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Published: November 25th 2009
So today we have just arrived back in Buenos Aires after 24 hours of bus travel from Chile. It is really hot and humid so we´re killing some time having lunch and doing this blogging until we can check into our apartment and finally get a shower and collapse on a bed. Anyway here is a recap of the last few days continuing on from where the last blog finished.
21/11 Saturday
Today we were up early to grab breakfast then got a cab out to the Mendoza Bus station to get our 7 hour bus to Santiago over the Andes. After 9:15 came and went when our bus was meant to turn up i started getting a bit stressed that the first problem of the trip was about to arise but eventually the bus turned up 20 minutes late so problems averted. We travelled back out the way that we had went to the Argentina Rafting gig but then continued up following the Mendoza river. The next couple of hours that followed were just some of the most incredible scenery imaginable. The bus headed up nearly right next to Mt Conagua and all the surrounding mountains and peaks, still covered in snow, were an incredible sight. Im guessing we got up to 4 or 5 km´s above sea level at the highest point. Near the peak of the climb we came above the border control which was an epic and unpleasant experience which took well over 2 hours of standing round wondering what was going on. Eventually we got through and once again the decent through some amazing windy passes were incredible.
We arrived in Santiago around 6ish and with the help of a very friendly taxi driver managed to book our return tickets to BA for tuesday and Thomas withdrew a few pesos (160,000). He then took us to our Hotel which was all the way across town in the area he described as being full of "beautiful ppl". Just fromn the drive through town you could see Santiago was a very beautiful place which we were looking forward to exploring.
22/11 Sunday
Today was a great day of exploring. Highlight was probably Santa Lucia Hill, which we caught the subway to (also awesome). Santa Lucia is a hill right in the middle of town covered in amazing statues, stairs, gardens, fountains all hundreds of years old and extremley beautiful, there is even a church up there. The views from some of the lookouts over Santi were also amazing including a lookout at the very top. We then walked around a fair bit of Santi seeing a number of amazing buildings and visiting the Museo de precolombino which contained a lot of amazing incan, mayan and other ancient South American cizilizations, all really nicely done. We then went looking for another couple of sights and stumbled upon a huge concert happening in one of the parks which we checked out for a while and then made our way home via the subway.
23/11 Monday
Today we had set aside for exploring Cerro San Christobal which is more of a mountian sized hill on the edge of the city. It is huge and includes a zoo a number of different gardens and some swimming pools amonjg other things. You can catch a Funicular (Tram thing up steep hill) up the steep side of the Cerro which we did and up the top is this amazing open aired church looking out over Santiago. On the very top of the Cerro was a big statue of the Virgin Mary. On the other side you can catch a cable car thing down over the various gardens and pools but as it was closed we decided to walk which ended up taking hours but all the gardens and stuff we saw was worth it, even on a stinking hot day. Walked through a very nice suburb to live at the end on way back to subway and went out for a nice tea that night to say goodbye to Santiago.
Tuesday was all buses and that brings us up to today. Anway hope everyone is well and i´m off to enjoy an hour long shower.
Adios
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Paul
non-member comment
Keep it comming
I looked up all the places you mentioned in your blog, I don't think you could have got me out of the Museo de precolombino. I am leaving Thomas bedroom door blank as I am sure that he will come back with South American inspired design Ideas.