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Published: August 31st 2008
Santiago, Chile
Our First Stop in Latin AmericaOn leaving New Zealand at 5pm on a Sunday afternoon, and having done an 11hr flight, we landed in Chile 3 hours earlier than when we had left???? It left us feeling very disorientated!!!
We flew into Santiago the capital of Chile and started to get a little worried as within the first day we saw a dead body, a shoplifter in action and a thief in the street, however there was no need as it turned out to be a very safe and nice place.
Jet lag soon hit us for a good week after we had arrived but luckily this gave us time to adjust ourselves to the different way of life we would have to lead, their culture, and the climate, as it was freezing and our hotelier had definitely forgot to pay his electricity bill. It was definitely a culture shock arriving from New Zealand, where we had been in a comfort zone for 6 weeks. The biggest shock however was the massive language barrier, the chileans spoke very little English and our Spanish was to say a little rusty........we couldn´t decipher the menus or even order a beer (which was important stuff), it became
obvious very quickly that we needed Spanish Lessons!!!!
Santiago is not the prettiest city we have seen and on first impressions looks very repressed but it has the most magnificent back drop of the Andes, it was lovely. There are some great places to visit to learn about Chiles history mostly on the central plaza of San Martin with cathedrals and museums and colonial buildings. There is also a great view point overlooking the city and the Andes, a little smoggy though.
On the way up to the view point I caught a glimpse of our first llama and having learnt that the locals want money for all photos decided to get a sneaky one of him, however the owner caught me and came chasing us up the road, luckily we entered a part where he was forbidden to cross and we just carried on walking as normal whilst he shouted at us from behind ha ha.
The highlight of Chile though was going skiing to Valle Nevado ski area, it took about 3 hours to get there after hiring out the most flattering suits and working our way up through the mountains. We eventually got half
Infamous Llama
We got chased for this snap...... a day on the slopes but the it was brilliant. The snow was fresh and we manage to try most of the pistes a fair few times.
We hadn't really thought properly about what we would do when we arrived in South America so thinking of the climate and that going any further south would be suicidal due to the cold we headed to Argentina. On the journey through the Andes, the scenery was amazing with huge mountains of different colours on either side of you, it was quite stunning. We have since been visiting the cities of Argentina and hope it will get warm soon!!!!!!
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james st. james
non-member comment
a pic's worth a thousand pesos (US$2)
people don't charge for pictures in chile, but people who have llamas (there's only like a handful in the city) do b/c that's how they make their livelihood. so while as a foreign tourist this may not seem obvious and i hope it was an "honest" mistake, by doing what you did (getting something for free that you're expected to pay for) you essentially denied the man his livelihood. you're just getting to south america and i wish you all the best in your travels, but you should be sensitive to these kind of things when taking pictures of street performers or like this guy, people w/props for photos. just be warned that in the highland areas of bolivia and peru, the natives don't take kindly to being photographed. enjoy the rest of your stay in chile and latin america. good luck with your español. ¡cheers!