I awoke to the challenge of how to turn today's relatively plain day of a sleep-in, a wander, the car to the airport and flight to Quito, into an interesting travellers tale for the next blog entry, so here goes.

I had a most delightful sleep-in, having stirred several times early on (one to shut the curtains and tell the sunshine to go and play - it is Sunday after all), I happily just re-cuddled my pillow and went back to the land of nod. As someone whose idea of heaven is clean towels everyday, clean white sheets and a snuggly bed full of soft cuddles, I was part way there this morning. Oh and to say nothing of how much I enjoy a dog hair free bed without doggy breath snouts or Knoxxy's pounding paws announcing 4am, 4.30am, 5am and so on, before I give in and do the daily dog walking thing.

It was 9.30 before I got up, primarily to check that indeed breakfast was on till 11 so that I had time to dawdle over a shower etc, and head to the empty restaurant (see pic.... Yes, it is a slow news day) where there was luckily still plenty to choose from. Back to room to pack, check out (the bill was accurate - always good) and the fellow on reception was kind enough to let me keep the adaptor that I had borrowed when mine didn't fit (strange as the configuration was right and I was sure I had used it before over here, but the prongs were too fat) and fobbed off my offer to pay with a 'that's Okay' and a wink. Nice.

Stored my bags and headed out like a real Lois Lane looking for something / tales to fill this blog, with a new walking route mapped out in my head (and the hotel's card in my wallet just in case - the receptionist has given it to me on the first day when she was giving me directions and clearly didn't see that beneath the old girl exterior was a very finely tuned, experience direction finder.... He he).

Apart from enjoying the lovely warm day and the quieter streets, I came upon which my first reaction was, to a fundraiser - bike riding sort of activity with people of all ages and methods of transport, including bike riders (large and some very small - see pic)), roller blades, skate boards and runners. The event seemed to be very well organised with streets closed, flag holding officials at traffic lights and spots where the runners etc turned around and went back again (various labeled pics of you are interested). I noted the sign - CicloRecreoViva - which turns out to be a civic activity organise for every Sunday in Santiago with various circuits available. I loved the website which said "plenty of time to look out one of the leotards in the bottom of your closet and tone your figure", and noted that it is organised by the Institute of Sport. No wonder it is so popular (more mentions of it below).

One of many parks (Santiago is a very green city with lots of open spaces, lovely gardens and even some 'vertical green spaces' - see below pic of one that I saw this morning) that I went past this morning had a statue (I am not normally a big statue fan but remember I was looking for stories) and I had a giggle at because of the multicultural nature of the General's name - Juan McKenna O'Reilly - and that he was a leader in the indigenous forces. I looked him up and found that he was born John in Ireland in 1887, trained in England and joined the Spanish army (guess this is when he became Juan) and went to Chile where he became a hero during the Chilean War of Independence, notably as the creator of the Chilean Army's Corps of Military Engineers. Who knows where one will end up!

While wandering I also saw more universities and English language schools (for all ages, with one advertising with pics of very small children - my friends from yesterday had noted the lack of English being taught in schools, which I don't have an opinion about after all they are a Spanish speaking country, but I thought that the hotel staff might have been a bit better - the porter this morning told me that he had no English, which surprised me). Won't bore you with details of all the universities but the one in pic below caught my eye because of the closeness of its initials to the famous UCLA and then I noticed the motor bike parked at the front door as per one with my previous comments about bike parking (and it is Sunday) with the Chilean flag in the back (which reminded me of seeing a scooter in CBR just before Xmas with antlers on the handles - could only be on a scooter :) ).

Around the next corner I came across the ride /exercise event again, taking up a major road, and a pic below shows in the background the Sheraton Hotel where I stayed when I was here recruiting with ANU (much prefer the Bonaparte, though I suddenly recall one day having drinks in the garden at the Sheraton with colleagues and I was wearing my red and white striped polo shirt. After a few drinks my colleagues forced me to and photographed me playing 'where's Wally' in the trees .... Yes, I get 'if the cap fits...' LOL) and if you look carefully to the left of the hotel tower in the pic you will see the statue of the Virgin (ref my on-off the bus day in Santiago) on the top of the hill.

