Espana Santiago

... was a little hampered by the fact that I was wearing (rented) snowboard trousers. ;)

Then on Friday (today) is our last day in South America ;(((((( so we decided we should celebrate and say goodbye by having a long boozy lunch in the best restaurant in town, which happened to be in walking distance from our place. Even without visting any vineyards here (sorry, we were really lazy) we found out that the best grapes for Chile are cabernet ...

... straight on the bottom bunk without hitting your head on the bed above.
The bathrooms were modern and clean and there was a great communal area in the basement consisting of a bar, dining area, kitchen with all possible appliances and lounge area with big TV, satellite TV and lots of DVD's.

After wondering around the city centre for a couple of hours and failing to find the natural history ...

... Pucon. It passed quickly as we were just taking in the beautiful scenery got out first (and only) glimpse of a volcano at Chillian. As we got nearer to Pucon the rain got harder and harder, the owner of the hostel we were staying at very kindly picked us up and drove us literally round the corner!! The Hostel Donde Germain was a lovely wooden chalet with amazing open fires and the coziest rooms we had a best nights sleep here since we left the Woodpigeon ...

... do it by car, its a cool and different way of knowing the city. Had a coffee, had a wander around, couple of pictures and then came back down. Afterwards headedto Viña for lunch. Took us a long time to get there. Apparently the socialist presidents (including the British Prime Minister) where in a meeting in Viña and loads of roads were closed so that made it about two hours in the car. Anyway we finally managed to see why Viña is so well known. It has beautiful beaches ...

... was the guy I had set up a meeting with... NOT Joaquin... and apparently he was using McDonalds as a reference point for us, NOT as the meeting point... and apparently we had set up the meeting for 7:30 NOT 7pm like I had thought... oh geez... TOTALLY lost in translation... SO poor Joaquin had gotten two messages as well as several missed calls from some crazy chick... it makes me laugh so hard imagining him ...

We went into town to do some shopping today. Bought a few bits and bobs that we needed, and plenty of stuff that we probably don't! Still can't get a signal on my phone, which is probably good after Forest's recent form! We spent the late afternoon by the pool then gave ourselves a treat in the ...

... What gives though? Santiago´s been incredible thus far, if you´re a dramatic type, it´s thoroughly infested with theatres and performing arts schools, the architecture is all ornate (but at times a bit tacky) art deco or victorian-era french revival, and the people are just the right balance of conscientiously helpful and ...

... wurden damals Busse entführt, angezündet oder sonstwie malträtiert, weil die Leute dermassen aufgebracht waren. Im Vergleich zu dem läufts wohl jetzt ganz prima. Ich frage mich nur immer, wie klaustrophobische Leute das machen mit der Metro hier. Am Wochenende unternahm ich einen Ausflug ans Meer um Constanza, eine Reisegefährtin von letztem Mal, zu besuchen. Da hab ich mal ein ganz anderes Chile ...

... affected our judgement!

After looking round the Plaza de Armas and the shopping streets off it we started searching for somewhere to eat. However everywhere seemed to be closed. We eventually found a chain (Chilean chain though not US) were we got lovely Bistec al a pobre (steak and eggs!).

Then we were back to the hotel for an early night as once again an early flight beckoned ...