We have finally started our long awaited trip to South America!

Our flight landed at maybe 10 or 11am yesterday. We are still not sure exactly what the time is as all our devices are showing the time as an hour earlier than most clocks we see. Do they have daylight savings in Chile?

After successfully obtaining tickets for our bus transfer and negotiating the gauntlet of people wanting to take us in their taxi, we found our transfer company and hopped on a bus eager to get to our accommodation and have a shower. The driver dropped us at a fancy hotel. We quickly discovered that was the wrong place, but they showed us where to go to reach the hotel printed on our bus ticket. That was also wrong. After we dug out some other paperwork we discovered we were still a bit further down the street.

This place wasn't as fancy as the others, but we got a room (with single beds since we are not "matrimony", perhaps a childrens room given the lion king themed sheets). Home for the next 5 weeks.

Exhausted we set out to explore. The first place we thought we would check out was Plaza de Armas, the main square. We walked through crowded shopping streets, grabbed some lunch, then got to Plaza de Armas, closed for renovations.

We kept wandering in a bit of a daze, bought some groceries, had a nap, went out again for dinner then then back for some sleep.

Day 2 we woke up just as tired, and set out again in a daze. We found Santa Lucia, a beautiful park built on a rocky hill in the city. Winding up the narrow stone steps we discovered beautiful architecture and views from the top over the city. If only the backdrop of the Andes could be better made out through the smog and haze.

We later went in search of a park, which upon arriving was being set up for lollapalooza this weekend! If only we could afford a ticket. There was some great street art but not much else of interest on our walk.

Observations so far:

• There are a lot of dogs on the streets
• People have some ingenious ways of raising money, including trying to sell bandaids in a café, busking by juggling at traffic lights, and even collecting for themselves as a 'charity'
• Fergus has noticed there are some rather large boobs
• There are some amazing old buildings that are in various states of disrepair
• The done thing in any park is to canoodle with your partner

Hopefully we will be in a more alert state tomorrow to take in a few more sights. But for now its approaching bed time. But is it 11 or 12pm?

LAPFWT