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Published: October 1st 2008
Thursday 11th September Went to the train station for tickets to Arica, Chile. Cost us 7NS each. Immigration is completed at the train stations so should be relatively easy. When the train arrived it was just one carriage with it's own engine, all made of wood. Then when it set off it went down the middle of the road (like a tram). We followed the West coast for about an hour before pulling into Arica at sunset. Found a hostel for 10,000C$ (which is about 10.64 quid).
Friday 12th September Went to see what Arica has to offer. Saw Iglesia San Marcos and the Aduana de Arica (the former customs house), both designed by Alexandre Gustav Eiffel. They were prefabricated in his Paris studios then shipped out here. The Iglesia San Marcos is entirely cast iron except for the wooden door. You wouldn't really know it to look at it but if you were to knock on it (I did) you could hear that it was definately iron. Plaza Vicuna Mackenna has a fountain in it and is below El Morro de Arica, a 110m hunk of rock. Took a stroll along the sea front to Playa El Laucho. Saved
Plaza Vicuna Mackena
With El Morro de Arica behindmoney and had a pate sandwich for tea!
Saturday 13th September Took a walk up El Morro de Arica. It has some monuments/war memorabilla from the Chile/Peru war of 1880 plus a standard issue "Christ the Redeemer" statue. Saved even more money and had pate sandwich for lunch then "Salchipapa" for tea (a cheap chips and sausage mix).
Sunday 14th September Everything is closed today! Had a lie in. Pate sandwiches again, plus some chips!
Monday 15th September Went to bus station so we can leave tomorrow. Had a look round but nobody had tickets for tomorro. The earliest we can do is Thursday! They will have to do! 31,000C$ each and 32 hours travel. More pate sandwiches for lunch, but a proper meal out tonight!
Tuesday 16th September Another lazy day. Pate sandwiches for lunch and tea.
Wednesday 17th September Lunch (you guessed it, pate sandwich) in the park. Other than that, another lazy day.
Thursday 18th September Caught bus for Santiago at 1030. It's more of a cama than a semi-cama which is good. Served two snacks and watched several movies. Scenery started off all barren and desert-like. Gradually got more hilly,
Iglesia San Marcos
Made entirely of iron but still very barren.
Friday 19th September Still on the bus. We're following the West (Pacific) coast which throughout the day became more green, rolling hills, wild flowers and grazing horses. Served with another snack and watched more movies. Arrived Santiago 1530, two hours early! Walked down to the International Bus Station to buy tickets for Mendoza tomorrow. The cheapest were 18,000C$ for a minibus so we booked the front seats in anticipation of the journey over the Andes. Hostel hunted and finally found a basic one for 12,000C$ with private shower and basin, but shared toilet. Went to look for another hostel for when we get back from Mendoza. It's owned by an American guy we met at the bus staion. He can't half talk! He ended up getting his telescope out and showing us Jupiter and it's five moons! It was pretty cool to be fair to the guy!
Saturday 20th September Bus at 0815 to Mendoza. It was a fab journey over the Andes. Quite rocky and steep, quickly turning into snow and skiers. The Andes mountain range is the highest mountain range outside Asia and forms the world's longest exposed mountain range. The road
followed a river and a train track for a while, going over bridges, through tunnels and along canyons. We went through border formalities and entered Argentina where the mountains soon turned to a more "red" colour. It was great! We arrived in Mendoza and went hostel hunting. Found one for AR$75 with a nice big kitchen and next door to a supermarket. Went out and bought vegetables and steak, and cooked in.
Sunday 21st September Went to see some of Mendoza's sights. Mendoza was flattened by an earthquake in 1861. As a result, when it was rebuilt the authorities, anticipating a future quake made sure all the streets were wide (for rubble to fall into) and there were lots of plaza's to be used as evacuation points. The result is lots of open spaces and quite a picturesque place. Took a walk down to Plaza Independencia for the Sunday crafts fair which was more or less finished/closed. Nice fountains though! Went through the
very Spanish Plaza Espana (very much like a smaller version of Sevilles 1929 Plaza) and down to Plaza Pellegrini for the Sunday antiques market - which didn't exist! Headed throuhg Plaza San Martin and past the
Iglesia, Convento y Basilica de San Francisco. Made use of the kitchen again and did pasta.
