Arrival

MH:

Our new backpacking haridos!

After a 10.5 hour flight on Lan Chile with a whole selection of straight to video movies we made it in to Santiago, negotiated our way into downtown Santiago via a shuttle bus and into Andes Hostel (pretty good, give it the thumbs up).  We went for a wander around the town on the afternoon of the 26th & got our hands on some Pesos, picked up some food from the supermarket and crashed out with jetlag at about 7.30 - which was about the time that the TV lost signal of The Departed about 45minutes into the movie. Woke up again about 2am until 4.30 as the jet lag played its nasty tricks and then slept till crack of midday..

Becs on a Night out

Hit the bus station to get tickets for next few days & test drive the Spanish - which came through damn fine, well we managed 3 sets of tickets on 3 different days and times with no English, not heaps of people speak English so far.   Went up the funicular to San Cristobel (good spot - worth doing) and got first sighting of Andes hazily through the smog.  Had a couple of cervezas on the way home - all served in 1 litre bottles for about $3USD for the Royal brand which is not only tasty but also gives the head spins quite nicely.  Dinner that night was a classical Lomo Pobre, or, Steak, Eggs and Chips.  Could get to like this country.

Mark finds a Cuzz

Despite the fact that she may deny it we had our first Spanish blooper at the bar (after quite a few of those beers), Becs needing the toilets practised her Spanish line to find out where they are:  "De donde eres los baños" or, where are the toilets from?  My guess was Chile.  After a slight alteration "Donde es los baños" they were located.

All good so far and the Chileans are friendly happy folk and its a pretty gentle introduction to South America.

We have both packed far far too much stuff.  But im sure the bags will lighten as the journey continues.

Adios