Blogs from Santiago, Santiago Region, Chile, South America - page 129

So we left La Serena and had our farewell lunch at a beach on the way to Santiago. The best lunch ever - cheese, biscuits and wine! :-) Some of us drank more wine than others and Helen managed to convince Alex that she should write to her very sexy lodger in Sydney - Lucas. The following is an insert of what I can remember Alex wrote to Lucas "Hello, I am 32 but act 26. I am 5ft tall with everything in the right places - well at the moment! . I am an outdoorsy kind of girl, I spent the winter doing a ski season and I´ve recently discovered cycling. Anyway I can´t remember the rest as we were all crying with laughter!...I may upload this onto an internet dating site.... Our first night ... read more

15.10.05 (yesterday) We went for a walk around the city. We went to the Central Mercardo which is a traditional chilean market selling food, mainly sea food which is sent to UK too. Today we went to Cerra Santa Lucia, this is a historic part of the city. It boasts gardens, fountains and a castle. We had been told not to go early in the morning, in the afternoon or at night as it can be dangerous. So we got there at about 11am, nice and safe! It was very pretty. At the top of the hill (as it´s on a hill) you get a nice view of the city with the Andes in the background. The mountains aren´t really clear as there is always a smog over the city, nice! Over the road we went ... read more

South America, continent number four and the final destination before we fly home next month. We arrived in Santiago with a new found enthusiasm which had been missing since Asia. During our months spent in 'home from home' Australia and New Zealand we found that we had lost some of that feeling of adventure, but our time in Easter Island started to awakend those lost feelings and upon landing in Santiago our enthusiasm had reached new hights. It's all about making these last few weeks really memorable and going home on a high. After a good nights rest, our first priority was to book our bus ticket to our next stop, 'La Serana'. This was slightly more difficult than we had antisipated due to a national holiday for the 'Independance day' celebrations, which were going on ... read more

Bon donc on est bien arrives, le decalage horaire n a pas ete facile a digerer, surtout avec 20 heures de voyage dans les jambes. On est arrives tout tranquilous a notre hostel diñanche matin, tout pres du centre et pqs cher, mais un peu crados quand meme. Tout de suite apres, balade a pieds en ville, cest plutot calme normal pour un dimanche matin. Sur la Plaza de arñas en plein centre, on tombe direct sur un concert de musique militaire, une bonne vieille ambiance a la tintin et les picaros. Sinon c est une ville plutot sympathique, tres europeenne pour le centre, avec des banlieues un peu crados quand meme, genre pays de l est. Sinon tout est plutot propre pour de l amerique du sud, un seul truc bizarre : le nombre ... read more

- FOOD: Popcorn at the cinema, pisco sour that tasted of washing up liquid. - PEOPLE: Taxi driver who got all my money, fast moving city workers, more patronising Chileans, reunion with Laura (met in Brazil) - AREA: Full hostels - a first. The smartest South American capital - but maybe also the dullest. Excellent 2nd hand clothes shops though. Qantas flight the best. - WEATHER: The pollution is trapped in this city giving it a surrounding mist. Fri 22nd July: The bus arrived in Santiago early damn it - 5.30 am. After bus daze had settled in, I couldn't work out how to get in the terminal to waste some time before going to a hostel so just got straight into a taxi and hoped for the best. The best didn't happen - the taxi ... read more