I did then find a cafe open (not many being Sunday) and treated myself fit a double shot cappuccino (see pic - for those of you mad ones who continue to urge me to take 'selfies' albeit mirror ones - trying not to draw the attention of the cafe staff to my iPad positioning). I then realised that the cafe was on another closed off street (the one mentioned in my first entry, with the dual bike lanes and concrete bumps) which was by now choc a block with activity and I was back on familiar territory.

Notable on this part of the ride was a lady with a little girl on a seat in front of her, and miniature Daschund in the basket, and her partner towing a small boy in a plastic racing car (who was very slow because the boy kept stopping to pick up leaves). He was very cute - I was faster down the street than they were and I was so entertained by their antics that I nearly missed my street.

Back to the hotel, upload pics from camera, car arrived early, 1/2 hour to the airport and checkin.

And so it was adios Chile (though I will be back to see the inside of the airport and the airport hotel in 2.5 weeks). Having talked to a few people about the tourist delights of Chile I must say I am keen to spend some more time in South America - I can see a trip down or up Chile (to Patagonia in particular by some sort of vehicle, to say nothing of the myriad of things to do in all the other countries that make up the continent. So maybe after a couple of European destinations that are on my bucket list, I will be back - but first Galapagos and Amazon of course. These were my thoughts especially after observing some elderly travellers, and 'use it before you loose it' springing to mind. Any takers to share an adventure, please call.

Arrival at airport, and I immediately awarded first prize in today's 'best looker competition' (in honour of someone who remain nameless here - but they know who the are) who I snapped (pic not included due to Internet privacy issues, but I will keep as a dinner conversation starter) while pretending to be interested in taking pics of all the various signs hung from the roof (reminds me of the time I creatively snapped pictures of another 'first prize' one day on the bus from Nice to Monacco (was at a conference at the latter staying at my favourite hotel on the esplanade in the former) by snapping his reflection in the window). Yes, I know some accused me of stalking but it was fun, and there is nothing wrong with harmless window shopping...he he.

Anyway, when I got to the enormous queue for immigration (6 full lines long), today's winner and his buddies were a full line behind me and so it was my studies of fellow travellers, including today's winner and the antics of his 9 travelling companions and seeing a Brazilian couple from yesterday's tour, along with the delightful tones and lyrics of James Reyne on my iPod, that kept me smiling through the long (but feeling short) wait. Though I was also intrigued by the sign about the 'microbial resistant' copper signs (see pic) on the customs counters - guess if copper is your major commodity export, you have it in all sorts of formats. The science training in me though says that Cu is Cu but the student in me says maybe I need to do some research to find out what they do to it to make it microbe resistant - or someone might tell me. :)

Into the departure area, quickly through duty free (favourite fragrance and waterproof mascara for the snorkelling to come), a couple of beers, guacamole and coffee later (see pic, sans cafe) and I was ready for the 5.5 hour flight to Quito, Change of time zone and mental preparation for the altitude while I travelled. My travel doctor did arm me with some pills, but I took a calculated risk of saving them for my next visit and time in the Amazon, with a thought that I will start tomorrow slowly with a pedicure and massage (fortunately offered in my hotel so not far to stagger if I am breathless), followed by a slow wander not too far and I will save a full days informative city tour for the next day.

Full flight, standard food, no movies on demand (showing the Ninja Turtles movie - which taught me a lot that I hadn't previously known as my kids were never really into it - ), finished writing this hoping things were smooth at the Quito end. After a very bumpy flight and smooth landing they were. Love seeing that sign with my name on it in arrivals. :) 

Hopefully tomorrow I will have something quite interesting to report.