Santiago de Chile

How the city looks in winter with the Andes in the background (we are in summer)

We have been in Santiago now for about 6 days and tomorrow we fly to New Zealand! I am writing this in bed, having just gotten back from a huge (free) opera concert in the city centre. Santiago has been fantastic. When we first arrived, we took a taxi to a hostel that we looked up in our guide book and it turned out to be great. We had a 6 bed dorm all to ourselves in a friendly little hostel with a very cosy feel to it. On our first night here, we had a little girl about 7 sharing the room with us and we watched the X factor final. On our first day, we wandered to the local supermarket and were overjoyed with what we found – the first proper supermarket we have seen since we arrived in South America. I celebrated by buying a box of cocopops and ate them with full fat milk. The weather has been perfect – 32 degrees and the city is really modern, clean and organised. It is nothing like the rest of South America. On the second day, we wandered up to a famous viewing point on top of a hill next to our hostel (Santa Lucia) and randomly bumped in to Ben and Waime – our two friends from Cusco! So we spent the rest of the day with them and then went round to theirs at night for drinks (they were renting an apartment). We then went clubbing and went to watch a drag queen, who Jemma ended up successfully heckling in Spanish. We didn’t get in until 6am and we spent most of the next day in bed. Then, yesterday, my friend Georg from Germany arrived (he had come to visit us) and on Friday night we went on the Santiago pubcrawl which is a big organised pub crawl where they give you free shots and wine/ beer. We met a really nice Chilean guy and spent most the night with him.

Earlier in the day we also visited another town outside of Santiago called Vina del Mar and Valparaiso. We went with Georg and another German boy from the hostel on a tour bus that took us to the main sights and the beach. I wasn't that impressed with the other towns. Santiago is great because its modern but the rest of Chile just seems a bit unexciting and too similar to the UK. I don't feel we have missed out by not spending too long here. The people are really friendly but the men can be very chauvinistic – a lot more than in the other countries. For example, tonight I asked a police man for directions, and he replied (in Spanish) to Georg, who cannot speak a word of Spanish, rather than replying to me! Also, the Spanish dialect here is meant to be really hard to understand but in my opinion it is easier than Argentinian. All in all, we have had a really relaxing time in Santiago and feel really at home here. The city is modern, the hostel is very friendly and the staff make you feel part of a family. Also, we have had some good nights out and seen old friends. It has been a perfect way to round off our South American experience and I can honestly say, I am really going to miss this continent!

 Chile photos: Santiago

The summary I wrote on Facebook earlier:

New day, new continent. Tomorrow we fly to New Zealand for the next chapter in our rtw trip. Will miss: friendly Latino people, speaking Spanish, brilliant hostels, South American culture and favourable exchange rates. Will not miss: not being able to flush the toilet roll, having to carry toilet roll everywhere, finding black hairs in every other meal, and, having to bathe in hand sanitiser.