no habla español

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So the plane flight was totally crap. 11.5 hours of average food and uncomfortable seats. Dinner food was great, breakfast food was shite. We tried to sleep but it just didn´t happen. Leaving Auckland at 4.40pm on Wednesday and arriving in Santiago at midday on the same day and having no sleep can make a person damn tired.

We were wrecked by the time we landed in Santiago. The landing was great though, the view from the plane was amazing. The land is so flat and barren, then there will be a massive mountain popping up out of nowhere. In between the barren areas and mountains there are massive crop plantations, all set out in huge circles (have a look at the photos). Got held up at the airport because we didn´t see the sign pointing us to the queue for people who have to pay on entry. So we waited in the customs queue for half an hour and when we finally got up to the customs officer, she sent Aaron to another queue to pay the 61USD entry fee that Australians have to pay. So we broke a golden rule at our first destination, we got separated! After I got my entry stamp I waited for Aaron to appear.. waited.. waited. Still nothing after 20 minutes so I asked some people that looked sort of Australian and they said he would be in a long queue. I finally got sight of him after more than half an hour. Eventually he got through and we went in search of our bags. But since had been so long in customs, our flight didn´t show on the baggage carousels. With a feeling of dread we sought out the counter for our airline and found that our bags had been put on the floor by one of the carousels, so we found them easy after that.. phew! We went through the items to declare queue and they didn´t even bother asking what we had. They x-rayed our bags and sent us on our merry way. We found our shuttle transfer easily. The first thing I noticed when we left the airport was the rubbish, it was everywhere all along the motorway. And I thought Australia had too much litter! The shuttle was pretty quick and we got dropped off outside Don Sanitago Hostel.

We met our new friend Diego who works at the hostel and he showed us our room, then we had to go in search of some money and bottled water. We checked with Diego that it was safe to walk around the area and he assured us not a problem and that the whole area is very safe for gringos. We found the supermacado and had a go at using the ATM, which was easy once we found the button that said ´foreign customer ingles´. The supermacado was a bit more daunting. Water (1.17AUD) was easy enough to find though, plus we managed to find pasta and pasta sauce so we could made our own dinner. We also discovered that litre bottles of local beer were only worth $1.71 in Australian dollars!! On the way back to the hostel we attempted to buy 2 nectarines from a street vendor which was fun. He said the cost was ´doscientes´. We knew that ´dos´meant two, so we figured it was 2 pesos or 20 pesos or 200 pesos. After getting it wrong a few times, he had to show us the right coins from his till so we could pay the right amount. We had to admit defeat after we got back to the hostel, we slept for a few hours to recharge. That night we met everybody at the hostel and made quite a few new friends. We polished off our 2 litres of beer and were invited out to party but decided to get over our jetlag instead.

Next day we took ourselves on a walking tour of the city. Had breakfast at the hostel first, a lovely lady comes in every morning and cooks breakfast for the whole house and then does the cleaning. We had cafe and te with fruita, pan and huervos (coffee, tea, fruit, bread, eggs). With map in hand we figured out which way to go and set off towards the ´funicular´, which is a trolley car which goes all the way to the top of this San Cerro Cristobal mountain in the middle of the city. On the way we passed a pet shop that sold tarantulas for 8 Australian dollars. We made our way to Plaza de Armas, which is a paved square in the middle of the city. We wandered around streets, food shops and malls for a few more blocks. We found a park not far from there. The park was built on a steep hill and in the middle was Castillo Hidalgo. We climbed up to the top where there were turrets with a good view of the city. After that we spotted some markets to check out, but it was mostly tourist rubbish at tourist prices. We walked over to an area our hostel friends had told us about called Bellavista. Found a bar there and bought our first Pisco Sour, a traditional local drink made of Pisco, lemon and sugar. They were only $4 each and pretty much tasted like tequila.. very strong! We had to finish with a beer chaser. Apparently Pisco Sours taste different in Bolivia and Peru, so we´ll wait until we get there to try them again. We had to search for our first bathroom after those drinks. We consulted our phrase book and found the word for bathroom is banos. We asked the staff at the bar we were drinking at and they managed to communicate to us that you have to pay to use public toilets. But since we had spent money at their bar, they would give us a ticket so we could use it for free. There was actually a lady in the toilet block with a till and receipt book! They charged 300 pesos (thats if you don´t already have a ticket) and provided you with a little wad of toilet paper. But, aside from being a bit weird, it was nice and clean... so I suppose thats what you pay for.

