We enjoyed our last few days in Santiago with a visit to a fruit market, the museums and a visit to a seaside resort of Valparaiso, which included my first view of the Pacific Ocean. It lived up to its name of being ´pacific´ but my word it was so cold! It really was a case of dipping the feet in before running back up the beach. There were a few brave souls swimming too, I must be a wimp aftr being spoilt in Jeri.
The town of Valparaiso itself was also a nice change to the developed and slightly european feel of Santiago. It had much more of a genuine Chilean feeling with bustling fruit markets and all sorts of people selling all sorts of things. We saw one man exclusively selling car aerials. I meant to mention before (after our visit to Fortaleza) that it´s a pity that the most interesting and different areas that we´ve visited are areas in which I unfortunately wouldn´t want to take out the camera for fear of it being swiped. The best bits of Valparaiso were the same too so my poor description will have to suffice sorry. There was however a nice arty hill area which was a bit touristy where we took a few photos.
Back in Santiago we sneaked in a visit to a museum, some nice statues there, and yet another fruit market (we never buy any fruits though!). I think we just like looking at how they´ve been laid out. There was another sleeping man in one stall. Maybe I´ll start a bit of a collection of sleeping Chileans (in photo form of course).
We met up with Kat´s old buddy Cristobal from her time here in the evening and enjoyed a nice tapas style meal in a Spanish restaraunt followed by drinks in a nearby bar. As it was 3 years since they´d last seen it each other the drinks flowed rather easily and it was 3am by the time we left the bar.
As we´d both had a few drinks we were both looking forward to a bit of a lie in the next day. Only, of course, the next morning had to be the day that the builders decided to start pummeling the wall outside our room with a pneumatic drill. So at 8am we were both woken up by the most savage, loud and grinding noise that you can imagine all with a bit of a headache already. We both thought that it would only last at most 15mins but at 10am it was still going strong so it wasn´t the nicest of lie ins to say the least. I don´t think either of us realised how close the drilling was to the bed either till we had a look after getting up. Kat´s expression in the photo says it all.
We had a relaxing last day in Santiago at the house before catching an flight at 2am this morning (Saturday) to Punta Arenas before crashing out in the hostel for a few hours till lunch time. I think we´d both like to say the Hubert and Agathe (Kat´s Uncle and Aunt) have been exceptionally kind and generous hosts for us in Santiago. We (and even more so for myself) felt really welcomed into their house and we´re already looking forward to seeing them again on our way back up north.
Back to Punta Arenas, it´s slightly unbelievable but even though Santiago is half way down Chile, the flight was another further 4 hours to get here. The same distance as from Manchester to Turkey flying maybe? Cape Horn is only 10s of miles away. It definitely feels like it´s the end of the world to me, there´s not much going on in the town, but Kat seems to like it. I can see why the British (or maybe just Maggie) was so keen on the Falklands too, the weather is very British. For the first time in more than 2 months this morning I had to think how to dress to stay warm rather than cool. Trousers, fleece, jacket, feels a bit weird.
So from here we´re catching a bus to Puerto Natales tomorrow then after another night there we´ll begin our trek in the Torres del Paine national park. I´m sure I´ve mentioned it before but I just cannot wait to see the scenery there.
That´ll do for now I think. Not sure when the next update will be but hopefully soon.
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