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Published: November 26th 2009
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Santiago - Chile
Sunday 15th November - Day 70 We left Mendoza and headed for the hills. On our way to the border we're continuously climbing winding roads until we are as high as the snow covered peaks. After 3 hours of this we then have to queue for over an hour to get through immigration at an altitude of over 4000 meters. After this, feeling extremely groggy, all the passengers of our bus are made to line up, like wanted criminals, to get through customs. Our bus driver appears and holds out a cup and strongly suggests that we have a whip-round for the poker-faced officials and the guys who have slung our bags off and on the bus.
We wearily return to the bus and brace ourselves for some more meandering roads at high altitude. 10 minutes from the border, the scenery is breath-taking, where's the camera? A frantic search ensues; our bags are checked, rechecked and checked again. Rick is pulling his rapidly greying hair out. Thoughts are racing through his mind; When did I last have it? Did I have it in the queue? Did I leave it on the bus? Has it
been stolen? Have I just tipped the baggage handlers who have stolen my camera?
Meanwhile Lizzy is in a state of shock,... silent,... dumbstruck. After a while Lizzy nudges Rick, who is by now mumbling to himself with his head in his hands, gently rocking like a mental patient in need of medication.
"You better go and speak to the driver" said Lizzy. So Rick gets up and attempts to start a conversation which he is ill-prepared for. After a few minutes of hand gestures and confused face pulling, Lizzy appears with the camera in her hand. Lizzy had sat on it and wedged it in the seat. The camera had survived the full force of Lizzy's bottom and order was restored.
We arrived in Santiago 2 hours later than scheduled, jumped in a taxi and found a nice hotel, just off Plaza Brasil which has many bars and restaurants. We found a nice family restaurant with a very friendly owner, who described the menu through imitations of the various creatures that were to be served, and marvelled at the word "crab". Working how much things cost however was enough to give you a headache...the exchange rate was
about 870 Chilean Pesos to 1 GBP.
Monday 16th November - Day 71 After a good night's sleep we are ready to see the sights of Santiago. We'd been warned by many people that is was a dangerous and dirty city. We did a walking tour of the sights, starting in the main square, Plaza de Armas. On our route we saw, The Cathedral, Presidential Palace, had lunch in the financial district, and then climbed the 70 meters to the top of "Cerro Santa Lucia". This is a small hill in the middle of downtown, atop the hill, you can have a 360* panoramic view of the city. We found Santiago to be a beautiful - if a bit smoggy- city, with very friendly people.
Tuesday 17th November - Day 72 The next day we head 2 hours down the road to the coast for our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. We arrived at the port town of Valparaiso, the cultural capital of Chile. Looking back from the sea there are over 40 steep hills covered with colourful houses stacked on top of each other. There are many famous tram/train things to get you up
some of the hills called "ascensores". These are basically rickety sheds, on rusty stilts, being dragged up and lowered down on rails by frayed cables....built between 1883 - 1916. At no point did we feel our lives were in danger.
We spent the afternoon walking slowly round the colourful houses. Many of the walls had "grafiti" on them but the artwork was superb and added character to the place. We found a lovely bistro for lunch, ran by an eccentric Frenchman.
After some food we jumped on the train to the neighbouring town of Viña del Mar, a modern city beach resort in stark contrast to Valparaiso. Viña del Mar looked to be a nice place but the season had not started yet so it felt a bit flat. We decided to head back to the hotel and enjoy another 2 hours on a bus.
Wednesday 18th November - Day 73 We spent Wednesday walking around the shops and taking in the atmosphere of Plaza de Armas. There was an old man juggling a football in ways which would impress Ronaldo. There was also a chess tournament involving men of all ages. We ate at a
modest cafe just off the square which was delicious and a bargain. Before heading back to the hotel we stop off at an internet cafe and spent 2 hours waiting for all the photos to be backed up, after our scare on the bus coming here we realised how behind we were and how precious our photos were to us!
After what seemed like eternity for the photos to be transferred on the slooow computers we decided to head back to hotel and have an early night. We had to pack and were due to catch a bus at 9:30am for the 24 hour journey north to the desert and our next stop San Pedro de Atacama.
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