By this time the day was almost over so we decided to head home and clean our filthy feet. The funicular could wait another day. On the way home we braved the post office to buy a stamp for a postcard I had written. The lady spoke zero english and our spanish was very very basic. It took a while but we figured it out with broken spanish and hand signals and we managed to buy postage to Australia for about $1.20... pretty cheap. We walked all the way back to the hostel and picked up some groceries on the way. We bought: 4 litres of water, 4 litres of beer, 2 litres of wine, a packet of crackers, 250g cheese and 2 tomatoes, for the grand total of $18.40. Love grocery shopping here!

That night we got drunk at the hostel and Juan, one of the staff, said he was going to take us out to see his friends Columbian band. That fell through so we went to Bellavista to go to a few clubs. By this point it was midnight, everything here seems to happen later than at home.. I think its the 2pm local siesta that makes having dinner and everything else happen so late at night. We didn´t have to dress up fancy like Sydney, we all went in jeans, tshirts and sneakers. Ended up at a place that had good music. Buying a drink was a bit different to home. We queued up at one end of the bar to buy a drink, the lady gives you a receipt that you then take to the barman to redeem your drink. Still totally cheap though, $3 for a bottle of beer. We had only sat down for a moment when the bar staff started clearing away all of the tables. So we all stood up and realised they were making way for the dance floor. Within half an hour the place was packed with people dancing. The dj´s were acting super cool up on stage, smoking cigarettes and pretending to mix. They played all sorts of stuff including Lady Hawk and Pump up the Jam and couldn´t mix at all, they just pretended towards the end of the track and once the music started sounding messy, they would just switch tracks. It was hilarious! We had a good dance there for a while and then got a bit over the cigarette smoking inside and the various and assorted spanish women banging into us while dancing. I also had two separate guys walk right up to me and start dirty dancing, I had to ask Alison who we were out with to tell me how to say I´ve got a boyfriend in spanish. So we left with John and Alison and left the other guys behind to chase the Spanish ladies.

We had a few cocktails at another bar after that and then decided to go for a walk and find a place with music. By this point it was 4am and most places were closing. We ended up getting a cab home instead. Had a good sleep that night, didn´t set an alarm and ended up sleeping in until midday... whoops. Totally missed out on our free brekkie. We decided to be brave and head off the opposite direction we went the day before. There definitely were not many gringos down that way. We did alright for about 20 minutes and found some very random shops, mostly selling underwear and kids clothes.. weird. A homeless guy asked us for money though so we re-thought our plan to walk that way and decided to catch a train over to Bellavista to check out the funicular. The train was pretty easy. You buy 1 ticket for 400 pesos (84 cents) and then you can go to any station on the whole network, pretty good deal. So we got our 2 tickets, dos por favor. Easy peasy. The trains were surprisingly modern and clean and they go really fast! Got to our station simple as that and made our way over to the funicular. The funicular is a carriage that goes up a hill in the middle of Santiago, it was built in 1925. The hill that the funicular climbs is 260 metres high (have a look at the photos). The ride is really cheap, just over $3. There is even a zoo half way up the hill. Aaron loved the ride but to be honest I found it scary! Yep, I´m a big chicken. The hill is so steep and high, I was happy to get back down again. The view from the top is amazing though and there is a massive 22 metre high statue of some lady, I think its meant to be Mary Magdalen or something like that.

After our funicular adventure we headed back home on the train, man we are clever gringos! Diego at the hostel made a sign to put up saying we´re having an earthquake party tonight since its Friday. An earthquake is a honeydew melon with a hole cut in the top. You scoop out the flesh and chop it all up. Put a few tablespoons of sugar in the melon and put it in the fridge for a half hour. After that put some of the flesh back in, plus some wine and some pineapple sorbet.... and there you have an Earthquake!

We didn´t end up having much to drink. We have to be at the airport at 6am tomorrow, to fly over to Rio de Janeiro!!

Watch this space for the next update....

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Photos

Rio Mapocho river
This river was in the middle of town.... um not very pretty

Comments

[james st. james]

el guater (the toilet)
just as a general rule when travelling in latin america, you should expect to pay to use restrooms so it's good to have change or small bills, and always carry your own toilet paper as restrooms never have any. and what you had at your hostel is not really a traditional terremoto, which is a popular chilean cocktail. a regular terremoto consists of vino pipeNo (a kind of artesanal wine), fernet, and pineapple ice cream. the melon thing sounds good, but not normally in it (although chileans also do "melon con vino", which is wine and melon, just like you describe but you eat the alcohol soaked melon and drink the wine out of it. enjoy brazil, don't forget to have some caipirinhas! cheers!