South Patagonia

Well you will all be glad to hear that I managed to buy myself a jacket and sunglasses as I managed to break the other ones I had - I think now I have gone through 3 pairs of sunnies in 2 months (its a good thing I only buy cheap ones really!!).

So I finally managed to leave Santiago (thank God, it was getting a bit much for me!), although it wasn't easy! First of all I had to get up at 3am in the morning to catch the bus to the airport and then my flight. Everything went pretty smoothly until we were about to take off. We just pulled out of our gate when we suddenly stopped. We sat there for half an hour before they decided that actually we weren´t ready to leave and so we went back into our gate. From this point on I didn´t actually know what was going on as they only spoke spanish and my lessons didn´t cover plane lingo!! But after 2 hours we finally pulled out of our gate again and this time we actually took off. I found out three days later (I met some other people on my flight) that the reason we were delayed for the first hour because the electrics on the plane weren´t working (could have made for an interesting flight!) and for the second hour because there was snow at Puerto Montt (our first stop-off on the flight), although I would like to point out that when arrived there was no snow in sight so they were talking b*llocks!!

Anyway, I eventually arrived in Punta Arenas, which for those of you who don´t know, it is at the bottom of Chile and very very cold! I had booked a hostel so I made my way there and was glad to see that it had central heating and a lovely lady running it who spoke some English! I then quickly discovered that I was in fact the only person staying in this hostel! It turns out that not many people come to Punta Arenas at this time of year as there is sod all to do. Their only attraction is the penguins which don´t turn up till the summer - typical!! Well I had three days to kill here and believe me it was hard!! I spent most of the time sorting out the rest of my trip and where I would go next. I also visited the museum which apparently is supposed to be good, but since only half of it was open (they were revamping the place during the winter as apparently no one is around!!) I didn´t get to see much! I then got desperate and read in the Lonely Planet that the cemetry is a good place to go (who are these people - vampires!!!). Well I figured it was worth a go and surprisingly enough it was quite interesting. They bury the poor dead people in what can only be described as the equivalent of council houses - no joke!! The rich dead people get fancy graves (in the ground) all to themselves and the poor are in these building which are like blocks of flats which are big enough to fit a dead person length ways. They can be up to 10 people high and if your family member happens to be on the top then you have to climb up a big step ladder (sort of like the ones you get in those libraries which keep the books very high up) so you can put flowers next to their ´window`. It was all very surreal!

Well I pretty much covered Punta Arenas and hopefully won´t be going back anytime soon! I took a 3 hour bus journey to Puerto Natales which is smaller than Punta Arenas but has lots and lots of things to do. My first success was that I managed to stay in a hostel that had other people - yeah!! My second sucess was that I was finally doing things during the day. My first day was pretty much spent on a minibus but it was worth it. We drove 6 hours to El Calafate in Argentina to see this massive glacier called Perito Moreno. It was really cool because it came all the way down the mountains and at the bottom was a huge lake and it apparently moves about 2 metres a day which means it is continuously breaking bits off at the bottom. The sound the ice makes as it does move is amazing and we actually saw huge bits breaking off and fall into the lake - it was absolutely awesome! We took a boat out to the glacier which really gives you a good idea about how big it is. At it´s highest point it is 90 metres high! Also on this trip I met some great people, Sylvia, the Italian Lady and Davina and Ben from the UK (it was so nice speaking to people who first language is English - I haven´t done that for a month!!). On our way back we had dinner in El Calafate and of course we had to try the infamous Argentinian steak - it was AMAZING!! It tasted sooooo good - I can´t wait to go back to Argentina and eat lots more!! We eventually got back to our hostel at 11pm and went straight to bed.

The next day I had to get up early again as I was doing a boat trip up the river to see more glaciers. I had a great day, (despite it being slightly rainy and windy) and met some more people who were really nice and they even bought me lunch and wine as well!!

The following day I went horseriding with Sylvia, Davina and Ben. It was absolutely brilliant. It was a completely different style of riding to which I am used to. The reins go in one hand and you just move your hand side to side depending on the direction you want to go in. The horses are so responsive and the saddles were comfortable as they were lined with sheep skin. We rode for 2 and a half hours up a mountain, it was cold so I did feel like my feet were going to drop off, but when we saw the view at the top it was well worth it. You could see 360 degrees and the snow covered mountain rage that surrounded the area - absolutely beautiful. We then made the journey back down and at the end they took us into their house and fed us lunch. We then took the taxi back to the hostel (there were 5 of us to take in the taxi so 4 of us had to squeeze in the back - apparently they are not too fussy about how many passengers are in a car!!). For the rest of the day we chilled out and then went to a smart bar for drink in the evening (it was everyone else´s last evening in Puerto Natales). We tried the local beer as well as different kinds of Pisco (the national drink, although technically its from Peru!) - all very good!!

Yesterday I took a day tour to the Torres Del Paine which is the mountain range you have to see when you are here - apparently!! Unfortunately for me I didn´t get to see it as it was a very wet cloudy day and so my pictures only have clouds in them. Luckily when I flew down to this region the pilot did point it out so I have seen them from the sky which was pretty cool. We did see quite a bit of wildlife though, including wild horses, foxes, condors and ñandu (a type of emu) and guanaco (a type of llama).

So now I am sitting around in my hostel in Puerto Natales. I was supposed to be catching a boat today to Puerto Montt which takes three days to get there, but it has been delayed by 3 days and so it doesn´t leave till Sunday. The problem is that I have now done everything there is to do in this region so I have no idea how to keep myself occupied. A few things have been suggested to me including learning more spanish!! We shall see!! I have made some friends though who are also waiting for the boat so hopefully we can keep each other occupied!!

