Well the time has arrived, were are now onto our final leg of the trip and what better way to end than South America. Seemed to take a while to get here though. Firstly we arrive at the airport nice and early (12pm) so we´d have plenty of time, only to find our flight is delayed from 16.05 to 19.25. We were gutted untill we got a $15 voucher for food so we could treat ourself. BONUS. When we eventually borded we were happy, we had great seats, tvs in the headrests and plenty of good films to keep us entertained. Oh not to forget the free wine.

So the wierd part, we flew at 7pm on the 28th, it took 11 hours and 20 mins however we landed at 2pm on the same day.... we had literally flown back in time a whole day. We were really confused when we got there as to us it was Tuesday. Crazy. So anyway less about the flight.

We are staying at a hostel called La Casa Roja or The Red House to you. We got a taxi from the airport which was really cheap and altough I had been pretty nervous about SA that feeling soon dissaperead. So we checked in at our hostel, swimming pool, bar free wifi and internet and wit was really nice, a big old mansion so were both mega happy. Tonight were both so tired we went to the supermarket and had pate and some crusty bread for tea with 2 litres of Heineken as its less than 3 quid a bottle. Oh not to mention the wine its sooo cheap, liver failure here we come.

So sleepy and jet lagged we hit the sack, only to be wide awake at 4am but who cares were in Santiago =)

Day 1

So today we got up early, and me miss sleep untill the very last second has got into the routine of getting up, having a shower and washing my hair (Danielle be proud) not the best thing though as it always makes us late but im sure ill get there eventually. Anyway off we set to get to the location to meet for a free walking tour of the city. We weren´t really too sure what to expect but were pleasantly suprised. Our guide was called Franko and really new alot about the city the culture and its history so we learnt a lot. First we learnt about how the Spanish came and how the Mapoche, some tribe would set fire to the city as it was being built and we got shown some statues of Mr Santiago , well the guy that founded it anyway. my favorite find of the day and for most people was about the history of their coffee shops.

So basically Santiago never really had coffee as they do not grow it here, there were some very bad coffee shops that would serve nescafe and other terrible brands. One day a guy came up with the idea of the coffe shop in which men would go and they would be served by beautiful woman, ideally to distract them from the awfull tasting coffee. There were no tables or chairs in these coffee houses as we saw, just men standing at the counter sipping away. Someone then came along and took it a little bit further. The woman that serve the coffee were to be in Bikinis or very little underwar, even though they had started to get coffee from other places in the world. Knowadays these cafes are called cafes with legs (I cant remeber the transaltion) Franko told us how they cafes now have blacked out windows and serve nothing other than tea or coffee but are so popular. Honestly we thought he was joking untill he pointed loads out in the central plazas and the business district. It was hilarious. There were a few old couples on our tour who kept opening the cafe doors to see girls in next to nothing pouring coffee. They are not sleazy in anyway unlike what you would imagine from Amsterdan but we were all so unbeliveably shocked it was true. There every where.

Walking around the city we also had about 3 dogs follow us. They apparantly go on every tour everyday. Chile love dogs and even the stray flee ridden ones are looked after. He told us how in winter people dress up their dogs and then donate clothes to the poor stray ones. Apparently in winter the dogs walk around in jumpers, hats, scarfs and all sorts. We didnt realise this city would be so slightly insane.

Anyway on our trip we saw Plaza De Armos and Catedral, the main sq and cathedral. Palacio La Monedam the government house, Teatro Municipal, The opera house, Cerro Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia Hill, Parque Forestral, the forest park. These were some really nice buildings and not the sort of places that we would find or even bother to go to if it was just us.

At 12 we stopped at Plaza Italie square for real italian coffee, a nice break to the morning.The last part of the tour took us to Barrio Bellavista, the Bellvisate Neighbourhood. This was really nice, it was like a little plaza full of different restaurants, japanses, chilean, columbian, peruvian and just generally a really cool little place to walk around. He also told us some Chillean foods to try. As were were also in the student area we decided to try one out. So we tried Chorrillana. Basically a huge portion of chips covered in meat, german sausage, onions and 2 eggs. As we sat down everyone around us had it but honestly it was so disspointing, just egg chips and sausage. Next we have to try Terremoto but ill write that when we have it.

That took up a lot of the day as the walkign tour was 4 hours. We slowly headed back to ur hostel but stopping down various different streets to see what was going on. Back in the main plaza all the police or guards of some sort were all lined up then suddenly started marching and singing a really random song.

Tonight we got back to our hostel and sat for ages with the travel guy and are very excited. Now we have sat and taken into account time and money were going to fit in a couple more countries than origionally planned. I wont say too much now though.

For tea, not too exciting to tell you about tea but Me Becky Jones and James Ellis we just ate tomatoes for tea!!!! we even suprised ourself. The inspiration came from our Spanish housemates in Oz as they always made really tasty looking salads with tomatoes. So we bought tomato, cucumber and onion, sliced it all up with balsamic vinigar and had nice crusty bread and pate again. Feel ever so grown up and sophistiated. Right now were sat with some very nice wine that cost a whole 2.50 for a bottle while planing the rest of our SA trip.

Day 2

Well the jetlag is still very much apparent as we were awake half the night so didnt wake up untill 1 in the afternoon the that day. Were getting a bit tierd of all the planning and rushing about so we have decided were just going to be a little more relaxed in this part of the trip. That afternoon was spent laid by the pool in the sun with a hilled glass of vino. Heavenly. That night we bought the only other option of food for tea. pasta and sauce, we mixed it up a little and threw in some salami but my goodness the supermarkets here are shocking. Were both starving half the time as you just cant not get food other than veg, fruit, pasta and sauce oh and of course wine.ç

Day 3

Oops woke up at 1 again which is not good as we had planned a day of sight seeing but never mind.

We set off through the city to one of the hills and walked up for the views of the city, there was a castle on the top and waterfalls and some other random statues. By this time it was pretty late as we hadnt left till really late in the afternoon.

Again that night we had good old pate and our little salad but gosh its getting boring already. We sat with another couple from our room drinking for the rest of the night then and ended up in the bar in my pjs playing drinking games.

Day 4

Today we are going to Valaparaiso so managed to figure out our way to the Vasa terminal or the bus station. Looking forward to a bit of beach time.