We finally left New Zealand today after a great few weeks. I can honestly say that we both love New Zealand and its our favourite place so fa, but here are to good times in South America!

After a long 11 hour flight we arrived in Santiago, Chile, 4 hours before we left New Zealand! The drive to the city centre was easy and it all looked quite pretty and very 1st world. A surprise really as i had psyched myself up for being somewhere much poorer. The hostel we had booked into was gorgeous. It´s an old spanish colonial home with huge rooms and high ceilings. All the furniture was antique. As soon as we got in the room we decided to have a little nap, not a proper sleep so we could get over our jet lag easier but of course we fell into a deep sleep and awoke hours later at about 8pm! So as not to right off the whole day we had gained by flying over the international dateline we decided to drag our sleepy selves out of bet and out to dinner. The area we are staying in is called barrio Loncres Paris and is really pretty as all the builings are old colonial style. Too tired to walk anywhere far we settled on a little candllit cafe near the hostel for a quick bite to eat before hitting the sack again! The next morning it was like torture trying to get out off bed! Jet lag had set in and we were both wide awake at 4a, in the morning and dead to the world at 11am! Anyway we managed it and got to take in the sights of Santiago. There isn´t much to see really, much like any other city. We did go up to a church high up on a hill, the Church of the Immaculate Conception, and looked out on fabulous views over the city. The snog is terrible though so there was only so far you could see! To get up there we had to get on an old tram that dated back to the 20´s that chugged up the steepest hill! A little scary as well as entertaining! I still cant get over how developed it is. Éveryone is wearing the latest fashions (well latest for Chile!) and there are plenty of Emo kids hanging around! In the evening we went out in Bellavista where there are lots of bars and restaurants and got a little tipsy on cheap beer before heading off to eat a not so cheap but very tasty dinnerof steak...mmmm! On our third and final day in santiago we had booked a wine tour at the Concha y Toro winery. All the touristy tours were so expensive so we decided to get their on our own and braved the metro and local bus system, which was actually really easy to use. Except forwhen i thought we´d got on the wrong train so we decided to get off and then the doors shut on my hand and bottle of Fanta. I was stuck on the inside Tom on the outside! I managed to free my hand with only a slight bruise and Tom and i were reuinited a mere 10 minutes later! probably the longest we´ve been apart for the whole trip! i was fine i can speak Spanish, Tom however was lost without me!! Yeah right! So we got to the winery had a cool tour with a slightly sleazy guide called Max that Tom took an instant dislike to! I didn´t think he was that bad! we got to taste a few wines which were nice. We prentented to know what we were doing by swirling it around our mouths and the glass but really i had no intention of spitting it out! The day was ended by a leisurely walk around the city trying to find a dinner that didn´t constist of fast food, namly hot dogs smothered in mayo and guacanole, which they seem to love out here! We did however try the local speciality Mote which is a drink sold by street vendord which is a peach juice with barley bits in the bottom and chuncks of peach in it....mmmmmmmm! Santiago is nice but not what we expected so im not sure whether thats a good thing or a bad thing. We´ve had fun though. next stop Valpariso.