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Although we moved onto Chile, it was just a flying visit.
When we
arrived in San Pedro De Atacama it was way too expensive as it is a pure
tourist trap for people crossing the border from Bolivia to Chile.
Although we had booked a room in the town, we decided to take an overnight
bus that same evening to Arica. As we had paid for the room, we checked
in and spent a few hours catching up on some sleep and having a decent
shower, before checking out again!
Arica,
where we unfortunately only stayed one night, was fantastic. After
generously being allowed to check into our hotel room at 7:00am, we had a
wander around the local town centre. We spent the entire afternoon at the
Domingo Beach Bar drinking Caliterra Malbec, a great red wine that we both
fully endorse! All three bottles of it!
We flew
into Santiago for a couple of nights and during the day spent the time
sorting out our flights and itinerary for the rest of South America,
trying to work out how to go where we wanted to and still be in Buenos
Aires to watch the Springboks play the Pumas at the end of November. Our
impression of Santiago was that it seemed like a very safe, lively and fun
city. We had a couple of good nights here and looked forward to returning
for a few days to go on the vineyard tours, before flying to Australia.
I must mention the
diplomatic relations we helped to maintain between France and England. In
Santiago we met a great Frenchman called Francois, in Brannigans Bar of
all places, not very Chilean I know! Between the three of us somehow a
drunken Cuban managed to latch onto us. It transpired that he had no
money and was trying to put his drinks on our bills. Thankfully, due to a
very alert barmaid, two rather large Chilean gentlemen persuaded him to
leave! It made us laugh anyway! Also, in this same bar, they serve huge
bowls of fat chips covered in ham and cheese sauce! No cholesterol or
calories in them obviously! |