Plaza de Armas Santiago

We had a bit of a wander around and noticed that there wasn´t that many people about, until we got to an excellent little coffee shop and asked where everyone was. Apparently it was a public holiday, so no-one was working. We got to walk the city almost as a ghost town. Even though there was not many people around, it still felt safe with nobody harrassing you or trying to sell you something or get money off you. Normal life again!!

One dollar icecream. Too much even for Chrissy!!

From here we are heading to Pucon on an overnight bus, where we will try and climb Volcan Villarica in a couple of days if everything works out weather wise.

Will write when we can as we expect to be on the move quite a lot over the next few weeks, so may not be able to update often.

Till then ....xx

written by  chrishoorweg on October 31, 2007 from Santiago, Chile
from the travel blog: and one last trip before we come home.........?
tagged Santiago
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Ayer llegamos a Santiago de Chile (esta es la cuarta vez que visito esta preciosa ciudad), cada vez que la visitamos parece algo más que conocido, a Carlos y a mí nos encanta; a Carlos sobretodo por los "completos" jejeje...que ya nos conocemos.
En fín, anoche cenamos en un restaurante muy finolis, nos hemos hartado a comer carne (lo siento si hiero algún vegetariano que me sigue por ahí), la verdad es que fue una cena exquisita y el vino estuvo fabuloso, hacía mucho tiempo que no probaba una cosa tan buena, lástima, no pude tastar los de Mendoza!
Ahora mismo estamos a punto de salir hacia Valparaíso, justo dentro de media hora. Ya les contaremos qué tal va. De momento, todo perfecto, y yo agusto entre mis hermanos latino Americanos.

Un beso grande a la nación que nos hizo unirnos: España.

P.D. Chuspy, muchas Gracias por estar siempre ahí, sinceramente, ya te echabamos de menos; pero si ha sido por pasarse unas buenas vacaciones, pues ojalá que te lo hayas pasado muuuuuy bien!
Cuídate mucho.

Noemi

written by  Noemi y Carlos on August 28, 2008 from Santiago, Chile
from the travel blog: NUESTRO VIAJE POR ASIA Y ALGO MAS...
tagged Santiago
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Actually that is a bit dramatic. We weren´t held at gunpoint or bitten by a snake or anything. What happened was we walked out of customs and were led by a smart and official looking man (he even had a walkie-talkie) to a mini-bus. I had asked for a specific type of mini-bus recommended by the hostel which would get us there cheaply and we were assured that this bus was with the same company (although suspiciously it had no markings) and we were asked to pay 20,000 pesos each. This seemed like too much. I had sleepily made a note of the recommended price from the airport to the hostel but this was now in my hand luggage bag which was in my rucksack which was in the back of the bus which wanted to leave.

I was suspicious enough to go to the lengths of retrieving it and found that what I had written down was 5,000 pesos each! We were being mugged off by the very first seemingly helpful people that we had met! It was like Beijing all over again! Anyway, we grabbed our bags and found a taxi who would take us for 5,000 each - I use the word "taxi" loosely here, the guy had a car and charged people to take them places. He was friendly though, and within seconds I had completely exhausted my Spanish vocabulary and our driver had moved on to gesturing wildly and saying the same word louder and louder until I nodded, si. I immediately wished I had done a Spanish course.

We spent the next few days exploring the city, visiting the visual arts museum (which was a load of nonsense) and getting the fenicular up to the virgin Mary statue in the Parque Metropolitano. We also explored Bandero Street which is filled with vintage stores bursting with second hand American clothes. The city is not the most beautiful place we have been but the mountains offer a spectacular backdrop, particularly when you get up high, and it did have it´s charms. Beautiful old churches and intricate, colourful graffiti create an interesting juxtaposition of old and new while numerous universities buzzed with familiar groups of skateboarders, goths and emos.

Our evenings were mostly spent in the hostel where we cooked our own dinners to save money. Eating steak in order to save money seemed like slightly warped logic but I wasn´t complaining. We also had a huge pool table and, for the first time since Thailand, free internet. In an attempt to catch up on this blog, I stayed up late on night and was confused to find, fumbling my way around the pitch black dorm, that a wet patch had appeared on my bed! I sat in the dark trying to work out what it could be. A spilled drink? Maybe I had left a wet towel there earlier? Then I noticed the smell. Piss?! I reached up and felt the bottom of Josh´s matress. Although he has an alarming habit of shouting loudly in his sleep I doubted he had moved on to bed-wetting, particularly on the scale required to soak through a whole mattress. Then I remembered Bob.

Bob is one half of a duo that make up the hostel pets (the other being Sausage the dog but i didn´t think Sausage had it in him). A cat by trade, Bob is (like a lot of travelers) usually found lounging around the communal areas looking for the affection of strangers. Today, it seemed, he had been making himself very comfortable on my bed. I decided I was too tired to resolve this particular issue in the middle of the night so I simply pulled a duvet over the wet patch and slept under a wool blanket on the other side of the bed. With explore Santiago, eat steak and eggs and sleep in piss off my to do list it was time to move on.

written by  steve_stamp on June 3, 2009 from Santiago, Chile
from the travel blog: The art of being lost
tagged Santiago, Taxi, Bob, Catpiss and Steak
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Hemos llegado a Santiago ayer día. Me parece que desafortunadamente nuestras cortísimas vacaciones casi llegan a su fín.

Mis recomendaciones de éste viaje son:

En Punta Arenas:
Alojamiento: El hostal Ayelen, ubicado a unas cuantas calles de la Plaza de Armas, cerca de Av Colón. Sus dueños: Estela y Juan Carlos son unos perfectos anfitriones, las habitaciones son muy espaciosas, limpísimas y muy acogedoras.
Visitad Las pingüineras, pero de las opciones que ofrecen, en mi opinión "La Salvaje" es la más apropiada, y POR FAVOR: Haced caso de lo que os indiquen los guías, no que ésta vez más que gente parecía que íbamos con unos cuanto borricos que ya sólo les faltaba rebuznar! Tener un poco de consideración hacia sus compañeros de grupo. Todos lo agradecerán.
La comida es buenísima en cualquier punto de la ciudad.

En Puerto Natales:
Alojamiento: El hostal La Cruz es una perfecta alternativa, aunque queda a unos 10 minutos andando desde el centro de la ciudad; ésto se compensa con las magníficas vistas que se tienen desde la salita y las habitaciones.
Las habitaciones son amplísimas, limpísimas y con casi todo lo que uno necesita para un buen descanso. Lo mejor de todo son sus anfitriones: Mabel y Carlos junto con toda su familía es uno de los mejores recuerdos que me llevo en el corazón.
Visitádles!!!
Después os contaré lo que me ha pasado con Mabel.

Hoy estaremos por Santiago, haremos un poco de "shopping" y por último iremos a cenar a un restaurante que nos han recomendado, se llama: "Las parrillas argentinas" no sé cómo será, pero el listón está muy alto con el restaurante al que fuimos anoche, esperé un año para volver y se llama: LAS VACAS GORDAS.... simplemente...delicioso...

Un abrazo a todos, ya os seguiremos contando cosillas...

Noemi y Carlos

written by  Noemi y Carlos on October 20, 2009 from Santiago, Chile
from the travel blog: EL FIN DEL MUNDO
tagged Santiago
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