Apart Hotel Neruda Santiago

... crowd laughed uncontrollably! We later determined that we were of course saying obscene things that humiliated us, but we have thick skin and we can put it down as another experience, a unique one some might say, and to be honest it was quite funny!<br><br>We stayed in Santiago for a few days as we adjusted to the time difference, planned the South American part of our journey and caught up on a few chores! We took a day visit to Valparasio, when we arrived i couldnt understand ...

... of Santiago. I visited the house of Pablo Neruda (a famous Chilean poet and writer, who had a unique idea on how to design his houses - he had 3), this was really quite interesting for me. In particular because I would like to design my own house one day, and also becuase of the links he had to politics and alsorts of other famous folk. <br><br>One museum I would recommend in Santiago is the Museo Nacional at Quinta Normal. It is a natural history museum, and has ...

... lingers around. Real pity.<br><br>Day 3 involved going to a rather funky museum which is home to countless pre-Columbian sculptures and ceramics as well as evidence of mumifiying pre-dating the Egyptians by several thousand years. Really, really cool. <br><br>However, Santiago is not exactly teeming with things to keep you busy so yesterday I popped over to a nearby coastal town called Valparaíso. A pretty Bohemian kind of place (or scruffy depending ...

... anywhere else in my travels and left the wonderful New Zealand to do so. But I made the most of it and relaxed by the pool and hated every second of it. <br><br>In fairness check out was a pleasure. For it meant I was getting back on track. I hit the receptionist with the key cards to room 168 and she hit me with a whopping hotel bill which included the outright plundering of the mini-bar. The most interesting thing I discovered on the bill was that ...

... the one in Liverpool. Except the stuff is cheap in Liverpool. On a Friday evening we went to the races at the Club Hipico de Chile. We had no idea what to expect, and got out the smartest clothes we have, which could never ever be considered as smart anywhere but at the Club Hipico de Santiago it seems. It was free to get in and the stand was an amazing classic European style, looking straight out of 19th century France or something. There were a few people ...

... day as the area we were staying in was full of cool graffiti and murals which will make excellent fodder for a mural photo montage type thingy. At this stage we had become way too excited about going to New Zealand to function normally let alone do any activities, so we did nothing. We went to the airport a mere 4 hours ahead of our flight and despite our excitment we were a little sad to be leaving Latin America.

... I got to know Santiago in depth!!! What am I talking about???... EVERYONE KNEW!!!! I met an old friend in Santiago, a local, who showed me a more natural side of the city, and took pity on my increasing level of pov**ty....so gen**ous!!!!! Santiago had received a pretty bum rap from a lot of the travel**s I met, but I really loved the place. While th**e lacks a whole lot to do, it functions well and has a rath** complete feel to it. Maybe if had ...

... room and watch the board for information about our flight. The display said 'On Time' for the whole time we were waiting and then all of a sudden changed to 'Gate Closed'. What happened to a boarding call?! Well we ran across the airport lounge and just made it through the gate. That would not have been amusing if we had missed our flight. Seriously, boarding call people! We arrived in Santiago without any further problems and checked into our hostel, which ...

... it again and had a couple of shots down the hill. To get back up the beginners hill there's this kind of moving rope with a pulley that you put between your legs and it pulls you back up while you slide on your board. The dude that helps you on was such a flirt but good craic. That was... until... Avril was going up and she fell off. That was fine, he tried to help her back on like the nice guy that he was but she fell again and as she did, she punched him in the nose ...

... at about 4am. The Hostel that we were staying at was very big and old with a huge front door and a very old fashion lock on it. The hostel was run by an old Chilean couple in their late sixties. The old lady spoke no English and old man only a little. We both tried the keys they had given us but neither of then seemed to work. After medaling around for about half an hour with the keys we decided that we would have ...