Hola! Welcome to Chile and the start of our final two thirds of travelling.

We arrived in Santiago on Monday, in what was one of the most surreal days ever. It was a pretty unremarkable day too though! Our flight left Auckland at around 5 p.m. NZ time, and arrived eleven and a half hours later, but around five hours before we had set off, allowing for time differences. We'd flown into the night, but had an awful night's sleep as the cabin was so hot! I managed to watch three films, Jo two, instead of sleeping. It was great to finally get out and be driven the 26 kilometres into the centre. The mountains behind the city are spectacular, huge and covered in snow, whilst the city itself feels pretty atmospheric to us, coming from NZ, with millions of people walking the streets, plenty of traffic, graffiti everywhere and crumbling buildings. We had a late lunch at a restaurant, which proved to be slightly embarrassing when we couldn't speak a word of Spanish to the waiters! We've resolved to go armed with key phrases to any future restaurants. After strolling around the neighbourhood it was only 5, but we felt so tired we ended up going to bed.

We woke up 18 hours later on Tuesday! It definitely felt like we'd caught up a bit! We explored the centro of Santiago, heading to the Plaza de Armas, the heart of the city, lined by palm trees and impressive buildings. Our trips to the Mercado Central (fishmarket) and Palacio de la Moneda weren't quite as successful, with vendors hassling us in the market and the palace being closed. Our last chance to redeem our day came at the Cerro Santa Lucia, a landscaped park situated on a hill in the middle of town. Thankfully, this turned out to be good fun, as we got pictures by the Terraza Neptuno and had great views from the Torre Mirador at the top over the city's skyscrapers in every direction.

Despite having another lie in on Wednesday, we were woken by the sound of horns and the shouts of 'Goooaaaallllll' as Chile beat Honduras in the World Cup. Once up and about we realised the bedlam that Chile's first World Cup win in about sixty years had caused. Aside from the horns, flags and facepaints, and the constant repetition on TV and radio, a more sinister side saw rioting in Plaza Italia. We got off the metro here to find police, broken bottles and confettiesque paper everywhere, but luckily the violence had stopped. We spent the day in the Bellavista neighbourhood, visiting 'La Chascona', the house Pablo Neruda, (poet/communist/diplomat/Chile's most famous son), built so he could spend time with his mistress. The house was actually named after her crazy hair. The buildings are higgledy piggledy and random, with sloping floors, small ceilings, and collections of things everywhere. Strangely it worked, and was fun to walk around, especially with an informative and knowledgeable guide who spoke English (phew!). Neruda loved the ocean, so we had one room modelled on a ship's cabin, and another whole building shaped like a lighthouse. From the house it was a short hop to Cerro San Cristobal, and the funicular that would take us up to the top of the hill. This hill was even bigger than Cerro Santa Lucia, and views of the city and mountains abounded at Terraza Bellavista. At the summit a statue of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception looked down upon Santiago.

Today we spent relaxing at the hostel. We watched France lose to Mexico in the World Cup, went for a hot chocolate at a cafe round the corner, and got ready to head out of Santiago to Valparaiso tomorrow.