Time travel and the President

When we last updated the blog it was Monday 12:45pm New Zealand time. We left the internet cafe, dropped off the campervan, were taken to the airport, caught the 11 hour+ flight and arrived in Santiago at Monday 12:45pm local time.

The flight was a bit hairy at times, as we were coming into land the Andes surrounded us and poked through the clouds. I had every confidence in the pilot despite Bec muttering that how did he know where the mountains were if the clouds covered them.

Santiago was in the middle of a long bank holiday weekend, Monday being National Day and Tuesday Military Day. The streets were deserted when we arrived, so we had a good chance to look around the city centre. The next day there was a military parade through the streets, with a guest appearance from the President herself. After allowing Jonah to have his pic taken with me 2 days before I refused her photo requests despite her frantic waving.

We had our first experience of a hostel in Santiago - a Spanish colonial mansion with high ornate ceilings, shuttered windows, courtyards and lots of travellers. We didn´t really chat to the others but I did end up having an argument with some idiot Aussie who was slagging off Ronaldo during the Liverpool v Spurs match. I set him straight on that score. John Arne Riise´s strike got the full GGGGGGGGggggggggoooooooooooooollllllllllllllllllllllllll!!!!! treatment.

Santiago was a very relaxed, self-confident city and the people (I know it´s a cliche) were very friendly to us. As in New Zealand, when people stopped to talk to us we didn´t think they had an ulterior motive. The main plaza, Plaza des Armas, has a chess podium where people can play in the late afternoon/early evening. I saw a young lad play against a guy old enough to be his great grandad. The older guy moved his pieces really aggressively as though playing this upstart was beneath him. The young lad just looked bemused by the fuss. The trouble was he was just bemused, he was hammered in about 10 moves and didn´t even know when he´d been beaten. Bec didn´t share my enthusiasm for chess as a spectator sport(!)

As much as we enjoyed New Zealand, when the oldest building in the country was built in 1820, it was great to see "proper" old buildings in Santiago and grand churches. (pic 2)

We tried various ways to combat the jet lag and ended up downing 2.5 bottles of Chilean white wine to "help us sleep" one night. Jetlag + hangover isn´t a pleasant feeling at all and that day was a bit of a write off.

We couldn´t miss the chance to go skiing in the Andes and spent the day with an American called Hal Fowler so here are Fowler and Owen together again. The resort was a lot bigger than the ones in NZ and there were lots of runs and decent off piste too. It was so good that I was disappointed that I couldn´t carry on at the end of the day and that rarely happens (as those of you who´ve skiied with me will testify!)

Go on then Ste, just for you:

Chile? No, it was quite warm actually.

Where are the Andes? At the end of your sleevies (although Bec insists it´s at the end of your wristies)