landed, we had to wait in a very long immigration queue, as three flights landed together. At customs, we had to complete the same form
again, as we had changed our minds on it. Then as it turned out they didn't ask to see the fruit bars, they only asked to see a jar that looked like fruit on the xray. Some passengers weren't so lucky, having jars of jam and tangerines confiscated, and the possibility of a $170 fine, so it was better to be safe than sorry. By this time it was 11am, and we should have landed at 9.30am. We were met at the airport by a representative of the travel company to take us to the hotel and check in. Our hotel was not far from the airport, and as it was a Sunday, there was not much traffic. Our hotel is next to what will be the tallest tower in South America, once built, at 60 storeys high. We are slightly outside the centre and were advised to get a taxi rather than the metro. Also we were told to wear less gold, no earrings or necklace, for safety reasons, so these have gone into the safe. Weather wise, it was hot - 30 degrees, they have approx 300 days of sun per year - hooray.
We had looked
Wheat Tea
We haven't braved trying this yet! A strange Wheat Tea with Peaches in it ! Wierd!at the guidebook previously, so had an idea about what we would like to visit on the first day. Firstly, we needed some lunch, so took taxi from the hotel to a restaurant recommended by the concierge. The first option was closed, and as the taxi driver tried to communicate this to us, it became apparent that our lack of Spanish was going to be an issue. He took us to a meat restaurant, where the owner went to get his Spanish to English dictionary to tell us the special was lamb. The food and wine were nice, so revived we continued.
We were going to the San Cristobel hill, which is reached by open sided funicular, and the hill is part of the Parque Metropolitano with two outdoor pools, gardens and a zoo. Most famously, and in a style of Christ the Redeemer, there is a statue of the Virgin Mary which is 14m high which can be seen from most of Santiago. Unfortunately, they have decided to site a communication mast next to it, somewhat spoiling the view. There was also gardens dedicated to Pope John Paul II and the nativity. Also there should be access to
the top of the hill by cable car, however, this has been stopped and looking at the old station, for some time now.
When we had walked around the top, we took the funicular back down and stopped for refreshment in one of the bars along the main street. The bars were not particularly attractive, but all seemed busy, with seats outside. There was even the odd seller with necklaces and doing palm reading, and a child busking. We then went to look in one of the plazas that has been recently created, which has shops bars and restaurants. We looked at the goods on offer to guage the prices as we were coming back to Santiago again after Easter Island.
We went back to the hotel to freshen up and took the opportunity to have a quick siesta, and before we knew it, it was 11pm!
This morning , the weather can only be described as "Winkleman" - Claudia (cloud-i-a) for those not in the know - but still warm enough for shorts. We went down for breakfast at 9.30, and were surprised by the number of guests that were eating relatively late. After sampling the
meats, cheeses and cornflakes, we made our way to the centre of the city and the Plaza de Armas (recently the scene of protests in the city). There are a number of museums and churches round the square, and there was a police presence. The Tourist Office is located in the building that was the city jail, and we took a 3D map to go with the rest of the maps we were collecting. From here, we walked to one of the markets listed in the guide book as worth a visit. It was a open air market with plenty of stalls selling jewellery, leather, woolen goods, tshirts etc. We then went to an Indigienos Market described in the guide book as "not to be missed". The music put you off before you even went in, warbling and whaling with some drums thrown in - very disappointing from how it was described. Not to be put off, before the next market, we went over the road to the Santa Lucia hill. We climbed right to the top to see if we could get a decent picture of the Andes, but like a lot of cities, it seems Santiago has a
smog problem due to the fact it is in a bowl surrounded by the mountains. It was however quite a nice spot, with nice architecture and gardens. The final market, was a little way out, and required us braving the metro. We need not have been concerned, as fares are set at 83p each and we were going to the end of the line. If anything, there is a bit of a lack of Tourist signs - the type we have in brown in the uk, so when we exited the metro, we were looking for road names as there was no indication of which way to go. The village is purpose built for tourists, but is reprentative of a old fashioned village, with mud huts. A lot of artists can be seen working at the back of the shops creating the items they have for sale. We picked up a couple of bits, and admired quite a lot of larger pieces we would never have got home. We also had a late lunch, sampling the local snacks "pasties". Mine was beef, hard boiled egg and olive, Russ had cheese. They were okay, but i don't think Greggs has any
competition!
We returned to the hotel on the metro, which was much busier as it was rush hour, but perfectly safe. Hoping to go out tonight into the bar area to sample the local night life, but can't be too late as we are being picked up at 7.30am tomorrow for our flight to Easter Island. Not sure if they've heard of internet - you'll have to bare with us.
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