29th - *3RD* July - Santiago & El Colorado, Chile
Well, we´re still here!! Bugger!! Although I can think of worse places to be stuck!!
As I write this we were supposed to be landing in Easter Island! Duh uh! We missed our flight! Our fault - unless the Sleeping Fairies in the bedroom actually turned off or muted our alarm on purpose!
Anyway we´ve had heaps of fun here so I´ll start at the beginning!
Arrived and it is bloody chilly in Chile - but it´s a refreshing change from the sweat-fest of South East Asia! We were super efficient on day one here, straight to the tourist office to plan and book our ski trip and suss out other touristy things to do in Santiago itself. During the evening we strolled out to Bellavista, one of the nightspot areas, and enjoyed strolling round peering into the bustlng warm bars and restaurants. Of course we were obliged to partake in the Friday night festivities and first found a place with yummy Pisco Sours (bit like a Caipirinia - good start to the evening!), then a good warm place for good grub and then a heaving little smokey place with great live musicos and cervezas! Hit the pillow at about 3am - then rudely woken at 3pm by the hotel staff wanting to clean our room! Either too many beers or jet lag - we had managed to gain a whole day at funny times when we left NZ!
With our late start we didn´t manage to do much the next day, but we did do a quick city stroll and headed up to the Santa Lucia Park which overlooks the city for the evening lights. We´ve noticed that Santiago is Snogsville! Everywhere you look people are snogging!! Romanticos Romanticos - providing they´re snogging who they should be of course!!
On Sunday (our anniversary - crikey - a whole year!!) we headed up into the snowy mountains for our anniversay treat! I was pretty nervous about the whole skiing biz as it´s been a long time for me and I really didn´t want to do any damage - but I was so chuffed as I pootled around with no trouble at all!! Avoriaz here I come!! The snow was perfect - completly flat pistes with lovely fluffy stuff on the surface and plenty of good runs to get confident on!! Hurrrahhh!! Bit chilly in Chile and James had to wait around a bit for me but luckily I had my Nepal mountain hat and my pink stripey one for him to look pretty in!
Our chalet was wonderful! We were really lucky as there was not much available anywhere, as it´s mid-season here, so Lady Luck was defo on our side. It´s really small place where they prepare your nosh included in the price, a lovely lucious roaring fireplace surrounded by sofas and a fantastic mountain view form the dinning room. The people there were lovely. And when James told them it was our anniversary they spoiled us with lovely extra treats! The evening meal was totally lush...delish Bet...TLD....toe curling in glee stuff and merrily washed down with a scrummy bottle of Chilean red - of course! Really one of the best meals ever!!
The next day we were due to ski but there were massive wind storms so all the lifts were closed, still snoozing in front of the fire with Harry Potter wasn´t exactly disappointing!!
Now to today........flight departs 8:40am!
7:50am - James bolts upright swears loudly.
7:50 something - we are racing down the hotel stairs and grab a cab
7:50 somethingabitmore - the cab driver understands my "aeropueto rapido por favor" and we begin weaving in and out of the morning traffic
8:05ish - he says something about his speedo and his bleeping meter, somehow we understand that he needs to turn the meter off to break the speed limit for us - si si beuno beuno gracias muchos gracias!!
8:15 - I´m racing through the airport towards a desk where the nice man grabs our tickets & passports and urgently calls others over on walkie talkies. I yell and wave to James who comes steaming up with our bags and we think its all going to be alright.....but no! No possible! Hence us back here catching up on blog and not exploring the huge swedes of Easter Island!
Fortunately we´ve been able to alter our next flights between here, Lima and Cuzco and will make it out tomorrow....if we get up in time!
As I write this we were supposed to be landing in Easter Island! Duh uh! We missed our flight! Our fault - unless the Sleeping Fairies in the bedroom actually turned off or muted our alarm on purpose!
Anyway we´ve had heaps of fun here so I´ll start at the beginning!
Arrived and it is bloody chilly in Chile - but it´s a refreshing change from the sweat-fest of South East Asia! We were super efficient on day one here, straight to the tourist office to plan and book our ski trip and suss out other touristy things to do in Santiago itself. During the evening we strolled out to Bellavista, one of the nightspot areas, and enjoyed strolling round peering into the bustlng warm bars and restaurants. Of course we were obliged to partake in the Friday night festivities and first found a place with yummy Pisco Sours (bit like a Caipirinia - good start to the evening!), then a good warm place for good grub and then a heaving little smokey place with great live musicos and cervezas! Hit the pillow at about 3am - then rudely woken at 3pm by the hotel staff wanting to clean our room! Either too many beers or jet lag - we had managed to gain a whole day at funny times when we left NZ!
With our late start we didn´t manage to do much the next day, but we did do a quick city stroll and headed up to the Santa Lucia Park which overlooks the city for the evening lights. We´ve noticed that Santiago is Snogsville! Everywhere you look people are snogging!! Romanticos Romanticos - providing they´re snogging who they should be of course!!
On Sunday (our anniversary - crikey - a whole year!!) we headed up into the snowy mountains for our anniversay treat! I was pretty nervous about the whole skiing biz as it´s been a long time for me and I really didn´t want to do any damage - but I was so chuffed as I pootled around with no trouble at all!! Avoriaz here I come!! The snow was perfect - completly flat pistes with lovely fluffy stuff on the surface and plenty of good runs to get confident on!! Hurrrahhh!! Bit chilly in Chile and James had to wait around a bit for me but luckily I had my Nepal mountain hat and my pink stripey one for him to look pretty in!
Our chalet was wonderful! We were really lucky as there was not much available anywhere, as it´s mid-season here, so Lady Luck was defo on our side. It´s really small place where they prepare your nosh included in the price, a lovely lucious roaring fireplace surrounded by sofas and a fantastic mountain view form the dinning room. The people there were lovely. And when James told them it was our anniversary they spoiled us with lovely extra treats! The evening meal was totally lush...delish Bet...TLD....toe curling in glee stuff and merrily washed down with a scrummy bottle of Chilean red - of course! Really one of the best meals ever!!
The next day we were due to ski but there were massive wind storms so all the lifts were closed, still snoozing in front of the fire with Harry Potter wasn´t exactly disappointing!!
Now to today........flight departs 8:40am!
7:50am - James bolts upright swears loudly.
7:50 something - we are racing down the hotel stairs and grab a cab
7:50 somethingabitmore - the cab driver understands my "aeropueto rapido por favor" and we begin weaving in and out of the morning traffic
8:05ish - he says something about his speedo and his bleeping meter, somehow we understand that he needs to turn the meter off to break the speed limit for us - si si beuno beuno gracias muchos gracias!!
8:15 - I´m racing through the airport towards a desk where the nice man grabs our tickets & passports and urgently calls others over on walkie talkies. I yell and wave to James who comes steaming up with our bags and we think its all going to be alright.....but no! No possible! Hence us back here catching up on blog and not exploring the huge swedes of Easter Island!
Fortunately we´ve been able to alter our next flights between here, Lima and Cuzco and will make it out tomorrow....if we get up in time!
posted by Polly and James at Tuesday, August 02, 2005
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