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Day 1 - Friday 3rd Feb The trip begins in Springsure. To set the scene: Karen has had one hours sleep as she finishes her thesis. Roger is having a last minute nap and packing the bags.
An 8am flight out of Emerald gets us to Brisbane in time to finish printing, binding and positing the thesis, and some last minute shopping (we forgot to pack toothpaste!). All is looking good for the trip.
Day 2 - Saturday 4th Feb
The Facts: 15 hour flight to Santiago
Visit to Cerro San Cristobal to get an overview of the city
The longer version: 6am out of Brisbane, then Sydney, Auckland and finally Santiago. The lounge area for our departure gate was also if interest as we spotted one South American with a big sombrero, shopping trolley and 3 type of cameras. Gave us a taste of what was to come.
Lovely Lan Chile provided individual screens for games and movies to keep us entertained for 15 hours flying time. It was also our first introduction to Spanish, and it was intriguing, but the English translations of the safety briefing appeared to be only half the
Santiago city
View from Cerro San Cristobal length of the Spanish versions (of which we couldn’t understand). We wondered what additional information they were giving the Spanish speakers in the event of an emergency.
Upon arrival in Santiago we were greeted by our driver, and around 200 people waiting for others to come out. We weren’t quite alert enough to have our camera ready for this classic shot. It was also going to be one many interesting Taxi experiences that we were to have in South America as we sped along the freeway into town. Our conclusions are that taxis in South America must be: min 10 years old; have at least 5 major dents; be unaware of the spend limit; and have no seat belts.
To assist in getting used to the change in time-zones (approx 12 hours) we headed straight out to get an overview of Santiago at Cerro San Cristobal a major park in Santiago. It has a cable car to reach the top on one side and funicular railway from the city side (as seen in the Amazing Race!) There is an amazing swimming pool part way up, and a statue of the Virgin Mary which many were visiting. It also had nice
views of the Andes to the west when the smog cleared enough to see the few kms to these mountains.
It was also the location of our first dining experience and it wasn’t good!
Orange Juice is not Fanta, but oh well.
Tried a meat Empanada (meat wrapped in pastry), but wasn’t a big fan
And Rogers cheese platter was good, but some was turning into blue vein.
Roger started his Spanish lessons today, with the assistance of English movies and Spanish Subtitles!
Day 3 - Sunday 5th Feb
The Facts: Visit to Downtown Santiago
Viewing the changing of the Guard at La Moneda (former Presidential Palace)
Into the Plaza de Armas (statues commemorating the wars) and many cathedrals
Museo de Art Precoloumbio
The longer version Headed into downtown Santiago on the metro system (another lesson in Spanish- if you say something in Spanish, it is unlikely that you can understand the reply, particularly if they are talking about money!)
We were there on the day that the changing of the guard occurs at La Moneda. Quite an impressive display of military might with a couple of horses, a marching band and what must
have been the militaries dogs (see photo).
We wandered into town to the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art which had a lot of pots, textiles, and a special display of art from the Tiwi Islands (yes the ones above Darwin!).
Out into the main square saw a colourful assortment of artisans, and many older buildings of historical importance.
Into the shopping mall which was no different to anything you would find in any city: 4 or 5 levels of chain stores. Karen needed another pair of shoes and successfully purchased a pair with a salesperson who spoke no English!
We then walked to Cerro Santa Lucia, a smaller hill in Santiago which was full of twisted stone walkways to the top, and more views of Santiago, showing brand new shiny buildings next to derelict apartment blocks.
For our evening we went north of the area we were staying in as we wandered along the muddy Rio Mapuche. We were courted by many vendors from the hotels, and after making our choice ordering our meals we sat and watched as the show unfolded before our eyes. Anyone walking on the streets, up to a block away would be approached to dine at
their establishments with offers of free drinks. Nowhere was out of bounds for approaching potential diners, including inside others restaurants!
Anther drinks mishap for Karen: agua mineral sin gas (mineral water) is what was ordered she thought, but what arrived was agua mineral con gas (soda water) Lesson learnt: .DO NOT use non for no, use sin (without).
Day 4 - Monday 6th Feb
The Facts To Ushuaia
The longer version Today we finally headed south, to the southernmost CITY in the world, Ushuaia, which is also the port of embarkation for our boat trip. The flight is a bit of a milk run, stopping in Puerto Montt, Punta Arenas (where you clear customs), and finally Ushuaia. Views on the first leg are spectacular however as you travel down the line of volcanoes, including some active ones with a bit of steam arising from them. Arriving in Ushuaia, we caught another Taxi, who also felt no need to stick to the spend limit on the short ride from Airport to the hotel.
An easy afternoon as wandered around town and saw many more penguins than you could imagine. There were soft and cuddly ones, glass
ones, good looking ones, and some very tacky ones.
Another drinks mishap: A look on the menu got muddled up and although a hot chocolate (Chocolate Caliente) would have been nice, a Café a Leche is what arrived (Cappucino).
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