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Hola everyone!
It's been a long wait and one of the most highly anticipated trips I have ever made, but I have finally arrived in South America. I am now staying in La Casa Roja in Santiago, Chile. It's a real chilled out place with really cool people. It's also located perfectly as we're right in the city centre. The metro station is only a few blocks away and everything you need is within a few minutes walk.
After my last blog I simply went to Auckland. It proved to be the most boring place yet in New Zealand as it wasn't like New Zealand at all. It was a city stuck there and just like every other city - shops, fast food, shops, fast food, etc. I pretty much walked around now and then, got lost a few times (as I do in pretty much every city) and then left for the airport. The most momentous thing that happened there was my farewell with the three guys I had been travelling with in New Zealand. On our last night we decided to go out to the Auckland Ice-Bar. Needless to say, it was freezing. We were given freshly-made ice glasses and purchased cocktails. We also took a few cool pictures and had fun times with a couple of Danish girls who had been travelling with us on the Kiwi bus and who were also heading to Fiji. After the Ice-Bar, we went to a local bar before heading in for an early night. The Devon boys departed for Fiji the next morning and it was a very sad goodbye for all of us as we'd had such a great time travelling together since June 14th.
After they left, I met up with a Brazillian from the bus that took us to Auckland. He was returning home soon and so I asked him about Brazil. Funnily enough, I met another Brazillian on my last day in Auckland and he was a chef that had been studying in New Zealand for three years. He was a really great guy and taught me a lot of key phrases in Spanish & Portuguese that I specifically would need. It was amazing to also learn about his life as he studied hard to become a professional chef.
The next day, I was getting the plane. I arrived in Santiago airport at 1300 on Wednesday despite leaving Auckland at 1750 the same day. Yes, I crossed the international date line on my 11-hour flight. Once out of the plane, I faced my first Spanish-speaking encounter. I had anticipated that everyone in the airport would speak English - I was wrong. I went up to the immigration desk and was asked if I speak Spanish in Spanish. I replied, ''no''. I asked, ''hablar Ingles?''. He replied with an immediate, ''no''. I thought to myself, ''this'll be fun''. I had to contain my laughter as we tried to communicate with pointing and very few words. I made it out of there after ten minutes.
On leaving the airport, I bid farewell to two people I sat near on the plane; one a student from Bristol and another a New Yorker. I then took a transport I had pre-booked from London to take me to my accommodation. The transport people spoke English and I also spoke to an English-speaking elderly Brazillian lady during my trip to my hostel. She told me more about Brazil and her own life. I spent my first afternoon sorting out my bus to Lima, as I have to be there for my South American tour from Lima to Rio starting on Tuesday. I found out where to go from my hostel and then took the Metro. It was easy enough to get a ticket and hop on. Once at the bus station, the first counter had staff who understood my limited Spanish and spoke English. I then went to another counter to see if I could get a better price. The man at that counter, however, didn't speak English and was patient enough to wait for me to construct basic sentences. He turned out more expensive anyway!
The funny thing I've already noticed is that about one in ten people here actually speak English (excluding my hostel where all staff speak English). What's even funnier is that they straight out say, ''no!'' when you ask if they speak English. They don't even try to say any words or communicate in English with you in any way. In my opinion, it's actually brilliant and I love it. It really throws you into the deep-end and forces you to learn the language. It also shows that it's an area that hasn't been plagued by tourists thus making it touristy and expensive to accommodate for travellers passing through. It's what I came for and a welcome change from being in English-speaking Australasia for over two months. I'm enjoying every minute right now and trying to pick up as much as possible. The lucky thing is that most locals think I'm from Brazil and ask if I'm ''Brasiliano'' after I just say ''Hola''. I'm guessing my ''Hola'' is pretty good - just need to work on the rest now!
After getting my bus ticket, I returned to my hostel and met an American girl who was holidaying in Santiago but actually doing a Peace-Corps programme in Paraguay for two years. We talked for a while before I met some friends she made from the hostel who are also American (two guys from New Mexico and a girl from Philadelphia). There were five of us altogether and we had dinner at a local place next door to our hostel. They had all been in South America for a while and were fluent speakers of Spanish. So to help me out, that translated the mene before I ordered in Spanish. After dinner, we went supermarket shopping for reknowned Chilean wine. I got some chocolate too and it all came to about three pounds Sterling. The difference in the cost of living here is also a welcome change! After the supermaket, we chilled in our hostel for a few hours before gathering some more numbers to head to the Chilean clubbing scene. It was interesting how the locals cheered for the music we didn't know whilst we cheered when the DJ played popular RnB/Drum&Bass! We spent a few hours there before heading back to our hostel together and going to bed at around 5AM. A great night to kick off South America indeed!
I woke up this afternoon at 1530 (I finally gave into jet-lag for the first time) and went to a local bakery. I didn't have a clue what anything was and it totally unlike NZ bakeries which were more like home. Again, the staff didn't speak English. So, I picked up two doughnuts things and paid for them. They were edible! I later met the girl from Philly and we went for dinner and watched a football game. A team scored and the commentator enlongated the word ''goal'' until he couldn't keep his voice going. He did this three times consecutively before then just repeating the word, ''goal''. It was hilarious! After dinner we chilled in the hostel and now I'm about to go to bed as I need to get used to the new timezone.
Tomorrow is my last full day in Santiago before I get the bus Saturday morning. I'm going to browse some of the local markets with my friend from Philly and will definitely use some more Spanish!Until next time, buenas noches!
Darryl
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