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Saturday 11th May 2013 - we got up nice and early as I felt like I had a lot of packing to do before we got ready for our bus journey to Santiago. This time we were going right through the Andes! We had caught a taxi most of the time but as it was a nice morning we decided to walk to the bus terminal. Our bus left at 9:50 and we got there around quarter past, Jacob had left at 9am and his journey ran a lot smoother than ours. Initially the man got really moody with us as we didn't have a tip for him, regardless I don't enjoy tipping people that only lift my suitcase I'd happily do that myself for a few quid each time. None of the bus staff could communicate with us , I know out Spanish should be better but they couldn't understand why we didn't speak Spanish. Then came the border control and wow did we hold everyone up. We had signed a form to state we were not bringing anything into the country but I stupidly just ticked no without reading as I was thinking well these are going to be bad things a bit like on the American one where you have to basically answer no to being a terrorist. But anyway this was that we were not bringing fruit into Chile and I had totally forgotten than we put 3 apples in the bag from a breakfast ages ago. As soon as the bags were taken off two sniffer dogs went straight for my backpack and nicki's bag and started pointing to it with the paws. I was like to nicki s*** that's my bag. I wondered what it could be. They called me forward and it was all so embarrassing. I had to empty the whole thing while the bus driver was shouting at me for signing no fruit. I felt pretty dumb. They made me resign another form saying I was carrying fruit. Which was pointless because they took it off me. Clever sniffer dogs I thought. They were congratulating the dog like he'd found a mass of drugs or something. It's odd feeling like a criminal over an apple. We had waited an hour to get this far as the queue was bad at the border and then getting stamped was another big queue the whole thing seemed to take forever. Maybe 2 hours or so! Then when we finally got into Chile the road was only big enough for traffic going one way so we had to wait on the edge of a cliff staring down at our potential death whilst the cars coming up were let past and then after another 30 minute wait we could travel down this enormous mountain. On entry to Chile I was amazed. It was such an awsome landscape. Real cactus everywhere on the hills and an amazing stream followed us for ages with enormous trees. It was like the films, I loved seeing the dusty towns and desert like stretches of land. But once we started getting closer to Santiago this all disappeared and another huge metropolitan city began to evolve. At least the Andes were still standing strong and clear. We got to the bus station and our long winded journey was transformed into a nightmare for a while! We were really tired once we got off the bus and when a nice looking guy with a jumper wrapped around his neck asked if we wanted a taxi we nodded. He put the bags in the boot and we hopped in. To our horror there was already a driver in this cab and then he hopped in as well and said go. We were terrified. Since when does a taxi need two men in it! I said what's going on and he was like its cool guys he's my friend. Straight away we knew something was up. I started to worry because I knew he had seen us get cash out so I got nicki to pass me the money so he didn't know where it was. I was either worried he was going to drive off with our bags in the boot or he was going to drive us to a dodgy area and mug us. He was on the phone in foreign to a friend and I was wondering if he was getting him to be there. Was all really not cool! I was so angry that we had even got in to this taxi but we honestly thought he was the driver. To our surprise he took us to the correct address which was odd because I couldn't see it on the map on my iPhone. To my dismay not even the hostel was located on our map so we were blind as to which direction he was taking us. But when we arrived he started grabbing at our cash saying we had to pay. I was trying to get him off and as nicki got her converter out and started shouting stop that's like £40 they kicked our bags out and drove off with the doors open. We'd been utterly scammed and ripped off. I was so angry. What a b******! We licked our wounds as we were both pretty shook up and I stressed to nicki that £40 was a small price to pay to get off unharmed and it could have been worse. I was just glad to be out that car! Never again am I going to be so relaxed, you really have to be alert to scams constantly. We steppe inside the hostel hoping for a lovely one, and yes you guessed it. It was crap. For 14,000 Chilean peso we were so disappointed. Still we had just been robbed of 30,000 peso by that thief. It was obvious nobody cared about this place. They offered work for accommodation here so everyone that worked here lived here to and it killed the atmosphere. Everyone was boring, either revising or working. Nobody spoke a word of English and just didn't care. We were thankful at this stage to see Jacob from the other hostel in Mendoza. He had been here for 2 or so hours because I guess his journey was a lot smoother. Nicki was researching what we should do in this city by using a blog she had been reading since back in England planning. So me and Jacob decided to pop out to the shop we bought a couple of bottles of wine and 2 crates of beer and stayed in playing pool and listening to music. We got fairly boozed at this stage and just as we were winding down we saw Robbie and Serena walk in from their meal on constitucion Av. We decided to open another bottle of wine and Robbie stayed down till late with us. We got each others contact details as they were heading to San pedro de atacama as well. I noticed we had a friend in common on Facebook, a guy from my uni that he went to school with. After feeling a little tipsy as all we had eaten was that ham and cheese sandwich that we bought back in Mendoza, we made our way to bed. We hadn't made our bed and tried to be quiet before noticing the room was empty. I didn't want to make two beds so we both just made the one which seems to be the theme we are following with bunk beds.
