A Whole New World!

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The title is my favourite Disney song from my favourite Disney film, Aladdin is just so smooth. Unfortunately we didn´t have a flying carpet to make our continent change and therefore we arrived into Santiago, Chile after a long flight that had been delayed, very tired and hungry. We did get a nice oogling at the Andes Mountain range from the air that encirlces the city and that was quite amazing.

Not too much to say about Chile or its capital as we only spent two days there generally acclimatising to SA and trying to get over our jet lag, the time difference meaning that we actually arrived in Chile before we left New Zealand. The food was good and we took a gondola up some hill in the city centre and got great views of the Andes from the feet of a gigantic statue of the Virgin Mary. We also got a bit of advice from fellow backies about where to hit in SA in four weeks. As this is the last stage of our voyage (sob sob) we really want it to be as relaxing as possible and so are just gona pick a few spots for the month we are here and spend less time on buses and more time doing nothing.

South America is a great place. Its so laid back and the days are very long with the emphasis seeming to be to take your time doing just about everything. I keep comparing it to South East Asia which was all go go go, touts and getting business done. In SA you can wait for ages for your order to be taken in a cafe, waiters prefer to clear the table next to you before placing your coffee order at the bar and when you ask for the bill they´ll only bring it once they´ve chatted about for a bit. It isn´t as cheap as SE Asia, Chile is particularly expensive but a good dinner in Argentina or Brasil is rarely more than a fiver and a night in a dorm is about 5 to 10 pounds.

And of course the best thing about SA is the absolutely beautiful weather. Its not too hot, we aren´t dying for aircon every time we step outside, (although some days we have been terrible sweaty bettys), but generally its really pleasant heat and we are loving it and we are in complete denial for what awaits us at home.

So back on a bus and over the mountains to the chilly border crossing to get into Argentina where we first spent four days in Mendoza wine country. We were treated to a film of the Magdalene sisters on the bus, those lovely nuns that took in pregnant girls and gave their babies away and treated them like dirt, a story which scares the beejayus out of me and the Ireland that was not so long ago. We were touted at the bus stop and ended up staying a little out of the centre of town in a family run hostel that gave us a good nights sleep but also the company of their spoilt youngest son who generally terrorised all the guests. We were outta there the next day to move closer to peace in town and we walked to the large San Martin park and started the search for the perfect steak which Argentina is famous for.

Being in SA is great for the ole spanish, a language Helen and I learnt for GCSE but something we haven´t practised in 10 years. We are pretty proud of ourselves for understanding almost everything said to us and eventually after putting our heads together manage to come up with a bit of vocab and verbs and get by quite well. Its really satisfying being in a country and gaining respect of the locals by trying to communicate in their language. Especially here because no one speaks to you in english and even if they know a bit of the language as they prefer rapid-fire spanish when speaking to the tourists!

The highlight of Mendoza was our energetic bike tour around the wineries. We took a local bus where we had to rely on the charity of some passengers as the ticket machine took only coins and were dropped outside the bike hire shop. From there we headed off to a great lunch accompanied by an even greater pinot gris which, in the heat, made us so sleepy we spent an hour kipping under a tree. Then we did a tour of one of the smaller wineries to learn a bit about the wine making process. Days like this where you feel you are doing something energetic, sampling and contributing to local life and learning something new are treasured days when travelling. And we have been very lucky to have had quite a few...

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Comments

[anonymous]

easy on the old vino - can be potent even tho it is in plentiful supply (from one who knows!) Mum