Holiday Inn Express Santiago, Chile

... I am sure the Peruvians were glad to be rid of and the Chileans just had good luck I suppose. Bolivia because Chile "stole" their route to the sea which would have allowed them to export natural gas and develop. Well considering natural gas was discovered in Bolivia in the last 50 years and this route was stolen (again) waaaaay back in the 1800s I doubt this sea route would have been more than a route for Bolivians to enjoy the beach. And Argentina because....well I dunno why ...

... sure 90% of take away food places are hot dog places. They have a specialty called an italiano. Which is a hotdog with tomato, smothered in mayonaise and topped with advocado. Eww.
Santiago is pretty boring, just another city. Not too different from a city in Australia I think.

we arrived in santiago mid afternoon, and stayed in the barrio of bellevista. it was right next to the zoo and it was saturday and there were tons of people walking around and vendors on the street and people sitting outside(although it was still freezing for us) and drinking beer....it was different from the santiago i expected because it was really a nice area and i felt very safe and in general it was a very good atmosphere. we just walked around a ...

... that we took was supposed to be amazing scenery with lakes and mountains and we saw nothing. I promise that when I get home I'm never going to complain about how much it rains in Glasgow!!

Arrived in Barlioche with Tom, an Irish guy we met the previous night, we went to a highly recommended hostel called 1004 which was on the 10th floor and had panoramic views of the area including a bath room with a view!! More importantly it was warm we could dry ...

... in dinner jackets etc, as you would see in Plaza San Marco in Venice for example. But here there's just a row of hot dog stands - all selling "complete" hot dogs i.e. with ketchup and mayo - usually less than £1 sterling including a soft drink. Some of the stands were called soda fountains. Then I went to the Mercado Central for lunch. This is the main fish market. As a market its not comparable to say La Boqueria in Barcelona, but its pleasant ...

... bags & left for a 6 hour excursion up the volcano......snow capped & a beautiful clear day....yet another amazing view, but this time with no crowds as we were late getting up there. Before going back we stopped off at another lake with volcanic dust for a beach, the colours in the sky were awesome....long day but worth it...others in our group partied until 3am !!! Dinner was at a local restaurant, mainly fish (double uk portions ...

... believe it or not) cities are not really my thing and i craved moving on... it is so easy to get exhausted so quick wandering around a city, you can get that back of the knee ache that you get as a child being dragged around a department store, within record speed, and there is something subliminal you have to stop every 15 minutes for refills.... So the trip accross the boarder was welcomed, apart from being held up for 2 hours by the tour de france chilian equivilant!!

Santiago hadn´t been on the ´must-see´list (just another big S.American City - right?), however with Salta out of the picture is was the next best destination for heading South. Our good friend, Manuel was kind enough to organise a stay at his family´s apartment and after a 20 hour journey arrived at their beautiful apartment in the suburbs where his ...

... and the No-Zone layer or the mineral hues and blues of its lakes and glaciers. Argentina had outrageous polychrome mountains and the greenest city in Mendoza while Chiles non-Patagonian hills are of a surprisingly sandy tone. The borders really did play a natural geographical divide. Finance was a problem everywhere except perhaps in Chile, which has its own tale of a law that says you must get a receipt for everything. Can you imagine working in a ...