Leonardo Da Vinci Santiago

... parties before Pinochet came to power and fled the country in 1975 staying in Cuba where he met Ernesto's mother. He returned when democracy came back with Ernesto and the rest of the family but the scars of the dictatorship are still there. I spent hours talking politics with Ernesto's mother and father. This past weekend I went with Ernesto to Valparaiso (Valpo for short) which is about an hour and a half west of Santiago on the coast. The picturesque city is the cultural ...

... FuBball and more drinking games with a few random people in there – good craic but I was knackered after all the travel so I noticed Fitzy had snook off so I decided I will sneak out out about 2am which wasn’t too bad I thought!

2nd July

Got up the next morning early enough & went and got food with Fitzy & Fran, the 2 lads were in tatters from the night before, they stayed up til about 6 & half 6!We were deciding at brekkie what we wanted to sort out ...

... windy little staircases. The view from the top wasn't too great, due to the haze of the city, so it was more about the enjoyment of the clmb than anything else, but there were some beautiful gateways and old city walls on the way up.

In the evening we just chilled out and had yoghurt and fruit and crackers in our hostel for tea while chatting and hanging out in the lounge.

Love to everybody at home....love love love xxx

... museum was free. The Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino was listed as a must-see but was not as we expected, we were led to believe that we would see mummies but were rather disappointed when we didn't see any. The museum was about pre-Columbian civilization throughout the Americas with ceramics and textiles. An Auntie Sandra museum. Afterwards we walked back towards the metro, stopping for lunch on the way. We then decided to go to the supermarket and do our food ...

... people up. By the time I had got everything done and sorted out all my stuff for the morning it was time to meet Hannah. The minibus came for us on time but then took us about 10 minutes away where we then had to wait for a bigger coach to come for us. It arrived at 3:30pm with various people on from mixed countries. It's not looking like we will make that 7pm dinner at this rate. Our tour guide Maria was bilingual and the group had both English and Spanish ...

... to say. I think we are doing ok as we have made it South to the Lake District with no problems. The bus network here is fantastic. We spent a few days at the base of a volcano at Pucon but the weather was too bad for us to climb it. We still got out and about on bikes and went swimming in the lakes. We are heading south to Puerto Montt where we board a ferry come cargo ship for 4 days which will sale through the beautiful scenery of Pategonia. So excited about that.

Well, here we are back in Santiago after a pretty hectic two weeks, but with so many amazing things seen and done it feels more like four! The first three days in the Atacama desert were one of the highlights. For the most part completely arid (obvious I suppose being a desert but some deserts have a bit of scrubby vegetation but not here), the scenery was magnificent. How to describe the vast expanses, sometimes ...

... shades. Surrendering to the new day, I also opened my shade. And then, just as a pregnant woman momentarily forgets all the physical anguish she endured giving birth upon seeing her newborn (or so I've heard), our delivery into Chilean airspace erased all thoughts of physical discomfort. The first site of Chile electrified my otherwise enervated body with anticipation. I pressed my nose to the window, and marveled at the ...

... were selling and making artwork. There was a big fountain in the center where little children were swimming and playing. There was a big tent under which several serious games of chess were taking place. On the square was a big cathedral and also a history art museam which we went through but unfortunately couldnt understand a thing in there (obviously not made for american tourists.) We went into a shopping mall (kind ...

We were up at 3am, jet-lagged, and really struggled to get back to sleep. We tossed and turned for an hour or so and then finally dropped off again.

We woke for the second time at 10am and after a moment of panic remembered that the check-out time here was 11:45am. Phew.
Santiago, Chile al_fey