Santiago de Chile

Our blind went up just in time to see the two defining geographic features of Chile, it's coastline and the Andes. On the narrow part of land in between lay the sprawl of Santiago and as we turned towards the airport it seemed like the plane had to climb a little higher to miss the peaks of the mountains directly below.

The first view of Chile

Safely on the ground, the slow process of familiarising ourselves with a new country began. Our sleep deprived brains fumbled trying to work out where on earth we were. Just outside customs we were hassled which seemed just like in Morocco but at least here, no thank you means no thank you. On the bus Jeff's Spanish was put to the test as we were short-changed by 1000 or so pesos, just like in Romania.

It's always a shock to see an area where the ground is covered in rubbish and the houses are falling apart. From the bus window we observed the street life what we hopped was the dirty and dilapidated part of Santiago while wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. And of course we knew we would stand out.

If the people of Santiago noticed us lugging our packs down their street they certainly didn't show it, which was a big relief.

The Casa Roja hostel, located in a 19th century mansion that we had found online turned out to be everything that had been promised. Elegant and classy even our room decked out in antique furniture had a beautifully crafted 4m ceiling. Opening the shuttered doors onto the Juliet balcony we watched the traffic careen along the street below.

I wouldn't describe Santiago as a beautiful town, with it's new buildings of a bland design and it's old ones were crumbling. The shop fronts seemed stuck in the 80's with dirty signs and yellow lighting. But the people seemed cheerful and friendly.

In the main square, groups of tarot card readers where revealing fortunes, while local artists sold their paintings near by. A comedian had gathered a huge group of mostly men all around him and on the other side a group of teenagers were dancing for another crowd. Just like in eastern Europe, elderly men were playing chess in the rotunda.

Down the street the shops were full of people. Oddly enough, the most popular ones were the cake decorating shops where a long queue of people waited to pick up orders. There were at least half a dozen of these lined up in a row.

Next to them, knitting wool in all colours of the rainbow lined the shelves top to bottom of the next six or so shops. These were full of mostly women, some just buying others in groups taking a class. In another area I found crafter's paradise with an arcade exclusively devoted to crafting. These were also packed with people.

We'd planned to go to bed early, but between free! WiFi! and a bottle of Chilean wine, we were already on South American time.

Next Stop: Santiago from the hills