Sunday 12th May 2013 - we woke up and nicki was feeling really ill we googled the symptoms and I would say she has altitude sickness. The fact that yesterday we got a bus straight up to 3500 meters and then straight back down probably didn't help. Also she has had a cold for a few days so that together probably wasn't the best of timings. I went down to breakfast on my own and was massively disappointed. This rubbish hostel couldn't even put out a breakfast. There were two bits of bread I could toast and a bit of jam. No juice or drink whatsoever! I also had a bit of cereal but that was all. We went back upstairs and had a bit of a lie in as nicki was still feeling poorly. Eventually she wanted to leave the hostel so we thought we would take a walk. We walked north to the roundabout and then headed west into town following the park. We saw lots of really cool buildings including the museo de nacional de bellas artes which was opposite a fountain. We walked around the edge and took photos of the horse monument at the back. This building was opposite the park which we had found the do shelters in, inside the one we found was a group of puppies that although probably flee ridden were really cool. Nicki spent a lot of time with these little guys on the way back home we even met their mother. We began to get hungry so I found a place on my app and asked it to point me in the direction it was a sea food place so when we saw a square ironwork building smelling of fish we thought we were on the right tracks. We entered and the smell was so strong as we were walking through a fish market and they were currently clearing down. Inside was amazing. A whole square dedicated to fish with 3 different restaurants in the middle heaving with people. We sat down on a little table for two and were met by 2 very helpful kind waiters. One I believe was the manager as they fetched him when they realised we were English and he enjoyed practicing his English on us. He recommended his fish soup and a reineta fish. It was amazing we had a side of vegetables with beetroot etc. the fish soup had so much fish in it. I honestly knew what hardly any of it was on the spoon but kept just popping the little guys in my mouth and asking questions later. I was so full! We tipped the guy as he was so kind and he gave us a free shot each. I have no idea what it was but it was very alcoholic and yellow and had ice floating in it. After we left the restaurant el Pacifico we walked to see the mermaid that used to give water to all the workers. The waiter said that through all the earthquakes here this building has stood strong and the mermaid water fountain gave water to many who didn't have it. We took pictures of the enormous fish they had for sale and the lobsters etc before leaving almost at they were closing the whole square. We went for a walk a bit further and found so many really interesting colonial like buildings and few markets and fountains. Then we stumbled upon the Plaza de Armas which is an amazing square buzzing. Here there is palm trees and street performers surrounded in amazing architecture from the church to the old post office. Metallic floor art was covering the floor in pictures of the city in past times. I took a picture of a street performer and it turns out he is a comedian because he picked me out and made me the brunt of all his jokes and when he found out I was from England after I sheepishly responded to him he continued. I was so embarrassed but it was really funny. He full on involved me in his little act despite me probably getting ripped in Spanish. We found a woman singing in the street to some upbeat music and me and nicki decided to have a dance some men clapped us but we thought it was great fun! It was now getting a bit dark and we decided to head towards the footsteps hostel. The walk home took us past some pretty cool buildings and one square painted in rainbow colours. We walked past the pups again and popped in to our local shop an ok market. We bought some nerds as we were reminded by them when we sent Louise some back home. We also bought some orieos and pop. Once home we were fairly tired from our long walk and our huge meal had filled us up still. We researched loads about travel online and ate the biscuits untill it was late and time to turn in. Jacob went out for a meal with one of the girls in the hostel so we had a free room for a bit.
