Panamericano Santiago

... all the hype was about, just seemed like another big city port...however once we ascended into the surrounding hills, its true beauty was revealed, what a fantastic city. Interestingly it seems that not a square inch of the city was void of grafity, some of it the mindless tagging you see everywhere, but other bits were quite creative! <br><br>The only other interesting point of note was from the first night in the hostel, when one of the guys in the dorm gave out a few screams ...

... of interesting things about the wildlife and habitats that are in Chile. Which is a country that has an amazing amount of different landscapes and climates. Aside from being forced by school or parents to stay at a museum this is probably the longest I ever stayed in one! Over 2 hours!<br><br>Now to explain what Cafe con piernas is. This translates as Coffee with legs. Its kind of a cross between Starbucks and Hooters, and is only seen in Santiago ...

... your point of view. Do you think Brick Lane is cool? If yes, then maybe you´d like it there too). <br><br>We got picked up at the bus station by quite possibly the nicest hostel tout I´ve ever met. She took us on the bus to the centre of town and then walked with us all the way to the hostel (which included using a kind of cable car which runs along the ground up the steep hills of the town). We would never have found the place (or any other) if we ...

... Square in Waterville is in fact located not in Ireland but somewhere referred to as Iran, Islamic Republic of. Yup I'm a fully fledged Iranian now - such is inability of the French Polynesians to grasp my charming accent - think Ireland pronounced in full Norn Iron accent. I can see how they made the mistake. Still its great to know I can lounge around posh resorts when my country is in post election turmoil. Highly satisfactory.<br><br>The ...

... most of who had been there since the start at 2pm and a lot of families. The races were roughly every 20 minutes with a total of 19 in all but we only saw about 8. It was more like the dogs in England than the races. We met up with Kamal and Emily again which was cool and all had a good time. As far as winners go though, we lost the first race then Sherlock Holmes won some money for us. I had just finished reading The Great Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and ...

... quarter chicken and chips, which seems to be their favourite dish. Chile´s food was not its high point, though the one litre stubbies were. We did manage to learn how to say copa vino (glass of wine) and uno cerveza por favor (one beer please) pretty quickly. Santiago itself was a very pretty city, lots of parks and very little poverty. Here´s a few happy snaps.

... a little more I would have missed out on the natural charm..... The phony that I am seems to have paid off for once!!!! The hostel I stayed in was cool; as was the own**, until he began to gently massage my left buttock rath** inappropriately. I gave him a slight push as to not break his back, but hard enough to provide ample pain to jog his groggy memory in the morning, and off**ed a polite refusal in the form of a two word, commonly used phrase ...

... proved to be not a good choice. The manager was really rude, as were the staff, and hostel etiquette appears again to be a mystery to some people. But aside from this we enjoyed Santiago. We visited the Presidential Palace, which is a huge building on one of the squares, with fountains out the front and guards too. From here we walked pretty much all over the city, stopping at Cerro Santa Lucia, which is a big hill with a castle type building at the top. We climbed ...

... poor guy had to run off and get tissue because she gave him a nose bleed!! Oh my God it was so funny!!! So we decided that was it for our day in the snow and headed back to the top for a coffee. Back at the restaurant we realise Avril lost her money belt with her passport, credit cards etc... uh oh. I mena she was flying home the next week so that's not good. Off we went, back down to the guy she punched to see if he had found anything. He was very forgiving and very helpful ...

... rig the door bell. Both Mat and I felt guilty about doing this due to the age of hotel owners. They both came down the stairs and greeted us with huge grins on their faces in their pajamas. Mat and I both felt like guilty teenagers being busted by Mum and Dad for coming home late from a party. But the couple greeted us with big smiles and open arms instead of being yelled at. In the morning they left breakfast at our door.