Final NZ and on to South America
Trip Start
Jan 16, 2007
1
19
42
Trip End
May 18, 2007
Santiago,
Chile
Monday, April 2, 2007
There is a separate model making area with a world map for visitors to put a pin in for their home town and Josh puts in the only one for Letchworth, so please place yours in due course.
No city visit with Josh would be complete without finding the railway station which we duly do. It's very calm and quiet, not too many trains, a huge contrast to major city stations in the UK but most people seem to either drive or fly dependant on the distance.
We head back before rush hour but it's another hour and a half before we get back.
Saturday 17th March - The longest day!
At 7 am Josh is awake and announces that he is now 8 years old - yes, it's his birthday and it's set to be the longest day as we fly to Santiago in the afternoon on a 12 hour flight, cross the International Date Line, and arrive in Santiago before we left NZ, if you follow that!!
But firstly it's time for presents which we had managed to collect along the way - PC game, book, DVD etc.. all of which are quickly opened with paper strewn everywhere, then it's 'can we load the game now?' time. It's a tricky day because we try to make it as good a birthday as we can but we have to pack, get out of the room, kill time waiting to go the airport, go through all the airport stuff, and finally get aboard around 5 in the afternoon. Also we are all sad to be leaving NZ and very aware of all the things we haven't done - not enough time and Liz's illness have made it tough, and now we face a long flight with a real concern that Liz's ear infection could become something far worse.
The flight on a Chilean airline turns out to be very good - we have prepared as much as possible for liz's illness and it pays off. As usual Josh manages to sleep by laying across us and when we land he awakes fresh and raring to go - Liz and Ian have not slept at all and now look like zombies as we start the process of getting through the airport. With everything said earlier we haven't really prepared at all for Santiago but the basic plan is to get through customs, find an exchange and get some currency, and then get a taxi to our pre-booked apartment - sounds ok! However as the zombies get through customs they spot a desk with a board with several names including ours - aha, it turns out that some transport has been pre-arranged and for a small fee, payable by credit card, we can be transported directly to our apartment - sounds perfect for the zombies. With receipt in hand we are told to proceed towards the exit doors where a minivan will be waiting for us with the company name on - couldn't be simpler. We proceed and are immediately surrounded by several taxi drivers all shouting in Spanish to try and sell their service - the zombies wave their ticket apologetically in true English fashion and then two men from the transport company spot us, pick up our luggage and usher us to the exit doors. At this point they hail a taxi - what happened to the minibus we wonder but are too tired to question - and the luggage is loaded in. The two guys then indicate that it would be reasonable for us to tip them - tricky as we have no currency - so after again apologetic gestures - we get into the cab. It then becomes clear to the zombies that the driver has no idea where we want to go and speaks no English, and why should he, but our attempts at a few Spanish words fail miserably. Fortunately Mrs. Zombie has the foresight to have kept all necessary documents for out travels and a copy of an e-mail, albeit in English, is produced showing the address. The taxi driver stares at this for some considerable time before proclaiming 'no problemo' (sic) but he re-checks this a number of times along the way. Given our complete inability to communicate with each other, and passengers being zombies, the trip is completed largely in silence. Add to that that he seems to be driving a rocket so we are left to contemplate our chances of survival along the way. Are a few twists and turns, and re-checks of the e-mail, we arrive. The driver helps us get the luggage out but we realise that the apartment block has a locked gate - this turns out to be the norm but is a bit disconcerting when first seen. He calls someone to open the gate and then helps us get the baggage inside, all of which is more than deserving of a tip! Instead he has to settle for several 'muchas gracias'' and a zombie handshake. We are met by a man who doesn't speak any English, again reasonable enough but it's beginning to sink in now, and finally we manage to get a key to the room on the sixth floor. Fortunately there is a lift so we huddle with the luggage and finally get to the apartment - sanctuary!!
