Blogs from Santiago, Santiago Region, Chile, South America - page 121

South America » Chile » Santiago Region » Santiago April 16th 2006

Took an exciting "short cut" through the Sleepy Mountain road (Camino Descansado). Taxi guy turned a 1.5 hour trip into 2.5 hours, getting lost in the hills. To make up for time, he decided he needed to drive fast (meaning reckless), so he took the 15 mph corners at about 45. Winding, twisting, turning, climbing, descending. We got some good photos though. Our plan was to go to Eduardo´s house in La Florida, a nice residential community southside of Santiago. Ramón (the driver) had never been to Santiago, and didn´t know his way around. Not sure why they sent him to drive us? After several wrong turns, we made the 3rd call to Eduardo for help. He told me "get out of this guy´s car & take the Metro. You´d save hours." So we did. The ... read more

Santiago de Chile and Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

South America » Chile » Santiago Region » Santiago April 13th 2006

Old and new Santiago

Tonatiu

Friday 31st March we arrived in Santiago on the bus and checked into a hostel we had booked. Unfortunately it was a bit run down for the price and the rooms were damp and we were kept up all night by the buzzer of the front door as other backpackers arrived late. We did go out for a nice dinner and saw a young couple dancing the tango on the street for money which was fun to watch. The next day we moved into a hotel which was closer to the centre and for only about £7 more much better value for money. We spent the day walking around the centre, getting information about posting a parcel back home, and going to the central market. On Sunday we went to the Palicio Cousino, a large mansion ... read more

Savory Icecream is always fun with a Funicular

South America » Chile » Santiago Region » Santiago April 13th 2006

Sehrusaan and I at the Races

Sehrusaan

After Melbourne, and Sydney Airport (with plane delay but free food vouchers), and Auckland Airport (we walked off the plane up a long corridor, through a security check, and up some steps, only to turn around, go down an escalator, and walk back to where we came in), we finally arrived in Santiago. Having met 4 other Aussies during our sojourn in New Zealand (3 were from Perth. They didn´t seem to have any sock-puppets, but one has a sock-wallet), we decided to all rock up at the same hostel (Sally had already booked it anyway, as had someone else). Yesterday Sally and I walked into the city centre to look at things. There are lots of cool old buildings and fountains, and also some plazas and malls and markets. We went to a couple of ... read more

Hola Santiago!

South America » Chile » Santiago Region » Santiago April 8th 2006

Santiago Cathedral

LizBiz

Very bizarrely I flew into Santiago with a girl who I had met on the Kiwi Experience only days before. It turned out she was doing the same South American tour as me, and it was great to have a mate with whom to hang around Santiago. It probably didnt help that we were both tall and blonde, and in a country of short, dark'haired people, it did mean we stood out quite a bit. But it was all good fun (apart from being manhandled by fishmongers in the chaotic Mercado Central). Santiago was a very gentle introduction to South American life. Prices are pretty comparable to home and I have come to realise that the facilities there are pretty good compared with the rest of the continent. One little thing that I still keep forgetting ... read more

Palm Sunday outside Convent of San Francisco just opposite our hotel

Adios South America

South America » Chile » Santiago Region » Santiago April 7th 2006

Santiago

This is my last entry from South America and a slightly rambling one.....Firstly a few words on travelling -What is usually a dirty smelly t-shirt is now still good for a few more days. Running out of clean pants and socks is the norm. Dirt marks on your clothes - who cares. -Visiting a local point of interest such as a park or nightclub is to be considered a very productive day. -Flip flops should be worn in all possible circumstances no matter how ridiculous. So far I've worn them to bars, dance clubs... -Sleeping doesn´t necessarily have to be done at night, there´s always the daytime. -Paying over a fiver for a three course meal is considered outrageous. -Email replaces texting as the only way to communicate. -Your digital camera replaces your mobile as the ... read more

Arriving and 1st Day in Santiago

South America » Chile » Santiago Region » Santiago April 6th 2006

Justin and the Guard

Mark Jag

Hey, here we are in Chile. First leg of our trip that will take us to Antofagasta, San Pedro de Atacama, Lake Titicaca, Machu Picchu and Lima. We´re working on capturing some photos - if we can figure them out meaning if Justin can) then we´ll have something cool here The flight was tan capo - I´ll let Justin tell about that, since we´ve got about 5 minutes before the chick in this smoke-filled, disco-music jammin´cyber cafe kicks us out for the night - after all, it IS just after midnight & we´ve been running on only a couple hours sleep last night on the flight over. Anyway - today was cool, we saw downtown, the Catedral especially was nice, with some 300 year-old statues and such. We annoyed the devout there I think when my ... read more

Santiago

South America » Chile » Santiago Region » Santiago April 4th 2006

Santiago's protector

Khamlu

Stories will come later... read more

Santiago

South America » Chile » Santiago Region » Santiago April 4th 2006

La Moneda, government building

Steven Casey

We mucked around on tuesday as the time flew by, in fact it flew by so much we missed our 5pm bus. We caught the next one to Santiago at 5.30pm, after 2 hours we arrived. It was great to be escorted by Silvana through the bustling crowds to our first metro experience of the trip. The metro is the underground train, a fantastic service to speed through the city of 5 million people. At Silvana´s appartment we meet her flat mates, and they made us pancakes with Manjar. We then went out to sample the Santiago nightlife at an upper class disco tech. The next day slightly hung over we found our own way through the metro system to San Cristobal hill. This hill has a cable car to the top where there is another ... read more

El Cerro San Cristobal from Cerro Santa Lucia

Sleep? nah...

South America » Chile » Santiago Region » Santiago March 31st 2006

challora

Oh Chile! The past week has been a combination of classes, going out, dancing, a birthday party, train down south, hiking, camping, and a bit of studying (finally) for my first test (today). Wednesday night I went to the apartment of a girl that Laura and Jack know, who is half Chilean so she had her own place and introduced us to some of her friends. After trying to figure out how to get everywhere, and then having to pay for public transportation all the time, it was GREAT to meet Chileans who can drive us around. We ended up going to a dance club all night- there are definitely some Chileans who are very, very well off.. one guy I was talking to had traveled all over the world and had been to NYC over ... read more

Waving good-bye to South America

South America » Chile » Santiago Region » Santiago March 30th 2006

The journey so far......

Quest for the Golden Carrot

Today's our last day in South America! Before we get all teary-eyed we should talk about the great city of Santiago. We got here on Tuesday, having spent a lovely 6 hours on the bus re-watching the Matrix 2, Miss Congeniality 2 and half of the Aviator. We wandered round the city that evening and then booked ourselves into a Tango dancing lesson at the YMCA! Yep, that's right the Tango! The lesson was excellent. We didn't quite manage to get to the fiery passionate stuff you see in the movies, but we mastered the basic step which was 8 steps and pretty complicated. And then you do things like 2-1, 4-1, 5-3, 8-3. That's the lingo you see. Anyway I think we were pretty good for just one lesson, and he told us to keep ... read more

Brief history of Chile

Prior to the coming of the Spanish in the 16th century, northern Chile was under Inca rule while Araucanian Indians inhabited central and southern Chile; the latter were not completely subjugated until the early 1880s. Although Chile declared its ind...more history

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