Monday 22nd September Did a few more of the sights today. Walked up the pedestrianised Avenida Sarmiento and through the Plaza Chile and Plaza Italia. Cooked in again. I did home-made burgers and Aimee did REAL deep fried potato style chips. It was WELL good!!!
Tuesday 23rd September Very lazy day. Did nothing at all!
Wednesday 24th September Had a walk round again. Went past Plaza Sarmiento and up to Parque Bernardo O' Higgins where we had a picnic lunch. Continued up to Plaza del Castillo which has Museo Fundacional which has the foundations of the original city centre prior to the 1861 earthquake. Saw the ruins of Templo San Francisco. Took advantage of being in Argentina and had steak again for tea.
Thursday 25th September Neither Aimee or I can remember what we did today so we assume nothing exciting happened!
Friday 26th September Took a walk up to Parque General San Martin, a forested 420 hectare green space containing several museums and a lake. The walk to the park was nice. We went through the posh side
Border crossing
Argentina/Chile of town with big mansions and well looked after gardens with green, grass lawns! Spent the sfternoon walking around the park, past monuments, statues and fountains. Walked past the Provincial Stadium "Malvinas Argentinas" which was used at the 1978 World Cup. The doors were open so we sneaked in for a photo!
Saturday 27th September Took a walk to the bus station to get tickets for tomorrow. They're AR$60 each on a minibus again. Watched Liverpool beat Everton 2-0 at Goodison. Had our "Last Supper" in Argentina with two huge steaks from the meat counter in the supermarket. Mmmmmm mmmmmm mmmmmmm!
Sunday 28th September Set off back to Chile at 0830. I smuggled a pear! There is a ban on fruit and veg entering Chile because of the risk of some disease or other carried on fruit flies. It's amazing how guilty you feel when smuggling something as small and
legal as a pear! Another scenic journey over the Andes. Checked into "Scott's" hostel (the American guy we met last time here). 12,000C$ for a double room with shared facilities and a kitchen.
Monday 29th September Took a look round downtown Santiago. The main street (Alexander O'
Higgins/Alameda) has five lanes in each direction with a large footpath/park running up the middle of it. It's very much like a Spanish "Rambla," which is a dried up riverbed that has been converted into a pedestrianised street - the most famous of which I can think of would be the Ramblas in Barcelona. We went past the Plaza Libertad and saw the Palacio de la Monedad which is the Presidential Palace. We walked round the back of the palace to the Plaza de la Constitucion and up soe shopping streets to the central Plaza Armas where we saw the impressive Post Office, the Museo Historico Nacional, lots of locals and a Chess competition! Onward and Upward along Paseo Puente to the Mercado Central which was a big fish market and fresh fish restaurants. Its a big iron structure, allegedly imported from Birmingham in the 1800's. All in all, Santiago seems a nice place, very clean and well kept, lots of nice buildings and friendly people.
Tuesday 30th September Today it's raining. This is the first time since we left Burnley in May that rain has affected our plans. Had a bit of a lazy "indoor" day, though we
did pop out to buy Aimee some sunglasses and shoes! The hostel we're staying in isn't quite finished so we made the "handyman" a brew and got chatting to him in our fluent Spanglish. He told us of a derelict building over the road that has been taken over by students. They use it to do their art stuff and play music and do general studenty things. Tonight they are holding a musical event which will be quite traditional/local stuff. The dance itself is called a "cueeca." He invited us over so we went for a look. The music was provided by a keyboard, a couple of guitars and tamborines, and the rest of the people there clapped or banged plates together! The dancing was done in couples, face to face with handkerchiefs, eye contact and knee banging! It was good to see the kind of thing that you wouldn't ordinarily see, if you know what I mean? We went back to the Hostel and chatted/drank with a group of Irish that are on our flight to New Zealand on Thursday.
Wednesday 01st October Had another relatively easy day today. Walked back up to Plaza Armas for something to
Malvinas Argentinas
Used at the 1978 World Cup do. Packed our stuff ready for the flight tomorrow!
And that more or less finishes off South America. We've had a fab time here, seen many different cultures and sights. Met allsorts of people, tried all kinds of foods and drink. We've managed to do everything we planned to do, plus a lot more. We've also spent more than we were supposed to but hey, that was always going to happen! We've loved every minute of it, and can you believe it, we're now one third of our way round the world? Four months left for New Zealand and Australia followed by four months in South East Asia. What on Earth could go wrong...............................
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