Alison: We arrived in Santiago on the bus and navigated to our accommodation via the subway. We had managed to find a really nice centrally located apartment to stay in which was fully equipped, had a gym and pool, and was very cheap! It was a modern split level apartment and I'm not sure why it was so cheap but we were glad to find this little gem. It was just what we needed to recharge our batteries.

We instantly really liked Santiago, probably because parts of the centre looked like Perth! It was a Sunday that we arrived and the city was like a ghost town - that same deserted feel that you get in Perth on a Sunday. Not to go on about it but the area near our hotel was particularly Perth like! Walking towards the main square felt like walking down Hay Street in the city and we also spotted Murray Street and St Georges Terrace looky likeys! There is even a huge park overlooking the city and some of the signs in there are the same style as the Kings Park signs. The river in Santiago has nothing on Swan River though - very muddy and fast flowing! Santiago does have something special to offer that Perth doesn't have though...the snow capped mountains of the Andes can be seen in the background. The view is amazing!

We started off our visit to Santiago with our usual routine and went on the free city walking tour. The tour started off in the Plaza de Armas in the centre and we saw lots of things along the way including the cathedral, the post office, the government building, the stock exchange, and the Santa Lucia Hill. Although the tour was good, it was a really hot day and we were tired so halfway through Nigel started to pretend to limp and told the guide his knee was playing up so we could go back to the apartment!

Nigel: Unfortunately, our time in Santiago was not as peaceful as we wished for as we were trying to sort the house out in Southampton.... and my knee was playing up!!! We did still manage to see lots of places and further to what Alison mentioned above, we also went to the San Cristobal Hill. Situated in the North of the city, you can get great views of the city and the surrounding snow capped mountains which form part on the Andes. To get to the top is very easy as you take a train like elevator, but getting down wasn't so easy. We followed the signs to start with but then they started to get less easy to follow and it came to the point when we were just going anyway we could down the hill to try and find the exit. After a few fence jumps and going through areas where we probably shouldn't have gone through, we found the exit. Next part of our culture tour experience... the shopping centre to cool off.

When we had gone to the tourist information centre, the guy told us that there is a stretch of road where everyone goes in the evening and they serve a nice refreshing drink which consisted of apple, rum, and ice. Thinking that every bar, well almost every bar, would sell it, we didn't ask for the finer details of the ingredients.....the 2 bars we went to didn't have a clue what we were talking about and as we didn't know how much of each ingredient was required and the fact we were unsure if the apple was the fruit, a fluid, or any other form of the ingredient, we settled for the local beer.

We also learnt during our walking tour, that displaying of flags in public is still only allowed by the government and is a criminal offence if displayed by others. This rule dates back to the Pinochet days when the country was ruled by dictatorship. The rule did, however, change during the World cup last year and flags were allowed. Changing the rules for football.....like their style.