South America Day 3

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15th January


We woke & had breakfast of fruit, wholemeal toast & instant coffee and cereals with powdered milk (there is no fresh milk available in Chile, just either dried or UHT & dried was the choice here). It was decided that the best thing we could do would be to return to the airport to find out if there as any information on our bags as our thoughts about urgency (i.e. lack of it) in South America were confirmed by an Ex Pat English guy living in Chile but staying in the Hostel on holiday.

So off to the airport back on the local service bus which was loaded with airport workers from the city. We enquired about our bags at the LAN information desk & after being sent to the LAN baggage service desk we noted the large amount of cases & rucksacks around the desk - we were not the only ones without baggage! After 3 or 4 telephone conversations & being sent away for a 20 minute coffee break it was established that the bags may be here but no one was sure. We were instructed to knock on the door of the customs office where Sam was allowed to reenter the baggage reclaim area. In the corner of the room was a huge pile of suitcases, rucksacks & bags which Sam was allowed to root through in search of the bags that no one was sure were here. She found my bag & as she was searching for her own was summonsed by the LAN staff "I have some information - one bag is still in Madrid". It was rough justice & would have been better if it was the other way around but one was better than none. So back through the arrivals area we made it back to the LAN baggage desk where we were issued with US$140 to compensate for the lost baggage. We were assured that Sams bag would make it to Santiago the next day but we would be flying to Patagonia at 0730 & the Madrid flight would not land until 0930, the bag would have to follow.

We headed back into Santiago to do some shopping. Sam bought some clothes to keep her going as the two of us had now having been in the same clothing (bar some overnight underwear washing) for the better part of 3 days and we had no better idea when or where her rucksack would turn up.

We had a walk to the top of a fortified rocky hill with a maze of staircases leading up it in the centre of the cultural area of Santiago. The views from the top gave a good indication of the location of Santiago in respect to its surroundings. In the middle of the Central valley closed in by high mountains - the Andes to the East & the Coastal Mountains to the West Santiago sits in a prime growing area on the flat valley floor.

We found a nice Spanish/Italian influenced bar/restaurant in the Santiago Old town which was recommended in the Lonely Planet book. After dinner we retired to the hostel with a bottle of wine to share with Lucia & Peter and chatted about our different lives & work at home. We said our goodbyes at the end of the evening as we would be leaving the Hostel at 6am to catch the airport bus for the flight to Patagonia.

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Photos

Santiago
Santiago with the Andian foot hills beyond