Smoggy Santiago


Flew over the Andes on the way into Santiago and were blown off our feet (well there was quite a bit of turbulence). Found our hostal and managed to get a room sharing with just one other guy (we were quite lucky as we were supposed to be in a dorm which slept 8 people and they only charged us the dorm rate). The rooms all face onto a courtyard where everyone chills out and there was a huge kitchen which we took full advantage of.

That night after making a huge pot of Jumbalya and eating it we stayed at the hostal as they had a slide show on Chile (actually a tour company touting for business) with free Pisco (a grape drink that tastes like sour lemons). Some of the pictures were amazing. Following this Chris & I decided that we would like to head to a place called Pucon next as there was a live volcano which looked fantastic.

On our first day we walked into the centre to the cathedral and then wandered around various other parts of the city. After realising that the city centre wasn't that big so we decided to visit a nearby park called Parqe Metropolitano. It had a short train ride up to see a huge statue of the Virgin Mary....they also had a cable car ride....now picture this...you get in a wee pod which can hold up to 4 people (thankfully it was just the two of us). The doors close (but not fully) and then with a jolt you are thrown out of the building on a single wire cable. I held onto the Jesus handle and frequently yelled Let me out!! whenever we went over the next really bumpy bit....we were quite high up. Shaken and might have been stirred I stumbled out of the cable car with a huge sigh of relief only to realise that we had to go back up in it!! The views were apparently amazing!

At night we met up with two Aussies (but they weren´t together) Fiona and Matt and a couple of beers later headed out to the pub. For a couple of drinks (honestly!).

The next day we headed to another park in the centre of the city which had loads of different paths and fountains and gave you some great views of the smog over the city. The next few days we just hung out with other people from the hostel and just walked about the city. We also went to a great museum on the Sunday which had loads of artefacts going back over 4500 years....some of the pottery was in amazing condition.