The zombies collapse in a heap whilst Joshie is running around checking everything out and then wants the PC right away - why should that be a problem? It's now early afternoon on the 17th and the zombies need sleep but hold on - we don't have any food or drink, any currency or any information except a list of local shops. Despite the zombies desire to drop in a heap we decide we must go shopping or we'll be found dead in here next spring! Armed with door keys and gate key off we go - for some reason the combination of tiredness, noisy streets with people seeming to shout a lot, and the total lack of ability to communicate, makes us all nervous and a bit intimidated. We find the shop and a cash machine but it refuses to give us any cash. We spot a customer service desk and try to ask if we can buy using a credit card but no one speaks English so we resort to the international travellers basic routine of pointing at the credit card and then items in the shop - 'ci' comes the reply - that'll do for us. The next challenge is too but some basic stuff - for instance milk, which seems to come in cartons on shelves, no refrigerated bottles - so this proves much trickier than expected. Credit card payment seems to work so the zombies quickly retreat to their sanctuary to lay down. Josh get back on the PC - what an investment! We try to hold out on sleeping until late by having short naps, making drinks, food etc.. and keeping Josh entertained as far as possible - Happy Birthday Josh, it's been a weird one!
Sunday 18th March
Slightly refreshed after a sort of nights sleep - the streets are very noisy at many times of the night - we get up in a better frame of mind and plan an attack on Santiago! We spotted a Metro station the day before so we head for that as a starter and, hoorah, find a cash machine that likes our card. What's more, for £50 we receive 50,000 pesos, making us feel like lottery winners. Then we attempt to negotiate the Metro - again everything is in Spanish and whilst there are maps on the walls there aren't any just to pick up and carry so we guess at where to go and then attempt to buy a ticket - in the ensuing panic (Ian) of trying to converse and decipher the cost we find that actually smatterings of French prove more useful -these English, they are loco yes! We get out after a couple of stops realising that the Metro ticket cost about 30p which would cover any length of journey - this amazing cheapness will be repeated several times. It's very hot and for our sins when we see a familiar sign - not the big M but Burger King - we head straight there for refreshment. After another conversation fiasco we venture on to what seems a crowded area - Place Des Armes - and there's lots of street activity - markets, performers, small traders, and it's good fun - we visit the Cathedral - a magnificent building - and find an internet café. Another idea of costs - we pay about 20p for 30 minutes internet time.
Our final mission is to try and find a tourist information office because in two days we have to transfer to Valparaiso to get on to our cruise. We check the map at the nearest Metro which refers to a 'Officio Informaccio de Tourisme' which sounds like the place we need, and it doesn't seem far away, so off we go. Along the way more street performers - it's a bit like being in Covent Garden - but after a while we realise we have gone hopelessly wrong. Also the thin air and high levels of pollution are making Liz's chest infection feel far worse and we decide to head back to the sanctuary. The only problem is that we have no plan for our transfer and time is going by.
Monday 19th March
Another broken night's sleep which included Josh enquiring about Basilica's at 2 in the morning - what have we done to him? We decided to try again for the tourist office so set off on foot with a rough idea of where to go. After much searching we finally got there only to find it was a bus tourist office, however one of the people there spoke English - what a relief - and advised us where to go to get a coach to Valparaiso the next day and that we should probably go and book tickets now. This was probably Liz's worst day of illness so we slowed down a bit before setting off by Metro for the bus station where, with the usual method of pointing etc.. booked our tickets for the bus the next day - the two hour journey came at an exorbitant cost of £3 each! While we were at the bus terminal Josh spotted a bakery and said he wanted a roll; we ventured in and were met by an army of shop assistants in a very small shop. It took a while to understand the process but basically you told, or pointed to in our case, one person what you wanted. She put the roll in a bag and passed it to another person at the same time handwriting a ticket for us. We were then directed to a cashier where the roll had to be paid for - a receipt was then given back to us and this we took to the lady with the roll waiting for us. The cost of the roll was less than 5p. Whilst this might provide high employment of course the pay rates are very low, so whilst everything seemed amazingly cheap to us, that it not the case for the average Chilean.
Anyway we had been successful in booking our bus tickets and with Liz feeling very poorly we made our way back to the apartment having now at least mastered the Metro.
