Return to Santiago

So we headed back to Santiago with enough time to check out a museum or do some other touristy stuff but after sitting on a stuffy bus for nearly 2 hours we decided we couldn't be bothered doing anything touristy, so we went to a mall. A huge fancy air conditioned mall where we shopped at H & M and had frozen yogurts, and I'm not even ashamed. Well maybe a little I'm but at least it wasn't a Starbucks. I'm still intrepid and worldly. I have to admit it does feel a bit weird to drive through really poor looking, nearly slummy neighbourhoods on the bus and then arrive at this shining beacon of middle class-ness. But what's a tired traveller to do. It was a nice mindless way to waste a few hours.

The nice thing about returning to Santiago was that we knew where we were for the most part, and how to get around without having to constantly stop and consult maps and directions and that felt really good. We took the metro back to our neighbourhood and found a craft beer bar with vege burgers for dinner. The joys of staying in a hipster neighbourhood I guess . We had booked a private room at the same hostel we had been at previously and it was quiet for a change so we got a much needed early night.

The next day we were up early and ready to hit the tourist trail again, we started by walked over a small hill that had been turned into a really nice park to some markets to check out the tourist tat followed by a metro to the Human Rights Museum. Wow, that place is heavy! Up there with the atomic bomb memorial museum in Hiroshima, and waaay worse than Pearl Harbour. It showed the atrocities committed during the military dictatorship including kidnap, torture, rape and murder. I felt pretty nauseas by the end.

We headed back to the Plaza de Armes, city square to look for something a little more light hearted but all the museums cost and nobody on my tight budget got time for that. With a few hours to kill and dwindling energy we decided to try and find a coffee. I wasn't game enough to try a coffee with legs; the tradition of coffee being served by scantily clad waitresses which is a hangover from when coffee was first introduced to Chile but could not compete with the popularity of tea. So we wondered around until we were sucked in by a starbucks powerless to resist its easy-to-order-off menu and its free wifi. We slunk to a table filled with German backpackers also using the free wifi and tried not to enjoy our dulce de leche Frappuccino’s

so much. But it was just a once off, never again, I'm still intrepid and worldly.

Post frappachinos we headed back to the hostel stopping on the way to get some cheap beer and wine and some amazing waffles stuffed with savoury foods and then wrapped up like a kebab, if your kebab was short and fat didn't really roll so all its delicious goodness oozed out. I'm definitely going to need a bigger size of snowboard pants when I get home.

We got a little tipsy back at the hostel while we waited for Alejandro to pick us up. Apparently night life in Chile also starts late so at 10pm already passed my bedtime were collected and the party began. I will summarise this night but we went to a party in what I think was a museum and then we got kicked out so we went to a party in what I think was a party building but the music wasn’t all that so we headed downtown to the clubs in the university district and finally headed to bed around 7am. So according to Alejandro it was an average night in terms parties and DJs but James and I had an amazing time.

The next day/the same day we dragged our selves out of bed and piled into Alejandro’s car with a bunch of his friend’s and headed out towards the Andes to go rock climbing. Nothing beats a hangover like rock climbing, just kidding I was awful and slept in a hammock for most of the afternoon. But James took to rock climbing like a pro and made it to the top of two routes up an amazing cliff face.

We got back into the city around 10 and with our flight to Lima leaving at 6am the next morning we decided to head straight to the airport, But not before Alejandro could cook us a delicious dinner and just be a genuinely awesome dude.

I really feel like we didn't see enough of Chile but we were really excited to be heading to Peru so somehow in our sleep deprived state we made it onto the most budget of budget airlines.

And we were winging our way to Peru....