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“first south american stop and some skiing” |
So yes I finally arrived in South America which is the def the part of the trip I´ve been looking forward to most and I´m sure it wont disappoint. First stop Santiago, Chile. Having battled the taxi drivers at the airport with the help of an Irish and England girl (10 mil for 3 to the city centre) we made it to the city!
As South American cities go Santiago is considered quite western and relaxing but in comparison to the last cites I´ve visited in NZ and Oz this place initially felt very different, what with all the espanol sounds, signs and smells, but after a few days here of getting used to the new foods (initially some Completos which are hot dogs covered in guacamole and empanadas which are sort of sandwich pies ) spanish voices, stares and chucking the toilet paper into a basket it felt quite normal again!
The city is nice enough to stroll around, but my main priority was to figure out the best places to go skiing in the Andes, which are visible from throughout the city. In the end I did a 3 day backpacker trip to the ´tres valles´ with www.skitotal.cl which worked out very well with one day of skiing in each resort. Its much cheaper to get a bus up to the Andes each day from Santiago but you waste most of the morning just getting to the slopes.
Despite being the middle of winter a few of my days here were spent with perfect blue skies and the sun shining and on one such day I got the funicular up to Cerro San Cristobal from where you have great views of the city, can see the virgin mary statue up close and take a gondola ride across the huge park.
Within the city itself there is a great vibe among the main pedestrian streets with lively markets and plenty of street entertainment such as singing, dancing, mimes, puppet shows and my personal favourite the guy dressed upside down that tumbles out in front of the traffic when the lights go red. (Hilarious to see the look on the drivers faces!)
Barrio Brasil and particularly Bellavista are nice places to stroll around with all the bars and cafes and also the rich area east of city is worth a look while there are some interesting cafes within the city centre called ´cafe pierna´literally meaning legs cafe where the waitresses show some extra leg!
Nightlife wise Blondies was a decent enough club with some rock and indie music but most of the night is a blur since I spent the previous hours playing the ring of fire drinking game in the hostel with the 2 chris´s, Vicky, Dave and others!!
Irish Connection:
The main avenue in the city is called O´Higgins and is called after the son of an Irish man who helped liberate Chile from Spanish rule and became head of the chilean state.
After a spanglish effort at buying a bus ticket from Pullman bus at Alemeda bus station next stop Mendoza in Argentina.
previous travel blog entry
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