Where are Caroline + Neil?: Fun and games in Santiago

1 March 2006

We have now been in Santiago for two days. It took us a bit longer to get to Santiago as our plane was delayed in Auckland for four hours. Rumour has it that they didn´t have enough fuel for the trip from Auckland to Santiago. Maybe they used too much fuel because of all the baggage that Caroline´s Mum was carrying. We travelled across with some of Caroline´s dad´s friend who is from Argentina and his family. After arriving at the airport we were greeted by heaps of Caroline´s family who had all turned up to meet us. It was a very dry 30 degrees when we arrived and has been the same for the rest of the time that we have been here. There has been no rain for ages and everything is brown and you see lots of people watering there grass and their dirt and driveways. We are staying with Caroline´s aunt and uncle in San Bernardo which is south of Santiago. After arriving we had some lunch with all the family. Cos I´m a vegetarian I had to have beans. We were introduced to the streets of San Bernardo where we noticed heaps of stray dogs - they are apparently well fed because there wasn´t a skinny one amongst them - we came across stray dogs everywhere we have been. There is also heaps of people selling stuff on the sidewalk and when the police rock up they quickly pack up and move to a different place. I think they have a lookout for the cops. It was a bit like Footscray but with lots more people.We then played a visit to Caroline´s uncle´s fruit shop called "Don Juan" - literally Mr John.

We were travelling around in the back of Don Juan´s truck just holding onto the bars behind the drivers seats. It wasn´t that bad accept for going around corners and when started to fall asleep after only having a couple of hours sleep. We also visited the supermarket that´s run by Caroline´s cousin and Don Juan´s house and watched some football on TV - a game in which Diego Maradona was making a guest appearance. By the end of the day we were pretty tired.

2 March 2006

On our second day in Santiago we were given a tour of the city in a minibus with Caroline´s family. We took a quick ride on the metro - I actually thought we going somewhere but we just went to a station and then we came back again. Next stop was the Estadio National - the home of the Chilean football - we weren´t allowed on the ground cos they were setting up for some concert. For all those football fans out there this was the ground where Harry Kewell made his debut for Australia when he was only 18.We then went to the Central Market in Santiago for lunch - if anyone saw the last series of the Amazing Race this was where the gay guys had the argument with the dodgy fish guys. We had lunch and were seranaded by three mariachis singing us some Chilean songs.

Next up we went to Ex-National Congress which was bombed in 73, when pinochet took over. Looks fine now. This is where allende "committed suicide". We posed with some guards. Chileans love their uniforms and hats! tried to get into the museum under the plaza de Armas but Lagos (chilean president) was there so everything was pretty much shut down. he´s now on my list!

We ended the day at Cerro San Cristobel. Its a big mountain/hill where you can look out onto all of Santiago. Its massive. Theres also a big statue of the Virgin Mary which goes down well in a Catholic country. We rode on the dodgy old cable cars which keep on hitting all the trees while travelling scaring Caroline's mum and dad.
Will post photos later.