Nippon Santiago

... zoopark on the way! I figured this would be my last opportunity to see pinguinos in Chile and as it was on the route of the funicular I bought a ticket. It has a good range of animals but the enclosures weren´t particularly and one bear in particular looked a bit moody at being captive. I saw it walk around in circles a few times before eventually laying down and just sleeping. In the meantime the pinguinos were being surprisingly illusive, considering ...

... poor Lauren early in our excursions, we opted to take the Funicular tram. The views from the top are wide ranging, from the Andes across the city and into the distance. They would be spectacular if wasn&#8217;t for the smog and the cloud covering the tallest mountain peaks.<br><br>A whistle-stop tour around the fruit and veg market did nothing for poor Debbie&#8217;s constitution where she encountered a &#8216;cheese&#8217; made from animal brains that looked like ...

... furnicular,then puffing your way up an almost vertical hill.<br><br>Have taken a lot of time to just relax and think about life here, just getting ready to go off on a wine tour tomorrow and hoping my liver will hold out!<br><br>My next big trip starts on Saturday,Im praying its not full of fat old Americans! PRAY with me!<br><br>Love you all and Missing you lots right now<br><br>xxx

... Went on a walking tour around santiago that lonely planet recommends. Saw a couple of museums, got in free due to my fake student card. That thing's really paying for itself! Booked on to do a day tour to Valparaiso tomorrow. Little pricy but figured it'd be better than trying to do it myself. Also booked my bus ticket to Buenos Aires for saturday. 20 hours!!! By far the longest i've done so far, and probabl the longest ill do, although you can get one to lima that thakes 3 days!!!

... fried... very ordinary actually. Carrie unfortunately sliced her big toe open on the way to bed so that caused some concern... but to her credit she battled on and slept it off. Today we rose to a free breakfast - bread and coffee, which was adaquate and welcomed. After breakfast I played doctor and banadaged Carrie´s toe up... such a nice bloke I am... :) To test Carrie´s toe out we ventured to San Cristobal...Virgin Mary Statue ontop of a nearby mountain behind the hostel. It ...

... Dat vud be great, thanks" came an enthusiastic reply. With smiles shortly consigned to pixels, they offered to return the favour.<br>"Where are you from?" I asked, deciding to offer up the staple starter in the restaurant of traveller conversation.<br>"From Germany, but we´re studying here for a semester" the girls stated, almost in unison that indicated rare inefficiency.<br>"My commiserations on the former" I quipped, not quite knowing ...

We arrived at 1.30 on the same day after travelling for over 15 hrs ...this travelling backwards in time is strange and the Chillian attitude to time is very "manyana"... so our room was ready around 4.30. The hostel is in a beautiful old building and its still got the original features. Walked our legs off doing the touristy stuff, which doesnt take that much as there actually isnt that much. It seems that most people go to Santiago to ...

Europe! (Presque/Almost) ---------- Et voilà, après 22h30 de bus (moins que les 24h prévues!) je suis arrivé à Santiago du Chili. Je me suis offert la classe "Cama Premium" pour ce voyage, ce qui veut dire que mon dossier basculait à l'horizontale, et que j'avais également un repose-pieds horizontal. Résultat, j'ai super bien dormi dans ces circonstances, c'est-à-dire mieux que pas dormir du tout, ma manière ...

... movies in all that time. I spent too long watching all the previews trying to decide. Had a lot of fun in Chile, The few spanish words I know came in very handy. No one in the shops can speak English. So trying to find an ATM was a challenge. Even more of a challenge trying to get money out, until we decifered that there was an english translation key.

... of good technology when we can!<br><br>After that we walked back to our hostel and took a bus to the airport at about 2:30pm, ready for our 5:30pm flight to Santiago. <br><br>Auckland airport was nicer than I remembered and we had no problems killing the necessary time before we boarded. <br><br>It was my first experience with ...