2 breakfasts, 2 lunches& 2 dinners - fat bastards!

The 2nd of May turned out to be the longest day we have ever experienced. Flying from New Zealand to Chile, we left Auckland on the 2nd May at 5pm and arrived after an 11 hour flight in Santiago at 12 midday still on the 2nd May, crossing the International Date Line and going back in time! Talk about mess with your head.

Arriving Santiago and the Andes

We landed in Santiago and immediately wished we still had the safety blanket that we have had wrapped around us of being in an English speaking country. It is almost like we have been spoilt with our time in Australia and New Zealand and took for granted how easy everything was. Now we were plunged into a country that spoke hardly any English and to make matters worse, we spoke the tiniest bit of Spanish (it stretched as far as hello, thank you and beer and that didn't really help us get a taxi!). After speaking with another English couple in the taxi, we discovered we weren't the only ones with language problems. Realising there were others in the same boat as us at least kept us hopeful of our ability to get around.

Llama anyone?

Driving through the streets of Santiago, I must admit I felt a little uneasy and a little scared; if we were to believe everything we had heard about South America then we should have been mugged by now and had everything we own stolen with bent police looking on laughing at us...it just goes to show you shouldn't believe everything you hear, although you shouldn't be too naïve either.

The streets were bustling with people, cars and stray dogs in every direction I could see. Santiago is a big city, but I don't think we realized just how big. It stretches for miles nestled under the shadow of the snow capped Andes, which most of the time cannot be seen due to the amount of smog and pollution covering the city like a blanket. On a clear day, the views of the Andes can be seen from the top of a lookout and the views are better in the winter which unfortunately we have stumbled into now. This does mean I don't think we will be coming home with a tan...but you can't have everything!

The city covered in thick grey smog

Arriving in the busy party district of Barrio Bellavista that was to be our home for the next week, we found our hostel hiding behind big locked security gates. Once again my fears came to the surface and we were left thinking our choice of area was a bad one. Inside, we were put at ease by the very friendly and English speaking (hoorah!) staff. We thought the best way to avoid jetlag would be to stay awake and go to bed later that night so we grabbed a map of the city and headed out in search of nourishment. We managed to blag our way through a meal in a nearby restaurant even though we still could not ask for simple things like where was the toilet!?!

The main square

Bumping into a young English guy, Henry, who had just arrived in our hostel we went out for a beer (or cerveza) to test out the local nightlife. After a while of starting to know the area and being in a trio, it felt a little safer. However, we had made sure to leave all our wallets and passports in the hostel safe before coming out, only taking a little cash. The night ended up being a bit of a big one after bar-hopping around the local bars and meeting some of the locals. I don't really know why they couldn't understand Nick, I mean he did speak English with a Spanish accent, surely that would have been enough!?! I think Nick had been taking some language tips from Del boy in Only fools and horses.

Typical street

Finally going to bed at 2am a bit worse for wear, we looked back on the longest day ever! At the end of the 2nd May, we had eaten breakfast and lunch in Auckland followed by dinner and then breakfast on the plane and another lunch and dinner in Santiago followed by a lot of beer! What fat bastards!