We left a very soggy England to face a 22 hour journey to Chile including 6 hours in Paris Airport between flights. We arrived hungry & tired but the Chilean guy sitting next to Donna gave her his phone number to call. He wasn't chatting her up just offering assistance if we needed it and sharing his life story. The first surprise in Santiago was when stuck at traffic lights you don't just get someone offering to clean your windscreen but you also get people juggling then dashing from car to car for Pesos before the lights turn to green. Santiago is not a pretty city but we did find the greener bits - Santa Lucia hill, a peaceful haven amidst the hustle & , and San Cristobal Hill (made easy with the cable car to go up and the funicular railway to descend. It has been 30 plus Deg C since we arrived, there is a haze over the city but we can still make out the Andes not too far away. We haven't survived on Pizza but have tasted some local delicacies - Empanadas, Completos and cakes. Lots of cake shops here! The street vendors have an unusual array of things for sale including toilet rolls sold from a shopping trolley! Our Spanish is non-existent and is proving a challenge at times, we have already had food served to us that was not what we ordered (or thought we ordered). We have an apartment on the 22nd floor which is very comfortable but soon we will be trying out some hostels and will probably feel old as most of the other travellers are likely to be far younger than us! Bus booked for Wednesday to Mendoza in Argentina, we haven't finished with Chile - we will be back soon.