WOW Santiago definately gave us the culture we had been craving with repsect to the language. Hardly anyone spoke English and I was soon realising that I was going to have to learn some Spanish. Fast! After a cramped 11 hour flight from Auckland we were able to re-live all of those hours sat on the plane due to the time difference. We actually arrived in Santiago (11am on 10th Feb) earlier than we left Auckland (4pm on the 10th Feb). After collecting our luggage we headed to the bus station where we caught a bus into town and made our way to the hostel. With no sign post outside (the red building in our pictures) we located it after a bit of searching and headed out soon after for some food with a couple we met at the hostel, James and Kate. After food our jetlag set in and so we manged to get a few hours sleep before heading out for the famous Chilean Churasco (like a steak sandwich) and a bottle of red wine. Ash was up for trying some seen as it very cheap (only 1.50GBP a bottle). He loves it now and has enjoyed many a glass since!

The next day brought its own adventures when we headed out to the Playa des Armes with James and Kate and got caught up in ´Loco Freddies´street act. Being the subject of the show when its all in Spanish was cringeworthy to say the least! The crowd just got bigger and bigger (think Covent Garden on a busy weekend) and the jokes semeed to get funnier and gunnier for them not us. We then went on the hunt for contact lenses for me which was a difficult task seen as I can speak zero Spanish and Ash was just warmining up. In the end we got there and headed off for an afternoon at the Art Gallery and a coffee at Bellavista. The sun was shining and we were happy to be seeing something new.

That evening we joined in with the entertaiment at the hostel as they were having a BBQ. In the usual South American style of late night eating and entertaining, we had the food around 9.30pm. After a feast both Ash and I were feeling really tired so we headed to bed around 11pm. We thought we had landed on when we were given a double room due to overbooking in the dorm until we realised it was doownstairs. The only room to be downstairs, right next to the smoking area and lounge! The party carried on in the hostel until around 1am (yes this was the curfew time!) when everyone headed out to party, including ther hostel staff. Hence, when numerous people were coming back in the early hours of the moring they rang the doorbell and banged on the door as the hostel didnt have keys. Someone is supposed to be there 24 hours but they all went out partying se we didnt really get much sleep that night. Welcome to Chile!

After abit of a lie in and some brekkie we headed off to the museum to learn abit about Chiles history. This wasnt quite as succcessful as we wouldve liked due to the whole exhibition being in Spanish but we enjoyed it all the same. We filled up on a mexican lunch before heading off to the bus station to sample the Chilean buses for the first time. Six hours to La Serena here we come! We had decided to go with Pullman, a reputable company, and couldnt complain at all about the service. We had a good reclining chair with leg rest and even a snack along the way! Heres to more bus rides in South Amerioca, we were sure going to have our fair share.