Monday 13th May 2013 - Jacob had strongly recommended to visit San cristobal hill which we had intended on doing yesterday but the cloud was pretty thick so we let it off till today which seemed to work in our favour although there's not much you can do about the city smog in this place the pollution is apparently really bad. Nicki came down to breakfast and we were both in agreement that it was crap but at least she was able to come down despite still feeling poorly bless her. Once we were full-ish we left for the Virgin Mary which was viewable from all four quarters of the city since San cristobal hill was fairly central in the city. We walked fairly north to get here from our Hostal which led us over the river. I say river but its entirely man managed. With two separate steams of flow and concrete separating. We reached the road named constitucion and enjoyed the colour of the buildings and street art. We stumbled across an amazing place called patio bellavista. Bellavista is one of the main streets that runs along the river but this large patio square area was beautiful. With little pools and planted flowers and tiled art. We manage to get to the funicular that takes you up the hill but unfortunately it wasn't open for another 45 mins so we decided to take a walk. We stopped at a pharmacy to pick up some cough sweets for nicki and also some vasolene for our lips. We walked around the street pio nono it had cool buildings and street art and nicki actually managed to get me inside of a saloon. But she was busy for an hour so I escaped haha. We made our way back to the funicular and the queue had gathered. The day was going from really hot to pretty cold so me and nicki were exchanging jackets. We paid 2000 peso each for a return journey up to San cristobal hill. There was a little video describing how long the funicular had been there and how they built it and then with a short wait we were on the second journey up that day. The views from it was amazing and got increasingly better with height. You pass the cart going down by travelling past side by side at the central point and this singular track takes you pretty much straight to the Virgin Mary. Once we got there we took some amazing photos and asked a group of girls to take photos of us stood on the ledge. We then sat down in the church close by which was so peaceful before making our way up the stairs to the top. Mary is stood much like Christ is in Rio but this is much more of a place to worship. Religion is a lot more apparent at this point. Me and nicki wanted to light a candle, as you can do so here for your loved ones. We left the candles burning places around the virgin Mary's feet trying to shield them from the exposed wind. A great view of the Andes mountains opened up and you could see that the clouds had cleared and that all was left mildly restricting the view was the city smog. We began making our way back down and queued again for the funicular where I managed to get a front row seat for the journey down. Once down we decided to revisit a hot dog place we had seen towards the river. There were lots of students around this area and some of the campus buildings were absolutely huge. The chilli dog we bought was not incredible but it filled us up as we watched some street performs dance ballet whenever the red light went on. The girl must have been cold as she wasn't wearing much but they seemed to be getting a few tips. I joked how we were eating chilli dogs in chilly chile but I think I found it more amusing than nicki. We headed back so as not to challenge nicki's headache too much and since Jacob had headed to La Serena had no reason to stay at this rubbish hostel. Unfortunately when we decided to leave we briefly met a couple who seemed really nice from the UK but we had already made our decision. We checked out and took our bags from the safe room and made the epic journey across the street to a hotel that looked nice. The woman checked us in and for £20 each we were living in luxury. Our own double bed and fox tv so we got into bed and indulge in some proper American tv which we loved. Friends. Two and a half men. Big Bang theory. Perfect. I popped out to get us a massive KFC takeaway and we were having an amazing takeaway night in. I really enjoyed it and nicki even began to feel a bit better. We had planned to leave the city that night but I'm glad we had this relaxing evening. A great night sleep that was.
Tuesday 14th May 2013 - We awoke with still a couple of activities in Santiago that we wanted to do that we were potentially going to leave without experiencing. After a healthy lie in we went down to breakfast which was so much better than across the road. Cheese and salami toasty, cereal, hot chocolate, juice, fruit, yogurt and biscuits it was lovely. We asked a really kind man behind reception where we could find the coffee with legs. Or compiernos I think. It's basically a lunchtime activity for some Chilean men to grab a coffee perhaps in the morning and be served by a woman in her underwear. We walked a fair distance into the town centre in search for one looking at the lovely main streets and the absolutely enormous flags. One of these flags was so heavy it collapses under its own weight but I'm sure fully open it would have been the biggest flag I've seen in my life. The flags led to the presidential palace which was enormous and probably the equivalent to their White House. Although much less security although I'm sure they would stop you pretty sharpish if you leap frogged the low gate around the palace. We walked past their second hand stores and stands along calle bandera eventually reaching the financial district that had the most amazing food square in doors filled with pizza, Chinese and everything else. There was also a extremely high walkway stretching across in the sky from one office block to another with blue clear glass. If I knew how to get there I would have but everyone was hustling around in suits so I presumed it was someone's office. We walked along called Merced home eventually reaching the church in plaza de Armas again. This time we decided to go inside which I'm so glad I did because it was so much bigger inside that it looks from the outside. We decided to walk a different route home to last time at the plaza which was lucky as we discovered a couple of beautiful buildings far better than the previous route and then to our delight stumbled upon one of the tourist destinations we had been looking for - Barrio Lastarria. This is a bohemian neighbourhood with great gardens. It's kind of gated so you have to sign your self in but it's so pretty with waterfalls and lovely staircases we took plenty of photos as this place is located at the top of a decent sized hill in the city, but we were surprised it was free to see this beautiful place. We arrived back at the hotel eventually after a relatively decent walk and the kind man behind the reception had hand written lots of instructions for us to catch our bus which was so lovely of him. He told us that when we get to San pedro to wrap up warm in the night and to enjoy the skies. We checked out and charged our phones in the lobby, he had looked after our bags so we collected them from the man and asked them to call us a taxi. We were told there is a 45 minute wait so we decided to chance flagging one down on the street despite our previous encounter. This time everything ran smoothly and we were dropped off at the bus station for 3000 peso. A bit cheaper this time. Haha. Once at the bus station we decided to book our ticket, not only to Valparaiso, but also to San Pedro de Atacama. We felt we needed to tell the ticket lady this to ensure she booked us on a bus that minimised the amount of waiting around we would need to do. So it was sorted there a bus to Valparaiso leaving at 5:15. This was only a two hour bus so the journey felt extremely short compared to some of the journeys we had done. Barely enough time to finish this blog. The streets here look amazing and I can't wait to get out and explore this place that I have googled hundreds of times at work.
- Josh -
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