Santiago de Chile

We have really enjoyed our three days in Santiago, and have to disagree with the bad press that the city gets from fellow travellers. Admittedly it does not have as many sights as some other places, but it is an attractive place and doesn't feel overwhelmingly busy for a capital city. Or maybe that's just because we lived in London for too long?!

We have been staying in an area called Bellavista, which is known as one of the best areas for eating out etc as well as having quite an arty feel. It is also close to the centre so I think we picked well. We have had some good food here and quite by accident have ended up eating at some of the Lonely Planet recommended places. There is quite a range of food on offer, so as well as local specialities like Pastel de Choclo (more about food to follow - we haven't forgotten!) we have also had Thai and Middle Eastern. The hostel is a good relaxed place to be and we have met some nice people there, so have spent time with them doing the usual backpacker sort the world out over a few drinks thing!

In terms of sightseeing we have been to the Precolumbian History Museum, and also the National History one. I have to admit that the first one freaked me out slightly as it is jam packed with figurines that I find a bit spooky, not helped by the whole place being very dark. It still had some interesting bits, and Andrew thought it was all great. The National Museum was much more interesting for me, looking at the way in which Chilean society and culture has changed over time. Unfortunately the 20th century section is closed for refurbishment - it would have been interesting to see how recent history here is depicted.

We have also wandered around the city centre and have just come from the cathedral which is an especially ornate one. We are now online mainly to sort out practial things for our New Zealand trip as we will be heading to the airport in just a few hours. It still doesn't feel quite real that we're going! As I said in the last post, we would love to have more time here and also with it being at the end of the trip we haven't got quite the enthusiasm for buses we may have once had. As a result we didn't make it to Valparaíso, which we had thought we may do as a day trip from here. Oh well, something else to add to the list for our next visit...

So, now it's on to the NZ adventure, and unlike South America we have already booked absolutely everything ahead. As we only have just over a week there and are planning to visit numerous places as well as catching up with 3 friends, we didn't want to waste time at bus stations etc when we get there. The internet is a wonderful thing! Our flight arrives in Auckland early hours of Sunday (yes, we lose a whole Saturday) so we'll stay there one night. Then we head to Rotorua for a night, Napier for 2, reach Emily & Rod in Waipukurau on Thursday, fly from Wellington to the South Island to meet up with Eva in Nelson on Friday, back on the ferry to Wellington on Sunday, fly to Hamilton to meet Mark on Monday then bus back to Auckland for our Tuesday afternoon flight to Melbourne.

I'm exhausted just thinking about it! We'll try to update the blog as often as we can but if you don't hear much from us in the next week or so you know why...


Plaza de Armas


La Moneda