Santiago - Day 29 - 28/10/2012 (Sunday)
Something amazing happened!!! I was able to sleep on the night bus! No one else did because it was so uncomfortable but some how I slept. Although about 6am the attendant woke us all up by taking the covers and pillows from us while we were still asleep and those who got back to sleep he threw there breakfast at them. We arrived into Santiago at about 7am and then waited 30 mins for our transfer to turn up. It never arrived so had to get taxis to the hotel. As it was so early our rooms were not ready so we went out to look for a cafe and breakfast. As soon as we opened the door to our hotel we could tell something was up. We were in the centre of the capital and there wasn't a soul to be seen. We walked around for a bit and nothing was open and still no people. Alberto then remembered it was Election day ad that explained everything. So instead we went for a while to see the sights and finally we found a corner shop that was just opening so got something there.
We then continued to walk. Alberto wanted to take us up this huge hill in the centre of the city with great views all around. Normally you get this cliff railway up but that was shut so we walked it.
The views from the top were great but Santiago is plagued by smog so we could hardly see the mountains that surround the city.
After walking down our rooms were ready so we checked in. Sarah wasn't feeling great so I went out for some lunch with the guys and came back and had a rest myself. A few others wanted to go out for a wander so as Sarah was still asleep I went with them. We tried to get a drink but as it was Election Day no where was serving alcohol until 8pm.
Today marked the end of the second part of our trip and as such we were getting a new guide and a whole bunch of new people joined for the 3rd leg. Because of this we went out for our final meal with Alberto. We got to the place at half 7and ordered our food first so that we could order drink a little closer to 8. At 8 the bar went mad and it took us a while to get our drinks.
After dinner we said our good byes. End of an era!

Santiago - Day 30 - 29/10/2012 (Monday)
We hadn't arranged any trips so we took advantage and had a lie in. While as long as we could because it was so noisy outside our room with traffic and this random bell that went off all night. When we did finally surface we found some of the others at breakfast so decided to go out and explore with them. We walked around all morning then grabbed some lunch from the supermarket and went and sat in the park for the afternoon then when it went to hot we went back to Alice's room for a bit.
That night at 7 we had our welcome meeting for part 3 of our trip. We meet our new tour leader (Nancy) and the 7 new people joining our group. We have got 4 more English people an Aussie and a German. 5 of our are girls so the male female ratio is still way off.
After the meeting we went to a pizza place for dinner. Very different from Alberto's style. Got to chat to some of the new people and then w e went somewhere else but we had to sit on this huge long table so hardly got to speak to anyone there.

Santiago - Day 31 - 30/10/2012 (Tuesday)
We hadn't got any plans until the afternoon so had another lie in. First we went to pick up our washing but it wasn't ready so the guy told us to come back in a couple of hours. No one seems to be a fan of the big cities so we didn't do a lot that morning. We went to get lunch and pick up our washing which was still damp but we had to get it then and had no way of arguing with the woman so paid and left.
At 2 a bus picked us up to take us to a local vin yard. We have been in wine county for weeks but still hadn't been to one so it was a perfect time. The place they took us was about an hour out of the city and was a really small one. However the guy was really passionate about his wine and spent almost 2 hours explaining how he made his wine. It was only a small setup he had and everything was manual. Finally we got to try some of the wine and it is by far the nicest stuff I have ever had. He then went to tell us the price and we were expecting it to be really expensive and we almost cracked up when he said it was only $3000. (About £4) a bottle. After that we all brought a couple of bottles because it was so nice and so cheap. You can get cheaper here in the supermarkets but not that quality.
Once back at the hotel it would have been rude not to try our recent purchases so 11 of us crammed into a tiny room.
At half 7 we were meant to be meeting Nancy for dinner but no one wanted to go so we boycotted that. This never happened with Alberto. Instead we headed out to the student area and quick dinner and then found a bar.

Santiago - Day 32 - 31/10/2012 (Wednesday)
We had got used to early mornings for buses so that we have some time when we arrived at the new place. However our bus wasn't until 12 so we had a few hours to kill. We had a bit of a lie in (again) and then went for a walk up a near by hill. We packed our bags and went to get some lunch and then just waited until our transfer to the bus station arrived.