Really the important part of my arrival day was meeting my Chilean family. My Chilean Mom Marilyn had already sent me some emails, so at least I knew what I was getting into. She's married to my Chilean Dad Patricio, and they have kids Constanza (10) and Vicente (9). The kids had decorated the door with balloons and drawings to welcome me, and C...

Welcome to the first travel journal of 2008 from Santiago, Chile where we are embarking on a great tour of South America including Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.  We flew from Costa Rica to Panama and then Panama right into Santiago on Copa Airlines - fortunately our status on Continental allows us upgrades on Copa and we were lucky enough t...

Met up with my family in Santiago, and am living the high life with the parents providing accomadation. It definitely makes you apreciate a nice bed after a week of sleeping in a bus, a hostel, and a cheap hotel.

A short - and quite pleasant flight - and we're in Chile proper. It's capital - Santiago. Our welcome guide did explain that the journey to the hotel may be a bit convaluted as we were heading downtown and there was a riot in progress. Guess where - downtown. Apparently, it was the usual consequence of a football match. Having been many times to...

This was the last time that I would be in Santiago and I wasn't too fussed about that.  It's not really a tourist city, so I just spent my two nights here sorting a few things out and catching up on the Internet.  I felt a bit left out when I was reading numerous stories about my mates going to Wembley to watch the play-off final....

I've decided firmly that flying is no fun. No matter how many films (I shall never use the word movie) are shown or in what class I sit, flying becomes a chore before even boarding. All plans of getting a public bus from Santiago Airport to a city hostel went out the window after delays and a twelve-hour flight; I took a VIP taxi a nice hotel wh...

It was with a very heavy heart that I left Argentina- such a lovely country with great people. Arrived into Santiago from Mendoza tonight at 7pm. Bussed it over the Andes, 7 hours, into Chile and to the capital. A short bus ride in relative terms. Our ride was quite beautiful and there were 3 Chileans who were obviously very impressed and s...

Greetings Friends and Family, It has now been over a week that I have spent in Santiago. Time is certainly proving its annoyance as it passes me by ever so quickly. The thought that at one point my life here in Chile will soon be over is one that sends a cold chill down my spine and wishful thinking overcomes my mind. I can already tell, as I wr...

Spent 14 hours on the road to get from Argentina to Chile. For a supposedly advanced country, in South American terms, the Argentine border is ridiculously inefficient. We spent 2 1/2 hours in the blazing sun (no shade) to get out of the country, and then spent 2 hours getting into Chile after driving across the 100km of no-man´s land between th...