Arrived in Chile!

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Just arrived in Santiago de Chile this afternoon, and despite having heard that it´s not a very attractive city, my first impressions are good. From what I saw of it, the journey across the Andes from Mendoza to Santiago was absolutely stunning. Unforntunately slept through most of it, having only had 45 minutes sleep the night before because wanted to have a night out in Mendoza before leaving! Should be doing the same journey again with Nick in about 3 weeks though so I´ll take it in better that time.
Spent 5 nights in Mendoza at another good hostel with a nice bunch of people. Was thoroughly lazy for most of the time, either chilling at the poolside in the hostel, listening to Tango music in the main square or wandering around the largest urban park in Argentina. Did visit a swimming complex at a thermal water source in the mountains one day, which really envolved more chilling but I had to get on a bus to do it at least! Met a lovely Dutch girl called Melanie and a couple of Australian brothers called Jade and Danin, along with many others. Will definitely meet up with them when in Amsterdam and Sydney respectively.
One last thing to mention is that the Xmas decorations have gone up here and it´s really weird to see them in the scorching heat! Also made me realise how lucky I am to have avoided months of Xmas songs in the shops in England - hee hee (or ho ho ho)!

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