This morning sees us back to the place we were only 3 days ago, Brisbane Airport. This time we start on our longest journey ever 2 months way from home. We’re bound for South America with our first stop in Sydney, no don’t worry it’s just that this is where our flight to Santiago Chile departs from.
Qantas sees that the trip will take a little longer by getting us all aboard and then have some technical issues that delay the flight by 1 hour, so we sit on the Tarmac at Sydney watching movies on the screen. It’s no too bad as the steward is a jovial guy who keeps everyone entertained and has an awesome sense of humour.
Some 15 hours later we descend into Santiago. Finally, our dream of traveling to South America is starting, we I should say it started many years ago. Today we’re here and for the next 2 months we’ll be traveling north through Chile, Bolivia, Peru,Colombia,Cuba, Mexico and finally home via the USA.
Arriving into Santiago see a cooler and wet day, it’s bee raining all day. Hugo our taxi driver from the air port tells us that the weather is not normal for October and that the rainy season is generally July – August. I’m really impressed at Hugos knowledge of his home city and the fact that his self taught English is so fluent. He says he’s influenced by music and started learning English by translating and listening to lyrics of English songs.
De Blasis Bed and Breakfast is going to be our home for the next 2 nights before we make for San Pedro. Elena’s organised acuity tour for 3pm and as our room is now quite ready we sit and wait and chat to the staff of this quaint but beautiful little b&b. The place we need to meet the bus is only a 15 min walk away so quickly snap shooting the image we arrive right on 3pm. Our bus turns out to be a mini van and Henry our guide ushers us in. We’re the only passengers so it’s an up close in personal history lesson for us for the next 3 hours.
We find city tours like these are a great way to get your bearings and it’s not unusual for us to to this. Henry takes us to some great places around the city. Unfortunately one of the hill climbs to see the downtown area is closes because of the rain, so Henry decides that there’s a better vantage point were we can see the whole city.
He’s right, this place is spectacular. If you’re not taking a taxi up here you can take the funicular rail car that traverses the side of this huge hill. From the top under the gaze of the Virgin Mary on San Cristóbal hill.
We quickly have to snap away as the break in the weather is now changing again the the rain and on the horizon is fast approaching.
Grabbing a couple of sausages wrapped in pastry we make our descent to the mini van, it’s a slow trip down the steps at with the rain he steps become slippery underfoot and I find myself holding onto the rail and feeling like a geriatric coming out of a hospital after knee surgery. I feel tyres and a little shaky,it’s probably the jet lag kicking in as we’ve been travelling now for 36 hours with next to no sleep.
Getting back to De Blasis saw us wander up to bed forgetting Henry’s advice of all the great little restaurants in the Provencia area. After one month living in a tent in Vanuatu a bed as soft as tonight is pure bliss. Tuning into a move saw my eyes struggling to keep pace with the plot. It was time to give in to the body clock that had fully unwound.
