Hi Guys,

As you can see I am now in Chile in a nice little town called Valparaiso which is about 2 hours from Santiago (the Capital).  Before I begin this journal I have to point out a few things, firstly, the photo is another random one of somewhere I have never been to, second, this journal entry, unlike arguably all my other ones is not all laughs, smiles and tales of having a great time.  You see my man-flu that I previously talked about has progressed somewhat into what I am now guessing to be some sort of virus/infection, as the last 5 days have been a real struggle, I don't recall ever being so ill or lonely for that matter. 

Now before I go too far down this route I don't want to depress you all, I know that it is easy to get ill when traveling, and it is something that you have to get through.  So I will try not to whittle on too much about feeling sorry for myself etc. 

On sunday I got up feeling terrible, so I decided to just relax for the morning, practice a bit of spanish and prepare for South America, before my shuttle bus picked me up for the airport.  I was pleased to see that once again my flight was on time, I still have never encountered a delay, so I board the flight and I am told that the flight should take no more than 10.5 hours.  So I thought well that's not too bad.  Well I would be lying if I said it was a comfortable ride, the airline conditions only made my condition worse and I spent most of the time shivering and willing time to go on, so the 10.5 hours felt like 25 days.  Still I was happy when we touched down in Santiago and I breezed through customs with remarkable ease, picked up my bag before walking straight through the persistent taxi drivers to the bus into town.  I decided upon check-in to my hostel that I would upgrade my dorm bed to my own double room, my theory being, that it was not really fair to share my germs to others.  So for the first time in months I had my own room, and it did not take me long to pass out for a few hours.  My body was all over the place as I had just flown over the date line and back in time by about 17 hours, I needed a rest.

Later that afternoon, I decided to take a little stroll around the local area, whereby I was relieved to stumble across a 24 hour pharmacy.  Here I had a very 'Bridget Jones' like moment as I tried to act out my symptoms to the bemused man behind the counter.  This involved lots of pointing, oh's & ouch noises and even an attempt at a gargle.  He seemed to understand and came back with a box of tablets for a sore throat, the picture on the throat indicated this, and a box that simply said, flu.  Perfect I thought, so I happily bought these and started taking them.

The next day, Monday, I felt worse than before and it was a real struggle to get out of bed.  My theory however was that there is a time and a place to feel sorry for myself, and this was not one of them.  I am in a brand new country and was adamant that I would still go out and explore.  So I walk into town in search of some food, which I (a) understand and (b) does not make me feel nauscious, I settled for an omelet, which was a struggle.  After this I decided to walk around town and do a bit of shopping but without anything really to look for or the motivation to shop, I made my way instead to the Cerro Santa, which is a nice little park that winds up to heights of 628m.  The view from the top was not the best, Santiago is all skyscrapers and smog, but the park was a nice distraction, and got me out of the hustle and bustle for a while.  After this I went back to my wondering, until I need the loo and then I had something to search for.  After about 10 minutes I was beginning to get frustrated, so I ask a security guard, 'Donde Estan Los Servicios', he looked at me all puzzled, so thinking maybe it was my poor pronunciation I repeat the question, still he does not understand and starts whittering on about tourist information service or something, so anyway a few minutes had passed and I was beginning to get desperate and tried a different tactic, I pointed downstairs and uttered the words 'wee wee', for which he laughed, aha Los Banos.  He then gave me the directions and I left smiling to myself, thinking that next time I will simply say banos.  After this, I was exhausted so I made my way back to the hostel for a quick nap.

Later that evening I went on the hunt for a nice restaurant serving familiar, safe and easy to swallow food.  So I wondered around Barrio Brazil, where I was staying and I could not believe the amount of stray dogs running about.  So I adopt my usual tactic of see a dog, cross the road, and then of course I find myself zig zagging to nowhere, until I stumble across an italian, and settle for a carbonara.

The next day, after another bad night I wake up still feeling awful.  So I begin to suspect that maybe it was some sort of infection or virus, and the tablets I had been taking seemed to make me worse, either that or they simply did nothing and my condition worsened without the right treatment, I simply do not know.  So I begin to get depressed, I am ill, on my own in a country where they do not speak english.  After a quick cry, I pull myself together and think if it is some sort of infection then antibiotics might be more use.  I heard through Will that you can get these over the counter without prescription, so I make my way back to the pharmacy, armed with my previous medication, and said I need antibiotics.  At first, he said no but after a few minutes of my whining he managed to get authorization from his manager and sold me the packet.  I started the course later that day.

Anyway, this was the day I was also due to leave Santiago for Valparaiso, and due to my general faffing, it was a bit of a rush to check out and catch my bus at 12pm.  However, I just got there in time and started the 2 hour journey.  Upon arrival for once I listened to the touts at the station and a nice lady took me to her hostel which was cheap, clean and comfortable, so no complaints there.  I then spent the afternoon wondering.  Valparaiso is a lovely port city, with an old fashioned and dirty port with lots of pretty hills and winding lanes.  Even though I was still feeling ill, I enjoyed strolling around the hills, as the views over the city were great and the houses are all painted in bright colours of pinks, greens, blues, reds etc, there is literally no magnolia in sight, very, very beautiful.

Which leaves me onto today, I decided to have a bit of a lie-in this morning, to catch up on all my lost sleep, and I was releived to be feeling a bit better.  Obviously my antibiotics are working.  With this in mind I was much more positive and went for an even longer walk today, up and down a few of the many acsensors (cable car), into the hills and around all those colourful little lanes.  It has been really nice! 

Hopefully my tales of the last few days have not put you all into pits of depression, that was certainly not my intention.  Tomorrow I am hoping to catch the bus 7 hours north to a small beach town called La Serena, seriously I have no idea what I will do there as the weather is freezing but it is a necessary stop to break an otherwise unthinkable 21 hour journey.

By the next time I update my site I am sure I will be feeling so much better and I will once again be Mr. positive.  I hope you are all well.

Take Care,
Jon