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Published: February 26th 2013
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Due to the lack of trains the transport options from La Serena to Santiago are either an 8/9 hour bus ride or a 1 hour flight. Given the price wasn't a huge amount more for the plane I decided to fly and grab an extra night in La Serena, however this proved a completely false economy after my trusty steed from the Calama to Copiapo leg (Sky Air) let me down. 4 hours of delays for a 1 hour flight is no fun in a regional airport without screens and a very dodgy intercom system. I think the staff on the desk thought I was OCD given the number of times I asked what was happening. I have the worst luck with transportation here.
Arriving late into central Santiago all of my transport woes quickly dissipated however, it really is a great City. A kind of hybrid European and Latin American capital with friendly people and a huge array of shops, eateries and a vibrant night life. Given I was staying for a few days I grabbed a bed in one of the hostels which had an innovation showing just how progressive the Chileans are - a beer
can vending machine, score.
The first proper day in Santiago consisted of visiting various tourist sites via a walking tour. These are free as the guides work for tips but well worth it – really informative and very funny. We even had a token dog follow us around for the entire 4 hour tour. The guides talk you through the history of Santiago and its people, the architecture and the famous sights around the city. On the tour you visit places such as the Moneda palace, various parks and plazas and stop briefly outside a 'coffee with legs' coffee shop. These are basically coffee houses staffed exclusively with attractive women wearing very little clothing, created originally because the coffee here was so terrible. Perhaps this is another 'feature' the UK can consider replicating alongside the bus services here. That night a load of us headed to the hip BellaVista area to sample a famous Terramoto (earthquake) cocktail. These are basically cocktails with an array of spirits and pineapple icecream on top, they're actually not too bad although you can see why they have the name....they're pretty much pure alcohol I reckon.
The next day
I visited the Human Rights museum which obviously focuses predominantly on the Pinochet era of Chile's history. Its difficult to describe how you feel in the museum – its very interesting and thought provoking but at the same time is just such a tragic and complex period of history for Chile. I thought I knew this period of history quite well before entering after studying it as part of my degree. However its difficult to fully comprehend the brutality and the lengths that the junta went to in order to hide the truth. Given it was a period of unprecedented prosperity and brutality at the same time its clear to see why Chileans are still divided on the era and why the facts to this day are still slowly emerging.
That evening I boarded a Cata Internacional night bus for the trip over the border to Mendoza, Argentina's famous wine region. This didn't get off to the best start when showing the check in staff my ticket on my phone they told me that I couldn't board without a printed out ticket. Explaining that I hadn't brought a printer with me in my rucksack they didn't see
the funny side and pointed to a nearby internet cafe with printing facility. I should have known this was a bad omen as about a mile after departure the the 'Executive' Sleeper bus ground to a halt with a mechanical fault. This meant boarding a cramped replacement semi-sleeper bus with an interior resembling that of a 1970s working men's club. So overall this meant another 4 hours of delays and lots of unhappy customers....People really should stop travelling with me here I reckon.
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