I got up early today, this is going to be a Pepsi Max day (busy). An old bearded traveller on the other bunk gave me "Death in the Andes" for "Angels and Demons by Dan Brown"; fair swop I think. An Aussie girl Rhea (as in...?) was doing yoga stretches but later she made me some porridge. We decided to go into town with an Irish guy called Craig. We walked to the nearby metro station called Los Heroes and got on the super efficient underground. We got off at...

I got up and ate the rest of my gnocchi. I then sat in the sunny courtyard and studied my Spanish. I walked round to Plaza Brasil and chilled there for a while. The park is full of couples canoodling, I've noticed that walking round the parks here. I suppose it would be like that back home if we had the weather to sit in the parks all day. One of the Chilean girls who works in the hostel was amazed that I was making gnocchi and so now calls me "Senor Gnocchi...

Today I read over some more of my Spanish as I have a 4 hour lesson with Jesus later. I walked along to Barrio Brasil and sat in the park looking over my verbs. I then went to the internet to update this journal. The smog is really bad today and is actually blocking out the sun. I'm going to the Pachamama tour orientation later, it's a tour of the Lake District and for 7 days it's only 100 pounds. I'll have a think about it... My lesson went well but I...

I woke up early this morning and bought some charcoal from the supermarket. I sat in the Plaza Brasil and soaked up some rays drinking water as I felt a little dehydrated. I returned to my hostel stopping off at an internet cafe on the way. Me and James then had a barbeque in the building site behind the hostel where they are currently building a swimming pool. We put our hunk of shoulder steak and pork on the barby and chilled out with a few glasses of red...

I was quite hungover but headed into the city centre with James. We went to an internet cafe and then walked towards the San Cristobel mountain. It is easy to reach the summit, by funicular railway. We sat at the summit and looked down on the spectacular views of Santiago and the Andes which are just over to the left when you are sitting on the summit. There is a statue of the Virgin Mary which towers over the city. We walked through a dodgy area on the way back ...