Hotel Termas De Socos Santiago

... some small talk with the chap it turned out that he was a tour operator by trade and was escorting 200 of these conference guests around some sights in their free time. “So what’s the conference?” asked Duncan while Nadine was ordering some food. “It’s a Jehovah’s witness conference” replied the tour guide, “they have so many people meeting here that they have filled the two major football stadiums in Santiago”. “Jesus Christ ...

So having pretty much covered every possible kilometer of road in NZ (a total of 4200Km in 3 weeks) we set off across the pacific ocean (in a plane!) to the shores of south america! Our first stop was Santiago….flying into the city was amazing, it is surrounded by the most incredible mountains on almost all sides…..very beautiful indeed. If you ever fly into Santigao make sure to reserve a window seat!

On our first full day we went for a walk up the hill in ...

... and Christian and Rosanna. From that evening it was clear that I was going to have a great time staying with them. Everybody was so friendly and willing to chat, with my broken Spanish, or as often was the case, English. I tried though.

I met Pepe (Papa) and Gilda (Mama) when I moved in, and immediately I was made to feel at home. This was going to be the easiest and best place that I would stay the whole trip! I even had my own very spacious bedroom ...

Santiago is sweet due to the friends I have there.
Stayed with one of my friends grandparents.
The hill of the immaculate conception has a terrific view. (Mary got in the way of the Photos though)
Spent a lot of time with the three amigas and D'artaniogn.
Can I get Dr Phil's pay? Yes I have legendary friend status or at least people call me family. Little Bro to the rescue...

On to Guayaquil...

... br>
This kicked us into action abit & we started checking out other slopes for the laugh – only beginner ones though!The carnage started here!

The 3 of us pretty much rolled down to the bottom were we would eventually bump into Fitzy again.

At that stage we were like feck it and started rolling our way down more of the beginner slopes with some serious wipeouts!Jack getting stuck in the fence, me going head over heels and winding myself – ribs sore – ...

... couldnīt help thinking that they had probably just been ripped off cars in other neighbourhoods... Despite all this stuff around, I didnīt see anything I wanted. Second hand shoes give me the creeps. Around 1 we were all a little hungry and Arturo said he knew a great place to get some beers and food, but that we were a little underdressed. We girls were a bit confused by this as we were much more well dressed than him! A couple of ...

... Bellavista. The guide recommends going for the Menu del Dia at lunchtime in S. America as eating at night is more expensive. We eat in a lovely place decorated with colourful mosaics. For about 4 pounds each we get freshly squeezed juice, seafood quiche, bread, salad, dessert and an espresso! It's great fun being able to speak and understand a bit of Spanish. We've just bought a couple of ...

... best of all, a table decorated as the films rose petal-strewn bed... And there we spent the rest of the evening, eating and drinking to excess, but thankfully not experiencing any of the cooks' emotions, as in the film, only our own jovial, celebratory mood! We reminisced about events and characters from my Maceio days: Mr Hotel, Big Lou, the beer-drinking diplomas, Bigsy and Ted and the wallet episode... and we ...

... housing around you, with the Andes being a dramatic backdrop. There was a great restaurant just round the corner called the "fat cow" which served wonderful steaks & very cheap Chilean red wine; it was just like being back in Argentina. They also did Pisco Sours for less than Ģ1.00 - an ideal aperitif. We took the Metro into the "Centro" as Barbara wanted to get her hair cut. We enquired about hairdressers & were directed to a ...

... to stretch out and sleep and watch movies. Once arriving in Argentina after a 12.5hr flight we had another 90min layover and then off to Chile! One thing we (Bek) noticed on the plane was there are lots of good looking older gentlemen in Argentina, or at least flying to Argentina (even Jesse agreed). So single ladies come get your sugar daddys in Argentina. We bought our first ...