Hola,

After leaving Fiji at 10.30am, we flew back to Auckland and waited 4 hours to catch out connecting flight to Santiago which took 11 hours. We arrived in Santiago at 1am the same day. Quite strange having a 16 hour time difference. Anyway we arrived in Santiago on Saturday 31st of May, safely although we were pretty dissapointed with the flight. Not even a T.V.! Boo to Lan Airlines...
When we arrived we caught a taxi to our hostel which was called Moai Viajero Hostel. It was in a good central location close to downtown. T he first day we just walked around the main square and watched all the street performers. At night we went to a little restaurant close to the hostel where no one spoke any English, it was quite interesting a fun, Jamie had the phrasebook out and tried her hardest to speak Spanish, I didnt say a word but give her some credit the food arrived and it was exactly what we had wanted. The hostel had a nice living room with a good selection of DVD´s so when we returned we watched a movie then hit the sack. This is where the problems started, JET LAG!! Not a word that we have been used to using on our travels but my god it hit us hard, especially Jamie. That night I slept for about 4 hours, however Jamie didnt sleep a wink, oh no Grumpy J.


On Sunday 1st of June we caught the underground to Franklin where there is a massive flee market selling everything you could think of, including dogs, cats and even ssecond hand shoes?? Santiago is very European looking in terms of the architecture and the people. It was not really what we had anticipated from South America. That night we had a hot chocolate and a movie, thinking this would help the JET LAG, it helped me but Jamie only slept for a few hours. We were trying to do all the right things by tiring ourselves out and getting up at the same time each day but still not sleeping, even hot milk wasn´t working!


On Monday 2nd of June we had a massive walk round the city looking for the Finicular Railway that takes you up to the statue of christ and gives you an amazing overview of the city. After that we went for a few "pisco souros" the traditional Chilean drink and a few empanadas again its traditional South American snack, its a small pastry filled with either, carne, pollo or queso thats meat chicken or cheese. Very nice and very cheap, the pisco souro is a grape brandy with lime juice sugar and a little lemonade again good but they make them very strong. We went out for dinner that night and bumped into a Swiss couple who we had met in Fiji so had dinner together. Its amazing how many people you see that you have seen before in a different place...Red Thread!


On Tuesady 3rd of June we were up and away to the bus stop to cath a bus to Mendoza in Argentina. When we arrived at the bus terminal we were told that the border crossing was closed because of snow, it had been closed for 4 days. They told us to phone back in the morning and it should be open. The crossing between Santiago and Mendoza consists of an 8 hour bus journey through the Andes up to 2000m. We really wanted to make this journey as people told us how spectacular it is. So after our bad news it was back on the under ground to the hostel. I went to pay for our ticket and realised that I had no money, seemed id been pickpocketed, b*****s!
We booked in for another night and hoped the snow would clear a bit over night and the border reopen the next day. Half of Tuesday was taken up with this bus palava. After we were back in the hostel we headed into town for a meal at central market which 2 Chilean girls told us you get amazing fish, so Jamie was in her element, huge mussles and red wine.



On Wednesday 4th of June we got up early and phoned the bus company to see if the crossing was open but again it was closed due to the snow. We were a little annoyed but there was nothing we could do. It was back to bed to catch up on the Jet Lag which seemed to be getting better and we were both feeling more like ourselves. Later that day the 2 of us and another couple from our hostel Amy and Will decided to go to a winery. We jumped in a taxi and headed for "Concha y Toro" which is famous for "Casillero Del Diablo" wine. The tour was good and the winery was beautiful, set in huge grounds with lots of wealth shown through. After the winery we headed back to cental market for some food and a few drinks. That evening we were introduced to some local Chilean people who took us bowling. Its been a while since we have been bowling but it wasent long before I found my rythem after my second shot, STRIKE. Jamie took a few more shots to get into the groove, Has anyone ever seen her throw a bowling ball its scary. It was sucseesss for team Scotland as I won and Jamie was second. We also had a very strange experience when trying to get to a pub afterwords. We had left the Chileans and the was six of us looking for a pub when a man in a Jag pulled over and offerd us a lift. We all looked at each other as if to say, what all of us?? but he was more than happy for us to all jump in, so we did!!! It was an eventfull drive, 4 languages being spoken and 7 people in this Jag, However we got there no worries.


We woke up early on Thursday 5th only to be told that the border was once again closed...AAhhhh, we decided that we needed to leave Santiago so spent most of Thursday thinking of plan B. It was raining all day and thinks seemed very bleek, we decided that we would go to the bus station on Friday and if the border was closed we would head up to Northern Chile instead. We were starting to get itchy feet, so we took our socks and shoes off and had a good old scratch....

Friday the 6th of June, now that our feet felt like new we headed to the bus station after saying farewell to Sebastian (owner of hostel). We were prepared to get a bus ANYWHERE, just to get out of Santiago. Luckily for us the border had repoened that morning so we could set off for Mendoza...Hurrah! We picked a mini van, well it was more like we were forced into a mini van. It appered that it was quicker and cheaper, however 8 hours in a mini van with big gents big legs was a bit of a struggle. However we met two quality Australian dudes on the bus who later became our buddies for a few days. The drive over the Andes was well worth the wait, spectacular scenery and great winding roads. We were very happy and excited to recieve our Argentina stamp at the border.

Argentina here we come...cheap steak and great red wine, what more could you ask for?

Chow Chow,

Jamié and Marco xx