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YOU DON'T NEED EYES TO SEE YOU NEED VISION.....
Buenos Dias Mi Amigos!
Well this adventure begins with a taxi trip from my hostel in Ecuador to the airport. I'd agreed a price with the cabby before getting in the cab, of $10 which was about $5 over the top but as it was only 2.50 in real terms I couldn't be bothered to argue. The traffic was bloody awful but even so, I feared for my life based on the awful driving. I closed my eyes and accepted that if my fate was to die in a cab, then sobeit. The cabby swore loads about the traffic levels and bashed the steering wheel over and over. Finally I reach international departures. Thinking i'd be clever and give the drive a $20 note (as nowhere in the town has change) he handed me back $5 (charging me a total of $15 for a $5 journey. I laughed out load and said "you're having a laugh" and threw my hands in the air to mirror his behaviour, to which he responded "too much traffic". I gave him a playful yet knowing "I know you're ripping me off mate" look and he just smirked at me! s***.
Well flying into Chile was a sheer delight in comparison to previous arrivals. I travelled through the night so I was hoping to sleep pretty much straight through. I was served steak and mash in a real mini casserole dish with real knives and forks (even though they have taken my tweezers off me incase I tweezer the pilot to death), followed by coconut cake and 2 glasses of wine. mmmmm Yummy I thought, now lets get cosy and sleep this flight away.....BING! oh no, I'm awake now, wide awake and sat in near darkness with nothing to do except think about how much my legs ached and to help the disabled lady with the bladder problem (who was sat next to me) to the lav every hour...... (I had better go to heavan).
A nice airport security man helped me find an ATM (and he didn't ask for a tip!). At this point I got very confused. They deal in CLP which is Chilean Peso's to you and me and they come in their $00000000's, so not having a clue and being totally crap with currency, I drew out a zillion Peso's and was now a zillionairess. marvellous!
Getting to the hostal at 5am was no problem however, i was too early for my bed so the reception guy suggested I wait, "where" I said, "here" he says....
Freezing my arse off i put on most of my clothes and suprised myself at my ability to fall asleep on a hard floor in the coridoor. 2 hours later and shivering I woke to find people stepping over me! No-one bothered to wake me up! but then no-one kicked me or robbed me either so that was a bonus.
My home for the next few days was to be a shared shoe box with an Oz girl, an Irish girl and a yank.
Santiago is a very nice city, it has a real cosmopoitan feel about it and I have really felt very safe here.
Feeling a little jaded from the journey I ate at the hostel on the 1st night. I was served an aneamic pork chop and 3 boiled potatos (your fav Na). They don't eat veggies here (AT ALL!) A glass of wine is 60p. 60p!!!!! They started to look at me funny when I ordered my 3rd glass though (well they were only thimble like glasses for goodness sake). Anyway, Maradonna was on the tv and then a comentator shouted "ggggoooooooaaaaallllllllll" for about half an hour. "eeerrrr, I'm sorry, what was that, I didn't quite catch it" Jesus! Only in south America hey.
I booked myself onto a wine tasting tour. It was wicked. I know tonnes about how wine is made now and have tasted some of the lovliest Chilean wines. yum, yum.
I felt a bit low on one of the days so I grabbed a city map and then threw it away because I can't read maps and headed to the city. Once there, I bought an ice-cream, a coffee, a pair of trousers, a top and a new belt and then felt much better. The universal tonic of Retail Therapy is so underestimated.
Once I got used to the women spitting and the men hissing at me (sounds like downtown Swindon on a Saturday night), I thought the city was lovely and deserves more credit than it gets. The markets are especially interesting, selling the usual tat but some nice stuff too. The stall selling the Snail saliva to cure acne was particularly interesting.
Yesterday was a day of riots and protests here in Santiago. The Ministry of Education, teachers and students were all on strike and it all got a bit out of hand apparently, with lots of violence. Anyway, thinking it was all over, I headed to town last night for a starbucks (to satisfy my craving for a Mocha). Anyway, I got to the centre and there was still a lot of men with guns around and riot shields but apart from it being rush hour, everything seemed fine. I ambled along, taking it all in, I sneezed then got this horrible burning sensation in my chest. I quickly realised that everyone around me was moving away quickly and they were holding their faces and sneezing and coughing.
I'd walked into a tear gas cloud and I could bearly breath. It started with sneezing, then the skin on my face was burning, then my nostrils, throat and tongue. I covered my face with my fleece and turned quickly to move away fast but it was too late. It was in my eyes and the burning both in my chest and eyes was almost unbearable. I had to press the sleeves of my top into my eye balls but stumble along with the rest of the crowd to get out of the cloud. As I walked my breathing eased and my eyes stopped streaming after about 10 mins out of the cloud, my skin stopped burning about 3 hours later.
All I wanted was a Mocha for the love of god.
Anyway, if you check the international news out you'll probably find something about the strikes as Ãt was the biggest in Chilean history and I got to taste it, literally.
I'm absolutly fine now, it's all part of this grand experiment.
Tomorrow early I fly to Buenos Aires for a world cup kick off party with some girls I met on the boat in the Galapagos. Can't wait.
I hope you're all doing fab, I hear the weather is lovely at home at the mo. It's peeing down here. Enjoy the 1st match on Sat and stay in touch. Thanks again for all your messages.
Love from Moi
xxx
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