Chile

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Chile has been a highlight so far, it was a shame our time frame only permitted us to spend a small amount of time there!

Santiago itself, has a definite Melbourne feel. The food culture and cafés are great! The pubs have cheap meals, that you order for 2 and are full of the most amazing cooked meats and mushrooms etc.

Santiago was the first place we have found a large supermarket with food just like home (I think we walked around it for about 1 hour) we found blue brie cheese, amazing red wine, and fresh veggies and with the hostels all having kitchens we could finally cook some cheap healthy meals up! Very exiting after 2 months of no kitchens, no access to fresh foods!

The shopping mall in the centre is huge and streets from there stretch out for km’s and are like Burke Street mall, but with restaurants all spread through also. The mall has all designer brands, and an entire floor dedicated to food with restaurants and general food court options this is the largest mall in Chile, and definitely worth a visit!

La Serena was good, we stayed one night there then headed to Coquimbo (a short bus ride around from it) which is more of a local fishing community. The town itself is on the coast, and fishermen bring fresh catches back to shore daily where you can get a fresh fish, salad, chips, veggie plate for $6USD which is referred to as Menu Del Dia (menu of the day). If you ever head this way, I suggest you make sure you hit the town on a weekend as it has one square with the most pubs I have ever seen in one small area! It stretches about 2 blocks of just pub and nightclub after another.

Travel Points:

We stayed in Hostel Nomads. This hostel was great – cheap, you have access to a kitchen and the hostel itself is in a huge old mansion with the highest ceilings I have seen in a house and an amazing balcony with a sea view.

It is run by a local woman called Christina, and her mum which is referred to by everyone as Nona. Nona is a little loopy and walks around all day trying to fix things (at one stage she got the ladder out, luckily this was stopped by the young boy Christina hires when she goes out – pretty much to simply watch Nona I think) and talking to her cats. I don’t think she gets that we couldn’t speak much Spanish, and I am sure she told me her life story!

Definitely one of our most relaxing and favorite hostels we have visited!

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