Santiago & Surround

---

After an 18 hour bus journey from Antofogasta, I arrived in Santiago, Chile's capital with a population of 6 million. It is nestled amoung the Andes, though often these cannot be seen due to the smog.

The hostel I stayed at was quite nice and very relaxed, and was hosting a wine tasting the first night I arrived. How could I say no? During the wine tasting I found out that the manager of the hostel also had a beach house 2 hours north of Santiago, which he only opened on weekends and if enough people where interested. Two irish guys were going, so I jumped at the chance of spending a few days at the sea, relaxing, and taking a short break from the travelling. I just spent 3 days lazing in the sun, reading, relaxing and in the evenings we had braai's, beers and a bonfire!

Back in Santiago I spent a few days seeing some of the few sights and planning my onward travel. In the hostel I also met Ollie, an Irish guy with the same travel plans as me, so we decided to head south together...

---