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Hola from Chile! I know it´s not been that long since I last updated you, but we have been crossing into Chile a few times now, and I have never gotten around to updating my blog while there. Today I´m in Santiago, and tomorrow we leave Chile for the final time, so this was my last chance!
I should first point out that Santiago does not look anything like the picture on this page! The photo is of one of the glaciers, but is the only image they have of Chile and I don´t have my camera lead with me to to upload a proper photo! Santiago is actually not that much of a beauty spot, so you´re not missing anything!
We only have one day here, which I first thought seemed a bit rushed, but having spent most of a day here, I now understand! There really isn´t that much here to inspire you. It´s just another modern city that could be anywhere in the world, except for the fact that I have never seen such a high concentration of junk food outlets. On every corner there is McDonalds, Burfger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, Dunkin Donuts and a variety of home-grown equivalents. There have been a couple of entertaining moments though... First of all there´s the street performers - I haven´t seen a live puppet show since I was a kid, but here on the streets of Santiago they´re still a popular Saturday afternoon passtime! The most random thing I have seen though is about half a dozen people standing in the main pedestrian area of the city holding up signs saying "Abrazas Gratis" - translated means "Free Hugs". Strange enough, but they actually were giving passers-by hugs - and not just tiny little ones - proper bear hugs! After accepting my free hug I asked him what this was all about and he simply replied that it made people feel better so why not! I´d like to see that kind of thing happening in London!
Before arriving here, we were in a town called Pucon in Chile. The original plan was to climb the Villarica volcano - an active volcano where you can see the lava bubbling in the crater. Sadly Mother Nature had other ideas... we spent three days turning up at the office at 6.45 am ready to climb, only to be told that the rain and clouds were too bad. After a bit of retail therapy on day one, eight of us decided to spend a girlie day at a natural thermal spring. After 8 weeks of hurried showers in freezing cold shower blocks it felt soooooo good to lie in a pool of scalding hot water!
I´ve saved the most exciting story about Pucon until last though... On our last night there our campsite caught fire - and I don´t mean someone getting carried away with the logs on the camp fire - I´m talking three fire engines in the middle of the night! Before I go on, I should point out that no one was hurt, and all of us still have all of our luggage, tents, truck, etc in tact!
All seemed well when I went to bed... we had spent the evening chatting in the Refugio - a small wooden cabin where you can eat, cook, chill out, and generally take refuge from the cold around an open fireplace. At about 1.30 am there was a lot of shouting going on outside our tent and all we could make out were a couple of our group shouting at everyone to get up. My immediate thought was that I´d set the alarm wrong and we´d overslept, but a quick time-check quashed that thought. After groping around in the dark for my torch and trainers I ventured outside in the freezing cold to see what was going on. It was then that the size of the problem became apparent... the entire refugio was going up in flames, and there were a lot of people shouting about gas containers...! It turns out that Duncan, one of the guys in the tent nearest to the refugio had heard some crackling noises, looked out at what was going on and raised the alarm - much to the disbelief of his tent/room-mate.
The fire brigade were called, and prompltly sent around three of their trucks and soon had everything under control. After being so rudely awakened in the middle of the night, the prospect of a dozen or so Chilean firefighters coming to our rescue didn´t seem so bad! Sadly, even if there had have been any good looking, young, single ones, I wouldn´t have stood much chance - there I was, standing shivering in very cover-everything pyjamas, trainers, bobble hat and bed-hair! Not a pretty sight!
It turned out that the open fire had been left burning, got a bit out of hand, heated the metal hood up so much that it caught the surrounding wood and started the fire. Thankfully there were no gas containers after all, but the refugio was pretty badly burned.
We went back to bed after the all-clear, and the excitement died down - at least until we got back on the truck the next morning... we had a competition to go through our iPods to find every song we could related to the night´s events. Our music went from the Prodigy´s "Fire Starter", to The Doors "Come on baby light my fire" to Johnny Cash´s "Ring of Fire" to the Bangles "Eternal Flame". You get the general idea, but we endured this for at least two hours!
We´re now at the half-way point of the leg to Quito, and 8 people are leaving the trip here in Santiago. We pick up another 7 in their place, and we get to meet them tonight. Here´s hoping they´re as good a bunch as the others - I will miss them when they´re gone - we´ve had so much fun.
Our next stop is Mendoza in Argentina where they make all the wine... looking forward to it already!
So anyway, I have rambled long enough for now. Thanks again for all your messages and emails - it´s really good to hear from you. I miss you all loads.
Until the next time, take care.
Lots of love
Nikki xxxx
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