After saying my goodbye´s to the people I´d met at the hostel, I took a taxi to the airport. I practiced some more Spanish with the taxi driver, chatting about football and music. I told him I`m a Liverpool fan, so we got onto talking about the Beatles, which is a favourite band of his.

On the plane, I read up on Chile and some of the hostels I could stay at. Some of the views from the plane were great, as we approached the red rocky slopes and into the snow-laiden tops of the Andes. It looked vast and impressive.

I don´t like being ripped-off so when the touts were trying to sell me a taxi or more expensive bus to the city, I stuck to my guns and bought a ticket for $3, with alternatives being around $10. The ride was fine, took about 30 minutes and dropped me off in the city centre. After checking the map in the Lonely Planet guide, I began the 10 minute walk to my chosen hostel. It was around 6pm when I checked into the dorm room, feeling a little tired but good. The first guy I met was Guillaume, a French guy, then I met a Spanish guy named Jaume.

Jaume had come to Santiago from spending 18 months or so in Australia. On his travels, he´d met a Chilean guy who said he had a friend living in Santiago, who he should meet up with. He invited me to come along with him and Guillaume for some dinner and beers, so I grabbed a quick shower and headed out with them.

Guillaume spoke the same level of Spanish as me, whereas Jaume spoke very good English, and was therefore the language of choice. Jaume called up his Chilean buddy´s buddy and arranged for us to meet him at the train station. They had never met before so would be interesting looking for him. It turned out not to be a problem, and after the introductions, we headed back to Camilo´s place. I know what you´re thinking, but first impressions are important and I think I´m pretty good at reading people! So, no worries!

We ordered some pizza and Camilo had some of the Chilean / Peruvian national drink, called Pisco. It was pretty good, so after much English Spanish chatting, we headed out to some bars. It was a quiet night in town but was fun meeting new people. We slept in a bit the next day but the 3 of us again headed out to get some grub and check out the town.

I don´t want to sound harsh, but Santiago is a bog-standard city, nothing of any real note. Perhaps I´ve not seen enough of it, and I´m sure the natives would disagree. It´s got bars, some nice plazas, plenty of high street stores, nice people, so it´s alright to have a look around, but Jaume and I decided to leave for Valparaiso the next day, to be joined the day after by Gullaume. We did have a nice fish dinner in Santiago though. Jaume had the cerviche, which apparently is popular in his home city, Barcelona. I had a very tasy octopus soup, which had an Asian influence to it, maybe with the lime and corriander.

That night we went to a bar, watched a match on the tele between La Serena and Colo Colo, had a bit of a chat with some locals about football, but after a few minutes, I just couldn´t keep up with the speed of the conversation, so left it to Jaume. Guillaume and I chatted together, he´s from near Paris and got tired of working as a mechanic so went travelling. He`s more of a rugby fan but still likes a good game of footie.

Next stop Valparaiso...