Santiago 2

Arrived at Che Legarto hostel (Tucapel Jimenez, 24, Santiago) yesterday morning, a bit hot and bothered after walking only about 8 blocks. I´ve brought so much stuff with me, my bag weighs a tonne, but at the same time I seem to have brought the bare minimum - lots of it is winter stuff, which takes up loads of space, but at the moment that´s a bit of a joke as the temperature must be in the high twenties at the moment.

So, yesterday I headed over to the Parque Metropolitano, with plans to amble around, visiting the gardens, and maybe dangling my feet in one of the two outdoor pools they have there. What I hadn´t realised is just how big it is, and that you really need a car to get around. So ended up going up the hill to the viewpoint on another funicular railway, and then terrifying myself on a cable car that covered a fair stretch of the park. Then I decided to walk to the Museo Nacionale de Bellas Artes, through the Parque Forestal, which was also further than it looked. Was a bit hot by the time I got there, and in serious need of some lunch, so got the metro to the main square, Plaza de Armas. It was busy and touristy, and I unwittingly became the lunchtime entertainment for the surrounding tables of Chileans, who interrogated me in Spanish and found my complete lack of comprehension hilarious. It was all very good humoured though, and one of the women helped me translate the menu, and her friend then took a photo of me eating my tortilla de papas and tomato salad, which was all a bit strange! At the other two tables were a middle-aged couple, and a young guy who spoke very good English and acted as translator whilst they quizzed me about why on earth I was travelling on my own and wasn´t I scared? When the couple left I stayed chatting to the young guy, Jonathan, who had done a degree in hotel management, but now wanted to study to become an English teacher. His English was impeccable, and he´d obviously put a lot of effort into achieving a really good accent. He´d spent a month in Hertfordshire visiting a girl he´d got chatting to on the internet, who turned out to be the sister of Rupert Grint, the actor who plays Harry Potter´s ginger friend!

I wanted to see the Frieda Khalo exhibition, so he came along to that (we were in hysterics laughing at her mono-brow), and then took me on a guided tour of the city, which was great as I could take my nose out of the guide book, and will now leave feeling as though I´ve seen the best bits. We climbed up Cerro Santa Lucia, which has an incredible 360 degree view of the whole of Santiago. You can see why the pollution could be so bad, as the whole city is basically in a bowl, surrounded by high hills. We then wandered to the Lastarria district, which seemed a lot more upmarket than where I´m based, and sat drinking tea into the evening. I had my first taste of Mate, which is like strong, bitter green tea, but very refreshing. I really feel I´ve been very well looked after by complete strangers since I´ve been here, let´s hope it continues!

The Che Legarto hostel is nothing to write home about, but, having arrived to be told that although they had my reservation, they didn´t actually have a bed for me, I was grateful that they managed to shuffle thing around and find me a bunk. Unfortunately I was on the top one and there wasn´t a ladder, so, after refusing the offer of a leg-up from the Irish guy on the bunk below me I had to manouvre myself up with the help of the radiator and the windowsill! Still, it was only for one night, and they´ve let me leave my bags here today, and come back for a shower before I head off for my night bus to Temuco tonight, so I can´t complain.

Today, I headed over to the city cemetary, on the recommendation of Larry, the Irish guy. It was a bit of an adventure, as it was off my map, but you could hardly miss it, it was so huge. Am not sure why, but I always like cemetaries, and this one was incredible, just for how vast it was. There were literally loads of what looked like blocks of houses from a distance, but up close they turned out to be made up of commemorative plaques. There were lots that were far, far grander, but it was the entire walls of memorial stones that were the most touching.

From there I got the metro to Toesca and did a tour of the Palacio Cousiño. It was built by Luis and Isadora Cousiño, part of a wealthy Chilean dynasty that made its money in the mining and wine industries, and was the epitome of opulence, (yes, I did just copy that out of the guide book). Well worth a visit, if nothing more than for the huge fleecey slippers you had to wear over your shoes to protect the parquet flooring. Think it was good for my Spanish too, as everyone else was Chilean, and although the guide spoke English to me, it wasn´t very easy to follow, so think I learnt as much from the Spanish.

I then got the metro back up to Cal y Canto, where I was planning to sample some seafood at the Mercado Central, but when I got there it absolutely stank of fish (funnily enough!) which, in the heat, I don´t think I could have stomached. So walked back down Paseo Ahumada, a pedestrianised area that is probably the equivalent of Oxford Street, and found El Naturista a large cafe/restaurant serving vegetarian food and organic juices - much more my cup of tea!

So, tonight I leave Santiago... It´s been a very gentle introduction to South America, thankfully. And have been very sensible and well-behaved so far...