Sur Americano

Leaving Auckland in the pouring rain wasn´t too difficult- it seems we had left just in time for full autumn/winter weather to settle in!!  After a pretty efficient pack up and depart from the not so great Jucy hotel (same company as Fran the van) we made it to Auckland airport-it must be said security in those places is pleasantly efficient.

On our 11 hour journey across the Pacific ocean we were given exit seats and in flight entertainment gave us a plethera of films to watch.  Tuesday, the day of the flight, was a long day, we arrived in Santiago 5 hours before we left and therefore had the longest day of our lives-41 hours!  To say the least we have been dazed and confused with this time difference since arriving.  We spent the first afternoon in a snoozy sleep followed by a pretty active evening checking our the Bellavista area where we got dinner and a walk around the city which felt pretty intimidating for some British jet lagged semi spanish speaking tourists.  We made promises to make the most of Wednesday; I woke up and made an effort for breakfast (even after the horribly wakeful night) but then joined Cath for sleep which continued to 5pm that afternoon!  We made it to Museo de Belles Artes which is housed in a beautiful building and then went to the Central Square- Plaza de Armas; however we were out of the museum by 6:30 and not even the Cathedral was open in the Plaza de Armas- ah well!

Today we´ve done significantly better- up for breakfast and the whole day till 5pm when we came back for a snooze.  We´ve seen the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolumbino de Santiago, which displayed some interesting but weird facts about ancient South American History which predominantly focused on mummifying the dead and in depth information about the Shamans of the ancient world.  It was greatly interestng and well layed out.  We headed for the Cathedral Central a beautiful Cathedral about 100 metres long, hugely ornate and then went to the fish market for lunch; a lovely building with shanty style tables and chairs for eating some beautiful fish.  We made it up to the Parque Metropolitano cerro san cristobal, a park 400 metres high we didn´t end up climbing and then headed back home.  It´s 2am in the morning and we´ve had a great dinner and back for some sleep before we head off the beach tomorrow.

Santiago is pretty disapointing; it´s got a layer of smog that covers the city from morning to dusk, the city is pretty dirty and although it has been a friendly place can feel pretty intimidating for a South America first stop.  We´ve had a lovely time though but are ready to go!!