Green House Santiago

... called "The island" (very good, highly reccommend it if you have some spare time!) <br><br>Once the weather brightened up we had a wicked time. On the first day we cycled through some really rural parts of chile...very scenic...ending up at a lake with a black sand beach 22km away from where we started! So after another 22km back, we had certainly burnt off any additional calories we had accumulated over the previous two lazy days! The following day however was the highlight ...

... frequently used phrase<br><br>Best day of holiday so far...<br>Myself, Jeremy, Felipe and Felipe´s cousin, Cristobal, arranged a lads day away - skiing in Valle Nevado resort near to Santiago. The weather forecast had predicted to be perfect and so too the snow. And it wasn´t to disappoint -by far and away the best snow conditions I have ever skiied on. A skiers dream. Even the black slopes were made easy because the skis did exactly what you asked of them, none ...

... find a better canvas than a derelict building.<br><br>So, time for me to shoot. I can´t really sum up in words the experience I´ve had in South America. I´ve seen amazing things that I will never experience again, met wonderful people making friends along the way that with any luck will last and maybe even lead to a whole new adventure somewhere else. I´m almost half way there to learning a whole new language, something I´ve wanted to do for years ...

... evening at this stage - on a school night but it seems that every member of the family of the traveller were present to see them off. Whole hordes of families - seemingly the whole of Tahiti would surround one person who was on their merry way - probably just for a couple of weeks vacation. They would laugh and hug and kiss and then each attendee would put a shell necklace around the departee and kiss them and they´d practically walk through the ...

¡Hola chicos! The time is really flying by over here. I can´t believe I only have 2 more days of school left! I need many many more days to become proficient in Spanish, or "castellano" as it´s called here in Chile. But I have the basics and just need to practice. My class has grown again, there are now 5 of us which had made the lessons a little more tedious because we have to go through 5 people´s answers, not just 3. I feel like things could be ...

... nothing is open. Good planning on my part. Thanks Big J. Though, to be fair, there is an abundance of cheap chocolate to be had right on the street. Easter Bunnies the size of my torso are selling for the equivalent of $5. SWEET. Just the bus buddy I need to get me to the beach and keep creepy strangers from sitting next to me ("uhh sorry, can´t you see my BUNNY is sitting there. GEEZ.") Though maybe not the best buddy to keep a beach figure. So, alas, I leave ...

... Pablo N**uda....take my advice...he's famous. A lovely quaint town, stretched up the cliff with a cable car as access to the top for the smok**s and disabled and lazy and rich and...tourists???? "C'mon, why are you walking up, really, it's like a dollar, give a little back you stingy.......G**man??? Couldn't really tell, but they looked like G**man legs to me...ooohhhh always so tanned and lean, they'd be ev** so tasty medium rare with a slice of ...

... heroic statues are plenty. We had some delicious lunch at the fish market. A local favourite of ´Paila Marina´ or seafood soup is a must sample of any traveller in this city. In the afternoon, we took a stunning view at the hill north of the city, reachable via cable car, and retired for the evening, even though the sun is still shinning bright at 9pm and the city is just about to start up the party.

... pictures of me with the fear written all over my face. Nice one! The view from the top of the mountain was incredible. Santiago is actually quite a big city. We also climbed the steps to the Virgin Mary statue to get an even better view. Then we took the funicular railway back to the bottom. That was much quicker than the cable car but very steep and of course we were right at the front! The funicular ends in Bella Vista, which is the Latin Quarter of the city and ...

... owner (a real hippy, American) met us and asked us if we had supplies. Like... weed? No, food, dumbass. We had nothing really, so he made us lunch (at a "small fee"). Then we said we wanted to chill on the beach for a while but he told us to be back at 5.30 so he could bring us to town and then bring us to watch the sunset (schedule??). So we were dutifully back by 5.30 and he drove us to the town to pick up some shopping. Don't get me wrong, it was all very nice of him but ...