Our flight from Auckland was really good, amazing food (yes I had to have NZ lamb) and Malbec wine, not to mention a zillion movies to choose from. It was 13 hours, but I seriously would have ignored my deep vein thrombosis to watch a few more movies and sample the delights of the Argentine grapes a little more.
We were a bit nervous about South America since we had only heard bad stories, but the truth is, if you have a little street smart sense it is no different from any other country. We took a bus in Santiago and headed for the centre but had no idea where to get off the bus. It arrived at Universidad De Chile which was the main bus terminal so we took the subway the remaining journey to Barrio De Londres (London Neighbourhood). Took a room in a grand hostel called Londres and went for a wonder in the city. Many people in Santiago and all seemed to be eating or drinking. There are cake shops and ice cream parlours everywhere, which we had to sample of course. Then there were these strange coffee bars, where men stood drinking expresso to girls wearing very short skirts in broad daylight, very strange indeed.
The following day we did the tourist thing and went on a long walk. Had lunch at a veggie restaurant which was very expensive but I think they may have cornered the market for the whole of Chile since vegetarian food is nt so [popular in this part of the world.
In the evening we headed to the bus station to book our tickets for Pichilemo for the weekend before heading to Barrio Buena Vista, a student part of town with great bars and nightlife. Took a giant beer and some empanandas outside a bar whilst watching the local drug addicts beg for cigarettes whilst exposing themselves (not intentionally I might add) before getting booted away by the owners.
We left very early in the morning, 5.30am to catch our bus to the coast. The bus finally left at 6.45am and by 10am we were in Pichilemo, a small surfers village on the Pacific coast. We jumped off the bus just on the outskirts of town, only to realise we had left the camera on the seats. Panic set in since we watched the bus speed off into the distance having no idea where the bus station was. Mariana attempted to ask for directions and all we understood was that it was 30 minutes walk so we opted for a taxi. We had the luck of the irish. Our bus was parked up and Mariana found the camera between the seats, such a relief to say the least.
We headed back to town and found a room in a quiet, but central guesthouse. The rest of the day was spent strolling along the beach watch the enormous waves crashing down on the little rubber people also known as surfers. We hadn’t been surfing since Indonesia and these waves were a lot bigger that anything we had experienced before. Also, the water was bearing above freezing, not to mention the outcrops of scattered rocks which did not give us good vibes about surfing here so we decided to give it a miss.
In the evening we discovered real empanadas, cheese and a filling deep fried in pastry, delicious and only about 3000 calories each. For the next 3 days we lived on this local delight whilst chilling, running, walking and sleeping loads. After 3 days it was time to head back to Santiago, so we took a bus.
Our second visit to Santiago was more of a stop over since our bus for Argentina was leaving at 7am. We just took some food and chilled out in an internet café. I decided to back up all the photos following the scare of almost losing the camera.
Chile has been expensive, lets just hope the rest of South America is not as costly since we may be returning home early.
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