Advertisement
Published: September 25th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Marc in Santiago
Full of Chilean bigness Greeting folks from a new continent, a new country, and new levels of confusion for mr marc. Since my camping on Whaiheke (which now seems years ago) so much has happened its as bonkers as can be. Firstly i"ve been lucky enough to take part in officially the worlds longest ever 24th september - i was technically in this day for about 45 hours thanks to my crossing of the dateline - yeah.
So anywho, the first thing is that i{m fine (apart from the lack of an apostrophe key) and have arrived in Santiago, checked into my lovely anglo freindly hostel and have successfully got lost, found myself, got lost again, found myself again and then got to a computer all in a day.
Next the story of how i got to this situation. Well, after Danny (the unbelievably hospitable chap i was staying with in Auckland) dropped me off at Auckland airport at 1pm 24th September (for my 5pm flight) I was somewhat supprised to see my flights check in time on the board was not untill 0150 (the morning of the 25th). Hoorah, Lan Chile treated me to a 13 hour delay to start off my
Big Angel Chap
On top of yonder San Cristobel trip to South America. Luckily they also put us up for the time delayed in a swanky Auckland airport hotel, where there was a foolish all you can eat buffet which i took full advantage of, a huge double room for myself, sky TV and faux marble showers. Also there were lots of other people in the same predicament and so i ended up spending a very pleasant evening chatting to fellow travellers and enjoying a rare lap of luxury. We were then transfered back to the airport at the aforementioned 0150 and finally at 4am (25th Sept) I set off on Lan Chile flight LAN800 for Santiago. The flight was pretty gruelling at 11 hours, but i found myself happy chatting to the others around me and enjoying the complimentary bar service. About 2 hours into the flight, as if by magic it turned into the 24th of Sept again, and i officially travelled back in time - winner. And then at 11pm local time i touched down into Santiago Airport. A breif panic ensued while i was unsure if my hostel wounld be open that late, but luckily it was and after a 30 minute cab ride, during
European Santiago
Full of easy to use features which the cabby played a very Beatles friendly radio station - winner, I arrived at La Casa Roja guest house. Definately a good pick to stay as English is the language of choice, the building itself is a huge colonial relic with massive rooms, a huge socialising freindly courtyard and wide spaces everywhere (see what i mena at www.lacasaroja.cl, highly reccomended to anyone going to Chile). Despite having been on the move for 24 hours and being unsure of what day it was let alone the time i was menat to be on (eventually i worked out it was menat to be 4.30pm the next day if i was in New Zealand - body clock melt down time) I was quickly coaxed by my fellow hostel mates into enjoying a glass of red wine and listening to stories of places to go out in London. Finally 3am cam and it was time to bed farewell to the longest time travelling style day ever, and slip into a deep sleep ready for exploring Santiago the next day.
And so to Santaigo. Well, ive only been here for a few hours, but i certainly like the place. Very European and modern
Santiago
Huge amounts of buildings and hude amounts of andes in the background in style, and you could easily be mistaken for being in Spain or Italy. It also has a fantastic metro transaport system that the London tube could take a few tips from. Much cheaper (a mere 40p per single ride as far as you need) and cleaner (shiney and futuristic almost. You also have the treat of being able to see (usually, if the smog allows) the mighty Andes which look down over the city from just 40km away. Consequently you end up in the surreal predicamnet where you can see some of the world highest snow capped peaks, while in a very hot and smoggy, but modern urban conurbation. In the morning I spent my time trying to find non English speaking looking people to practice my 2 or 3 phrases of Castenolle on - this working reasonaly well in the end as i successfully ordered a quiche, water and asked various direction (no idea what the answer was, but i wanted to see if they understood where i was asking for, and judging by the expressive hand movements and lightening fast Spannish i got in return i think they did). I dont think realistically however i"ll be entering
The street i live on
The far red building is Le Casa Roja into very much informed debating while im here. Luckily though as always seems to be the case there are simply always English people about. And so it was when in the afternoon I wandered (well got lost and found myself at) to the hill of San Cristobel about 30mins walk form my hostel as the crow flies (not that id know) and met three nice English girls who allowed me to speak to someone other than myself again (conversation has been waning) and swap travelling stories in one of Santiagos many many cafes. The hill also should be given a breif mention overlooking the entire Santiago metropolis, and giving great views of the Andes. On the top of the hill is a huge statue of an Angel gazing down over her city painted in brilliant white with arms outstretched. There is also a cable car which is menat to make the walk up (450m) easier, but ended up being closed when needed on the way up and open only for the way down. Hey ho, it was a nice hike and was puncuated by many great vistas.
So anyway im enjoying Santiago and meeting people which is good. Tonight
Me and the Angel
Yuo can just make it out on the skyline will probably involve more glasses of red and enjoying one of the plethera of restaurants on offer. Then tommorow after some more exploring and practicing of poor quality Castenolle (ive tried my hardest not to ask people if they speak English to force me to learn), i"ll think about getting a bus to Valparaiso, on the coast just north of Santiago, which will be my point of departure for mid Chile to the Valley of the Moon in the north and the driest desert in the wolrd. All this seems to be very much on the "gringo" trail of backpackers, and im certainly not worried anymore as all the places i"ll be going seem very anglo-freindly.
Hope youre all well - i"ll get some pictures of my adventures up here soon.
marc
Finally to Mum and Dad - randomly as can be, the internet cafe i{m in has just started to play Sara Smile by Hall and Oates. Come to the other side of the world and some things are the same.
And bonus finally to Claire - where you dude ? Donde esta le Blogs ? hope youre still having a blast
And totally finally i want to use ÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑÑñññññññññññ key as we dont usually have it - ace
Advertisement
Tot: 0.059s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 15; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0379s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
dannyboy
Daniel
?
you mean "castellano", right? Don't forget to try the empanadas, pisco and seafood...