Day 3 - Santiago

Sadly, we didn't sleep very well due to a niteclub in the vicinity going until 4:30am. Even earplugs didn't drown out Doof! Doof! However, this just meant we slept in (yay!) until 8:00am. At breakfast we met a couple from California, Arlene & Alan Karpel, who are doing our trip...but in reverse. They've already been to Rio, Iguacu, and Buenos Aires - where we are yet to go. They gave us some good tips and even recommended a guide for Rio, which I've already contacted. As we've got limited time in Rio, someone organising things for us sounds like a great idea.

This morning we took the funicular up to the top of the mountain where the statue of the Virgin Mary (Cerro San Cristobal) is. Of course with Mary you get the bligatory statue of Jesus on the cross and a small chapel too.

From the top of the mountain you can really see the smog in the city - it even obscured the 4000 foot Andes mountains just behind Santiago. The photo doesn't really show it but you can smell it at 880m above sea level.

For lunch we got a taxi over to Alonso de Cordova, effectively Santiago's Rodeo Drive, or perhaps Double Bay. We didn't find it all that appealing so we caught another taxi to Parque Arauco again for lunch and to continue shopping where we left off yesterday (it really is quite a large mall).

Taxis have been 'fun'. Most drivers don't understand my flawless Spanish....NOT! so directions are a combination of frantic pointing at maps and me going through every spanish word I know until we get to one he recognises.

Tonight, dinner is at Patio Bellavista, a collection of small artesan shops and cafes in this suburb with live music and dancers. It's very popular and most places are full. Dinner in South America starts after 9 generally as they are drinking and talking spanish flamboyantly up til then.

Up early tomorrow to fly to Rio with LAN Chile (again).

Day 2 - Santiago

Santiago is a city blending modern buildings with it's Spanish heritage. The city is clean, safe, and we were impressed with the focus on public spaces and parks with lots of trees.

The picture to the right is The Aubrey Hotel,

where we are staying. It's situated in Bellavista, a fairly trendy part of town near the University of San Sebastian. 

First on the agenda today was the ubiquitous Hop-On-Hop-Off double decker bus tour that you find in most cities. This 2 hour trip gave us a chance to get our bearings and passes through all parts of the city so you get a good feel for the place. However, the seats on the bus were a bit hard and we got off after an hour because Michelle's bum couldn't stand anymore sitting, so we opted for shopping instead at Mall Parco Arauco. I know what you're probably thinking, but Michelle didn't buy anything - I was the only one who managed to spend $98,990. By the way thats in chilean pesos which have an exchange rate of about 413 pesos to AUD$1.

We had to laugh when we saw the signs of a city that's growing fast, embracing technology but not giving enough attention to their infrastructure. These congested clumps of wires were quite common through the city.

The pictures below are within Parco Arauco, a large park in the north of the city adjacent to Santiago's largest shopping mall.

Day 1 - Santiago

Phew! We finally made it to Santiago. The flight was 11 hours from Auckland ut only after LAN Chile made us stay another 50 minutes at the gate because they weren't quite ready yet. We're not sure why it was late but I did notice the pilots staggering out of the airport bar....

LAN Chile seems like a nice airline but their use of timetables seems to be as only a suggestion...or perhaps something to keep the other One World partner airlines happy. So, a couple of movies, and a bit of a sleep (I use the term 'bit' because as most of you know, its almost impossible to sleep on aircraft seats), and here we are.

Santiago at the moment is 26 degrees and clear. 7pm here is 9am there. After a quick shower we're off to dinner.

Day 0 - Sydney to Santiago

Well the trip didn't start as planned. Qantas called the night before to advise the LAN Chile flight had been delayed by a few hours which has resulted in a 4 hour stopover in Auckland Airport, which is where we are now. There's only so many times you can look through duty free shops so I thought I'd write entry #1 for the blog. To compensate LAN Chile gave us $24 in food vouchers which we promptly spent on coffee and chips.