Well here we go.......it has been a long and very excellent day..I think it is about miday tomorrow at home and I still have 6 more hours of today to go. Someone figure it out!!!.... But importantly we will catch up the time in a few weeks.

 It was a very early start, a 4.40 am pickup (yes, am, though for a few brief hours yesterday I had thought it was going to be a couple of hours later as I heard that my flight to Santiago was going to be 2 hours late and I got myself onto th 8am flight, but it was then cancelled and I was back to the 6.10 one...groan ). Poor puppies, Knoxxy thought his Christmases had all come at once - breakfast at 4 am.... I am sure he was wondering whether there will there be another one at the usual time? Sadly not, and a long time till his minder is home this evening. Hopefully it all happened but they are off my 'things to worry about right now' list. 

But once on the road to the airport it was all very smooth. Of coure, all the normal people are in bed! The lounge at CBR airport I think proved that - see pic. LOL

A side note about a big achievement for this trip... I do not have a reputation for being a minimalist packer but after being inspired by some of my fellow Balkans travellers in 2013 i decided that a 70 l trolley / backpack option was do-able. And it was...see pic, though I am taking a half empty carry-on with capacity for a few purchases, and which I can leave at the hotel in Quito while I do my tours. Though if the coming entries in this tale include any photos of me, some of my outfits might be quite interesting. :)

My packing success was buoyed along with some great advice that I got at a recent Ulysses club dinner when the Canberra club hosed a visiting group from Yarra Ranges. I was lucky enough to sit at a table with 2 couples (both couples being both long term Harley riders with many tours behind them) and I was able to quiz the ladies about how they pack and spend weeks riding - no use asking blokes, they just take 2 t shirts, 2 undies and spare parts - but they had some great tips that I utilised .... Happy to share with the really interested. ;) 

Safely and uneventfully in Sydney with a long wait because of the delayed departure but after a few calls, online papers etc and some 'I am actually on holidays' celebratory drinks, I was ready to hook into a day of movie watching and off I went. 

The first leg of the flight went super well. I was in the first row after business with the bulkhead in front and no-one in the window seat. See pic of how I could then stretch out and make my movie marathon as comfortable as I could possibly be in cattle class. The downfall was that this was a Qantas codeshare with LAN who do not serve wine with lunch (cheese and ham sandwich) (or ice creams) but thankfully the Qantas lounge in Auckland was well stocked with both and I was well prepared for the next, 11+ hour flight.

My prayers were answered (hopefully I haven't used up too many credits as I use them regularly now for my long, daily scoots) and I again had no neighbour for the long flight so I could stretch out again and several movies and dinner (not bad quality and with wine as well as icecreams) I shifted to the window seat for some 'sleep'. We know it isn't really, but I expect tonight to make up for it.

I can say now that I have forgiven the couple in the middle seats nex to me for having one of the 2 babies who between them kept up the continuous wail from the moment I told myself it was sleep time to when I finally gave up hours later because a. They were both charming, b. He was serious eye candy and c. She looked like I felt when we landed. Seriously I did get several hours shut eye and that was enough.

Landed all fine. Car to pick me up. Poor driver had been waiting a while but all good.

Hotel Bonaparte is lovely. See pic of outside, pool and lobby (some below). All very French looking but Chilean staff are excellent and patient with all my dopey questions. Dropped bags and tried the pool (excellent - being tiny there was no pressure to dive in and do a lap, but a great temp) and it perked me up. The hotel also has great free wi-fi and includes breakfast, all for a modest price. I recommend it.

I then walked several k's To a shopping area - was impressed with the 2-way bike lanes (see pic) on the one way road I followed through to the main road - the notable thing was the concrete humps that separate the bikes (of which there were many) from the cars and many, many motorcycles (and scooters). I might share my pics with Pedal Power!

The shopping area was pretty standard department stores, speciality and restaurants. A cafe freddo later and some sitting people watching for 1/2 hour saw me heading back down the leafy street back to Bonaparte. But a stop on the was to the convenience store around the corner (see pic, it's name was interesting - note that I don't often take shop pictures, but I have a collection including of Skyla (women's intimate apparel) in Singapore and Compa (photos) in Kotar) where I picked up a 6pack ofBolivian beer for about $8 and a bottle of Chilean Chardonnay for $10. No, I will not drink them in one sitting - I am here for a few nights.

Other than noticing a university around the corner and snapping the pics of their displays for you Julie and Chrissy (below) and as a reminder for you PW, that was my day. It reminded me that I was here in 2009 when we (ANU) were recruiting with 2 other Go8 unies, though we also had Malula with us to get things organised which was terrific (sorry to digress but several of audience know who I mean).

Well, that's it for my very long day. I am heading to the hotel restaurant for a snack before i hit the wall and bedtime. Tomorrow I am doing the hop on- off thing and heading down to the main square to pick up a highly rated free tour (pay what you yo think it is worth at the end - a lovely idea), going to Valpariso (on the coast) on Saturday, and have till 2 pm on Sunday to go back to my favourite spots.

That's all for now - buenos noches and thanks to so many of you for signing up. I feel like I am talking to a crowd and hope that my ramblings don't make you unsign just yet. Wait for the sea lions, iguanas, South American male an female eye candy shots (he, he, that got you interested - they really are very stylish here and I feel very okka - I will show you tomorrow), red footed boobies (the birds), turtles and maybe piranhas...


Oh and a couple of you said I should take selfies. Not going to happen, but how about this (below) with my iPad in the Auckland lounge? I think no more. ;) 


ps sorry for typos. Will get better. Am excited to post

JC. Xx