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Due to immigration law we're only allowed to stay in Argentina for 3 months at one time. Therefore at the end of our third month it was necessary for us to visit Chile for a few days to get our passports stamped and to ensure we were staying in Argentina legally. However, since we were going to Chile we decided to make a proper trip of it and spend a week in the country firstly on the coast in Vina del Mar (to the west of Santiago) and secondly in the city of Santiago itself. Originally we were going to fly but it was too expensive so we decided to book a 9 hour bus journey from Mendoza to Vina del Mar. The journey itself was uneventful apart from at customs where we had absolutely no clue what were supposed to be doing and made idiots of ourselves filling in the wrong forms and handing them in at the wrong places. However after the (rather uncharming) immigration staff were convinced we weren't smuggling grade A drugs weapons or fruit (all of which were banned) into the country we continued without incident to the station at Vina del Mar. We hopped into a taxi and made it to our hostel which, whilst not luxury, would certainly do the job and you can't really ask for much more for a tenner a night so we were happy. As soon as we had dumped our stuff we decided that we should explore our new surroundings and headed out to explore the town. A great many people from Argentina holiday at Vina del Mar or along the coast of Chile and it was immediately apparent why. The beaches were all pure sand and the view out across the sea was simply gorgeous. If I'm unable to upload the photos onto the blog check them out on facebook. We wandered all the way along the sea front for a few hours before stopping at a restaurant that looked out to sea and ate while the sun set. An awesome (if slightly gay date Esq.) experience. The best thing about the meal was that I got to eat some really good quality fish which is a speciality in Chile and made more enjoyable by the fact that it's rare to find quality fish in Mendoza so it had been a while since I'd had any.
That night we decided to see what the night life of the town was like and after the slightly haunting experience of accidentally wandering down what I can only describe as the red light district of the area we ended up having a few in the local 'mosher' bar. Although fun we both agreed that we were glad that we had decided to live in one place for the 6 months we're in South America because we didn't know where was good to go and obviously no one recognised us as they do in the places we frequent in Mendoza. The next morning I got up early(ish) and went for a wander before breakfast just enjoying the sun and the frankly ridiculous blueness of the sky and sea. Later on in the day Ben decided he wanted to brave the sea and so I relaxed on the beach reading whilst he spent approximately 35 seconds in the sea before deciding it was far too cold. We Spent the rest of the day lounging on the beach before going to see the president of Chile's holiday home which was basically a castle that jutted out into the sea. When we came back the hostel was very busy and we spent time to chatting to other people who were staying there as they were either American, Canadian and couple of Brits as well. This further emphasised to us why we'd made the right decision in not travelling hostel to hostel as if we had there would have been virtually no need for us to use Spanish and thus we wouldn't have learned a great deal of the language. We had booked a bus to Santiago in the morning so I had an early night. Ben decided to stay up and he told me the next day he'd spent the night played ring of fire with some Canadians and somehow managed to break a chair. I won't lie I feel like I missed out slightly.
Next was Santiago and we were incredibly fortunate to have free boarding and meals organised before we got there for the following reason. As previously mentioned we live with a Chilean who is studying in Mendoza and he kindly offered that we could stay with his parents in his home in Santiago for the duration of our time in Santiago. Armed with detailed instructions on how to get to his house from the bus station in Santiago we bravely negotiated the Underground (which to be honest was fairly simple) and made it to his house without a hitch. His parents are two of the loveliest people I have ever had the pleasure to meet and no sooner had we arrived than we had a large and excellently cooked meal in front of us. After we had eaten they offered to show us the main sites of Santiago and we were driven around the city stopping off here and there to take pictures of the government houses or the cathedral and such like. The city of Santiago is a beautiful city whilst remaining very commercial. For me it had a European feel and whilst obviously much newer it reminded me of somewhere like Barcelona. After a full day of travelling and site seeing we pretty much fell into bed when we got back, setting an alarm for early the next morning to continue our exploration of the city! The next day we set off on our own via the subway again and went to the tourist office. We picked up a map and went off to find a random church followed by a park that was built in tiers. Each level had areas to sit and greenery and one even had a full scale waterfall and a giant statue. All very pretty and interesting. We had another meal when we got in and then rested before going to a bar suggested by one of Felipe's brothers. There we got chatting to one of the bar staff who used us to practice his English and informed us he wanted to travel Europe as an acupuncture specialist... Not your standard career path granted but interesting all the same. This was our last night in Chile and we drank a fair amount before getting a taxi home and collapsing into bed.
The next day we said a fond farewell to Felipe's parents and boarded the bus for our very long return journey. Chile was a fantastic experience which we both greatly enjoyed, a beautiful country with incredibly friendly people.
- comments
Livi I still personally think that you should have come back to England for a few days but yeahh I guess Chile sounds like it was alrightt... Nahh sounds awesome really :) obvs. Think you're a bit of a p**** for not even attempting to brave the sea tho :) 3+4= UMMMM s*** :/ help please?