Thursday 4th February

Anna took us to the airport & we took the midnight horror to Sydney. This was fairly painless & we were having a coffee there by 6.30am.

Friday 5th February

Transited to the International Terminal in Sydney & waited for our flight at 11.30am on LAN via Auckland. The flight was virtually full in a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which proved to be less of a 'dream' than we had hoped. The seats were very closely spaced, seemed relatively narrow to us & the cabin service was very ordinary. In comparison with the Emirates flights. It was much harder work, given that the Auckland to Santiago leg was of about the same duration as the Perth Dubai one. Food was limited & took a long time to arrive & on an 11 hour flight there were just 2 meals & no additional snacks or drinks.

We arrived in Santiago at about 2.30pm local time, still on Friday, having crossed the International Dateline. To our surprise the Immigration area was empty but we had to buy an entry permit in another area, for $US117 each, before we returned to enter the country. After picking up our bags we took a cab into our hotel about 15km from the airport.

The initial impressions were all good as the roads were pretty flat & the traffic seemed orderly, in contrast to Colombia. We did pass a couple of shanty towns beside the river but the overall appearance was of a neat, well ordered & maintained city. It was about 30°C & the atmosphere was quite dry so it felt very pleasant when we arrived at our hotel in Providencia, a relatively new & wealthy suburb where offices & apartment blocks are replacing the large houses of the 1920s & 30s.

The hotel is quite smart by our standards & the doors were opened by a doorman in a top hat & cape very much in the posh, English tradition.

We went just about straight to bed at about 4pm as we were exhausted

Saturday 6th February

We were up early as we were starving & went down to breakfast in the Dining Room. Luckily it was a buffet & d*** had double quantities of just about everything to make up for lost time & to fortify him until dinner.

The hotel sold us a couple of Hop-on-hop-off tickets for the day & we set off on the 9.30 bus to tour Santiago. This proved a good choice & we did a complete 2 hour circuit before stopping at a huge shopping centre for a very acceptable coffee & a shop.

The city is bounded on the north side by the Mapocho River, which runs in a deepish channel at an incredible pace. It looks very grey apparently from mine tailings from further inland & obviously drops at a fair rate. The walls on either side are of concrete & it is a strange sight.

We took the bus again to Bellavista at the entrance to a huge park with a funicular railway up to a statue of Mary, Our Lady. From the top of the hill, Cerro San Christobel, we had a fine view over the city which sits in a bowl in the mountains. From the funicular terminus we walked up to the statue passing a series of large painted crucifixes all in different styles but quite impressive. Below the monument is a chapel with unusual bas-reliefs set into the concrete walls.

Descending on the funicular we walked along the street from the park & had a well earned beer from a litre bottle with 2 glasses, for about $4.

We then caught the bus back to our local stop & had dinner in the hotel restaurant. At about $65, not cheap but delicious.

Sunday 7th February

A latish start today as we slept in. After an excellent breakfast we set out to brave the local Metro system as the station is close by. $2 Tickets are sold for rides of up to 2 hours but the ticket is taken by the entry gate so they cannot be re used. We went about 6 stops to visit the Museo National de Belles Artes & walked to it through the older part of the city. It is a fine late 19th century building with a central domed glazed courtyard around the galleries. One exhibition was of Mexican works due to open in 1973 but postponed until 2016 because of the coup in which President Allende was overthrown by the Junta.

Two other exhibitions were also there & their range was quite wide but as d*** was tiring we didn’t perhaps do them justice.

After a coffee we walked towards Plaza de Armas, one of the major squares & on our way visited the Basillica de Mercedes, a fine 19th century church with beautiful side chapels & a fine raredos & pulpit. Jane went on to see the main cathedral which we had visited last time while d*** waited in the park. On another face of the square we visited the Museo Historico Nacional in a typical Spanish courtyarded building, which proved to be very interesting as it covered the period from independence through to today.

Leaving the museum we navigated our way by Metro back to our local stop & after shopping for a few supplies returned to the hotel via a devious route.

Went down the road for a very ordinary, if cheapish, meal & returned for another early night & watched Downton Abbey before going to sleep.