Touch Down Santiago!
We have arrived in our last continent = South America. The Latin Quarter! The flight from Oz was 16 hours long. We arrived at our destination a mere two hours after we left Australia. 2pm on Saturday 28th April, which was yesterday according to our watches.....Our time it was 4AM on the Sunday and it took us 4 days to get our body clock used to the change. Tired during the day (or asleep) and awake at night, we thought we might stay like this forever.... a fleeting fear that we would NEVER SEE the light of day again!!!!! dun dun der.....

But we did see bits of Santiago, the odd moments that we made it out of the hotel. We managed to obtain a skewed view of this great city, and here it is....

Our first impression was that Chileans are extremely innovative in their street performances. There are the usual people dressed in white that will only move if you pop a coin in their hat, there is a man that draws huge crowds by falling over (and you think he will hit his nose on the floor when, at the last moment, he puts his hands out and saves himself.), artists, spray painters, chalk artists (creating huge pictures of Jesus on the floor ala d*** van Dike in the childrens classic Mary Poppins) and my very own favourite: the father and son one man bands.
You know the ones, with drums and cymbols attached to arms and feet, now imagine them dancing and spinning around at great speed. Add into the mix that the son is probably around 5 years old (yes there to get the aahhh factor) now you can imagine the potential of this money making scheme!

It is very exciting to be in South America and Dan and I are attempting to learn some Spanish whilst we are here. I can remember a bit from school (shame it is mainly NO.. as in do you have your homework? No...). Nevertheless we are getting by quite nicley. Dan and I have somewhere to stay and can order food (and wine!) which is important. We bought another spanish phrasebook today to try and reach out to the Chileans. Unfortunately it says weird stuff like: (and I quote)

What do you think of the bedroom darling?
The bedcover and sheets are beautiful , the matress is very soft, but the pilow cases are small.
I aggree with you and, I also like the lamptables and the toilet table.

What that means and how it will equip Dan and I in our quest to get down wid de homies will have to remain to be seen.... We can only rest, safe in the knowledge that there is a whole page on means of transportation and at least now we know how to ask for an Aircraft carrier, Battleship, or a destroyer. I didn{t want to travel by bus anyway.... Buses are sooo yesterday...

So back to giving you a realistic and balanced view of Santiago....

In the centre of town they like to pump out Madonna and ABBA music but in Pan pipe versions.... it is lovely. This isnt from shops, dont misunderstand, no the government or someone has installed speakers onto the side of the buildings so that no mater which street you turn down, Dancing Queen WILL sink into your subconscious and replay itself over and over during the insomina ridden nights...
Yesterday was a public holiday - due to International May Day (1 Mayo). And they played Madonnas "Holiday" which I thought was very apt and really met the mood of all the Riot Police and tanks in the street. It was a deserted, quiet day but they obviously have a history of massive crowds gathering and they clearly have had experience in "dealing" with them.

There were armed vehicles parked everywhere and and big trucks mounted with water cannons. They really were a force and I you wouldnt want to mess with them. Whenever they caught my eye I was overly paranoid that I looked guilty and that they would think I was some kind of Anarchist. Dan said my pink hair DIDN'T help matters. They were friendly enough though and it is a real shame that we did not take any pictures but decided that getting the camera out might not be the best idea (remembering the plane spotters in Greece)

It was a really nice day yesterday and indeed we have enjoyed our time in Santiago. We are only sad that a large proportion of the time we have felt so out of it with the jet lag that we havent got to enjoy its full potential.... Never mind - tommorrow we move on - to Valparaiso!