Hola!

---

Nicky: I have never had jetlag before and I can safely say it is not fun. Neil and I have been struggling with keeping awake for the last few days (not made any better by Neil´s flu) and then lying awake most of the night becuase our bodies think it is lunchtime - very frustrating!! Thats not to say we havent managed to see some of Santiago. It is a lot more European than I expected and actually reminds me alot of Madrid, which I guess isn´t so much of a surprise! We took an open top bus tour around the city on Thurs to try and get our bearings, which was really informative if a little slow. It was held up several times by protesters in the downtown area of the city. We also took a cable car to the top of the Cerro Cristobal, where there is a giant statue of the Virgin Mary. It is very impressive and, although neither of us are particularly religious, it was quite moving. The views from the top were also very impressive, we were lucky, we had made the trip on what was a relatively clear day for Santiago. It has quite a big problem with smog!! We then went and sat in the Plaza de Aramas, which is where we have also spent the last few hours, having coffee, watching the painters, listening to the preachers in the park area and generally people watching- which is definately my favourite activity!!

We have booked a bus for tomo heading south, attempting to get to Castro i a few days time but stopping off a bit on the way.

Hope everyone is ok, lots of love
xxx

PS Neil is too ill to write anything at the moment but I will make sure he does something next time

xxx

---

Comments

[ianshay]

hey there
if you get a chance, check out Valparaíso and Viña. Even though they've grown together, they are 2 very different cities. Enjoy your trip in Chile, I'll be reading your blog