Goodbye Santiago

Well I am finally moving on from Santiago and about to make my way to the bottom of the world (well nearly!!). All went well in Santiago. I managed to learn some spanish - although I´m hoping I will improve with practice. I finally managed to start communicating with the people I am staying with, but not because I spoke spanish to them. A Brazilian girl moved into the flat as she is also here to study spanish. She also just happens to know some English - yeah!! I was so happy to see her. So now whenever I have a problem I tell her and she goes off to translate to our host. It turns out Portuguese is pretty similar to Spanish and they can understand each other. We also went shopping and using her speaking skills I managed to buy myself a new pair of trainers in the right size - this would not have been possible if I had been on my own. Unfortunately she has a job back home in Brazil so cannot take time off to follow me around South America and be my translator - oh well!!

Other than that I have been out on a few nights, which have always been fun. The interesting bits have been when I wanted to get home. I always get a taxi, but the problem is trying to tell them where I live. I live on one of the main roads in Santiago - in fact it runs through about half of Santiago, so when I tell the taxi drive to take me to Avenida Providencia he is like which part. So I quickly found out that living above a stripjoint (it turns out the to be the most popular one in Santiago) is very useful. So now I just say take me to Passapoga and surprisingly enough all the taxi drivers know where that is!! So over the weekend, after a night out, I caught a taxi and said exactly that, and in reply the taxi driver asked (with a smile on his face) if I worked there!! I quickly said ´no no no no no no` and managed to tell him that I infact just lived in the apartments above - he wasn´t as impressed with that and his smile disapeared after that!! So I am pretty glad that I now know some spanish, as before whenever anyone used to speak to me I would just nod my head and say ´si` - this could have lead to a rather embarrasing situation!!

Anyway, I am off now to by a big, thick jacket as I still don´t own one and it is apparently very cold at the bottom of the world. Unfortunately I can´t drag the Brazilian girl with me as she is at spanish school this morning, so I am going to have to work this out myself - should be interesting!

Santiago, Chile

Monday 24th July was the longest day of my life!! It lasted 40 hours - and I was awake for 32 of those!! Before you think I have gone crazy, or somehow invented a way of making days longer, I will explain. New Zealand is 16 hours ahead of Chile, therefore the usual 24 hour day had an extra 16 hours added onto it. Which meant I arrived in Santiago (after a 12 hour flight) 4 hours before I left New Zealand!! I did not manage to sleep on the plane as it was a very bumpy flight and the flight attendants kept running around the plane every hour telling everyone to put back on their seatbelts, so there was little chance of getting any sleep! Needless to say, we arrived safe and sound, and I managed to get through customs with no problems. But the minute I stepped outside the airport I was jumped on by about 20 Chileans shouting taxi at me!! I had been told which company to go for so I found them, and then went to get some pesos from the ATM. I was then stalked by the guy who represented the taxi company I was going to get a lift into the city with. He was terrified someone else might lure me away and he would lose all of USD$9!!

Eventually I got to the hostel I was staying at, and was shown my room which turned out to be a shoebox!! It had a small single bed in it and just about enough room for me to squeeze my backpack next to it!! At this stage I was too tired to care and I still had 8 hours more to stay up before I could go to bed. I managed to occupy myself, as well as make some Irish friends who very kindly fed me dinner. They also fed me the following night as well as I was clearly too useless to venture out and find food for myself (I don´t speak spanish!!).

The next day I went to the Spanish Language School to enquire about Spanish lessons and a place to stay for the next 3 weeks. They were very kind and sent me off to visit a homestay. For those of you who don´t know, a homestay is where a family rent out a room in their house/flat. I met the lady, who I quickly found out spoke no English, and since I didn´t speak any spanish, everything became very interesting and confusing!! As I didn´t really understand what she was saying, I decided the best thing was to go back to the language school. I then got the lady there to call up the homestay lady and confirm everything - it worked a treat!!

On the Wednesday I moved into the homestay and also started my spanish lessons - this was my most exciting day so far!! It turned out that where I was now staying was actually above a strip-joint. Luckily I haven´t come across anything as it is underground and I am on the 8th floor of an apartment building. The people I am staying with also have a small boy who I think is about 4-5 years old. At first I thought he was cute, now I think he is just plain irritating!! He keeps coming into my room, throwing things around and taking things - grrrrr!! Plus its not like he goes to bed at 8pm like most kids, noooo, he stays up till gone midnight, so its not like you get any peace and quiet!! All in all though, the room is nice (and its a lot better than staying in a hostel), and I get breakfast and dinner, so I don´t have to cook - yeah!!

Other than attending the spanish school I haven´t really been doing much. Everytime I have a problem speaking to the lady I´m staying with, I make my way back to the school and get them to call her - its just brilliant!! I do have to mention that I am getting far too much attention. I have a 20 minute walk to the school everyday and people always stare, or try to talk to me, and its driving me crazy. All because I have blonde hair and I stick out like a sore thumb! I am seriously considering dying my hair or buying a wig!!

I have another week of spanish left, and then I have to fend for myself which should be really interesting!! I am really looking forward to leaving Santiago as its not that nice a place and there is not much to see. Also the pollution here is hurendous! Everyday I go out I get a massive headache and my eyes and throat burn - just wonderful!! The city is surrounded by snow-covered moutains, not that you would know most of the time because the smog hides that! Also the weather in general hasn´t been that great (I´m used to Australia!!). It was torrential rain the day I arrived and since then it has been cloudy and very cold - I have still yet to buy a jacket! I head south in just over a week and apparently it will get a lot colder - yeah!!