After a 16 hour flight I arrived in Santiago yesterday at 1pm local time and took a shared van from the airport into the city. I checked into La Chimba Hostel in Barrio Bellavista (and wandered around for an hour trying to find a phone to call Mum and Dad) then I explored the city and despite the layer of fog hiding the Andes, it is amazing. I walked from Barrio Bellavista to Central Santiago through Parque Forestal, with a detour through Mercado Central, which I discovered is a fresh seafood market. In the centre are restaurants and as you walk by waiters try and get you to sit down. When they heard my accent they asked lots of questions about Australia and what I thought of Chile, so instead of taking a few minutes to
... read more