Apart San Sebastian II Las Condes

We did a walking tour around the city and took it easy with cafes, shopping and sightseeing. We sat in the park at the Plaza de Constitution overlooking the Palacio de la Moneda, the site of Pinochet´s 1973 coup. We also wandered around to look at the main square and the official building of congress, justice and the cathedral etc.

We head towards the airport for the night for an early flight into Calama, towards the north of Chile.

I have been in Santiago, Chile now for two days. It seems like it has been a week, and I still have mixed feelings about the city and what I am doing here.
Before leaving I had few expectations about coming here aside from eating some of the insane things I saw on the Travel Channel (of which I am an obnoxious fan). However, as soon as I got on the plane from Atlanta to Santiago I got a bit of a sense of what I was in for. Unlike regular national flights within the US, almost ...

... eerie, like something out of the opening scene of pirates of the carribean. Oh and there was a ´Charles Darwin Hotel´ which excited the geek in me very much! All the hostels in this town seemed to be rooms in family homes, which was a great cultural experience compared to the usual backpacker-type digs we have often been staying in.

The next day at 7am we headed to Puerto Montt, a city further north in Chile. We thought this would be ...

... getting to know all the guaguas and finally getting into the routine of the house, I also am becoming more and more attached to one of them, "'juan''. He was raped at 11 months, in the hospital for 3 months after having surgery to repair all the damage, yet is the happiest, most independent little boy, now almost a year-and-a-half. What gets me the most isn't just his smile or laugh at the littlest thing, but ...

... not the lovely port town we were told it was - think high rise flats on the beach.  Once you get off the beach front though it does have its own charm in a bohemian sort of a way with some lovely cobbled streets and enormous run-down colonial houses that give the place a shabby chic look, so I still felt slightly optimistic that we would find my pretty, shaded courtyard cafe as we set out for a late lunch once we had settled ourselves into our hostel. What we did ...

... 6:30am. I mentioned that I would love to see the city´s nightlife, which would be easy since it was a Saturday night. Nearly all of my requests were granted! So then I had the difficult task of choosing between my various offers. Some promised parties, other promised going out dancing with friends, but one promised everything! Francisco, a cyclist enthusiast, invited me to go out for a fun night on the town with his girlfriend. He was planning ...

Did I ever mention that I'm terrified of heights . . . well I was. I credit sitting next to the window on the 25th floor for the last 18 months with breaking my fear. So I surprised myself by hardly even noticing. Santiago may not have the bright city skyline that Sydney has, or the sprawling ...

... around. We will update the blog when we get to Mendoza . . . we get there on Monday evening, after a 6 hour coach journey through the Andes!! Finally, for those that know Lorraine and her strange habit of having an ice cube in her red wine, you may like to know that Lorraine loves this city, as they serve chilled Pinot Noir in most bars, it saves me having to ask for red wine with an ice cube and getting horrified looks from the bar staff!!

... The hotel staff recommended La Piccola Italiana, located just around the corner from the hotel. We started with a few Pisco Sours, the national Chilean drink - Pisco is made from grapes and is kind of their version of grappa, and this particular drink has some added sugar and lemon juice, I think. The menu showed various pasta dishes under the heading ¨For 2, feeds 3" - so I confirmed with the ...

... a group of us went for an early dinner, apparently we choose the place to be in town as we later found out. Having arrived early in a restaurant, we had been given the best table in the house and the entertainers were right in front of us, so there was nowhere to hide. They were a mixture of singers, musician, dancers and comedians. However, all was in Spanish, so we sat their not understanding a thing whilst the locals laughed at the punch lines. All acts would acknowledge us ...