Hello. Arrived in Santiago last night after the 23.5 hrs bus journey. As aways there is a story! Nice coach, comfortable etc. But we missed the bus! Whoops! Had to get a taxi to catch the bus up. It was so exciting, like the movies. The taxi going at full speed for about 15 minutes. I really thought we had missed it, but good old taxi driver caught it up. Then best part was when the taxi had to over take the coach and get it to pull over. We were all waving our hands trying to get in to pull over. In the end it did pull over and Alan and I had to get on the coach, of course everyone having a good laugh. But we were laughing too. Great fun, but maybe next time I will try to be on time. It wasn`t our fault though, the bus from Calma was late back to san pedro. Anyway. Got to Santiago, I picked the cheapest hostel out of the book. Got there and it was next door to a strip bar! Nice. Inside the hostel it looked like the local Crack Den!! Nice. But for only 3.50 pound a nite, what do you expect. Went out for dinner and was due to meet my old spanish school mates but poor old Alan has the "BUG", so had to go home early so he could be near the loo. And there was no way I was getting the taxi back to the crack den, oh i mean hostel on my own! Going to new hostel today then checking out the town today. Seems really nice hear, the people really remind me of the italians, very european here, and normal, yippee! New hostel is cool. Very nice. They are filming a TV advert their today. Film crew everywhere. Noone famous here though. Had a walk about town. Checked out the local areas - bellavista. Had a very nice lunch. Poor ole Alan though is still feeling dodgy. Met my mates, there are staying in an apartment down the road. We went to a tacky bar, the theme was Vikings! Even the poor waiters had to dress as vikings, you could tell they was not impressed. Tried the local cocktail, Pisco Sour, very nice, it has raw egg in it!?!?! Strange, but it was good. Al still ill, he couldn`t even finish his beer, not like Al. So early night again. Thursday: Went to Cerro Santa Lucia today, a park in the middle of the city. Very nice. You can walk to the top and see views of the city. Though because of the smog you cannot see that far. Aparently early in the mornings you can see the Andes with snow on them etc. The whole city is surrounded by mountain. Really nice city. So morden, european/america. But you have to be careful as they are all out to rip the tourist off!! Of to Airport soon for our flight to New Zealand. Yippee!! xx