Day 21: San - tee - ahh - go!

Mood: Sleepy
Music: The Beatles (Best of, the blue one)

Today started at stupid o'clock as I had set my alarm for 4am. When this went out I poked my head outside and saw another smattering of starts in the sky. This meant I could take my camera and the tripod, helpfully lent by a very kind American (with whose party I had been sharing many of the excursions over the last two days) and head out to the observatory platform in order to take some photos of the night sky.

After an hour or so I was back in bed until 7am when I was up and out and heading to Calama airport. The flight to Santiago was just less than two hours and I was there before I knew it. The bags, however, took just over an hour to get off the plane and onto the baggage belt. During this time I saw the man waiting for me the other side of the arrivals screen, holding up a sign saying "Mrs Greenshields". I assumed that given the rarity of the name and that I was expecting someone with my name on a board. Once the bag did arrive, I informed my guide for the day that I wasn't a she but was infact Mr Greenshields...

Once back at the hotel I was given a short space of time to have lunch before my city tour would begin. I made for one of the restaurants next door to my hotel and found myself in a 'Beeferie' . Knowing I didn't have long I ordered myself a salad (I know you don't make friends with...) which was supposed to be a "roast beef" salad. After 35 minutes (almost 15 after I was due to be picked up) this eventually arrived. It turned out to have slices of thick fillet steak in it and athough I was annoyed that I was late, the steak was very good.

The city tour was with the same guy who picked me up from the airport. His English was very good and he was also very enthusiastic about the city in which he lives. He is married to an Englaish woman and has children around my age but enjoys what he does and enjoys himself in life. It was very refreshing to have someone so positive again telling me about their home town.

We visited a "handycraft" market to start with, which was at the very top of town (bounded by the rising Andes mountain range). I was initially expecting this to be another 'tat bizarre' but instead I found myself in a area of small boutique shops selling handmade items from each of the shopkeepers. There were items forged from copper ( the main export from Chile), carved from wood, jewelery made from silver and local stones and paintings from artists at work in full view of the passing public. All in all much better than I'd expected. It is a shame my baggage is rammed to overflowing already!

We then toured several of the important areas and buildings in the city. The Cathedral is, to me, the most beautiful that I have yet seen in South America. It doesn't have the gold and silver lavisheries that many of the other churches I've seen do. It's charm lies in it's understated beauty. I have a few photos from inside and hopefully you'll see what I mean.

Eventually I ended up back at the hotel and proceeded to book a taxi out to one of the largest and newest shopping centres in the city in order to locate and purchase a couple of replica football strips, as requested by Phil (he who is looking after my flat while I'm away) the night before. The centre itself could be anywhere in the western world with Nike shops, MNG, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, Addidas to name but a few chain stores you'd see in any similar place in the UK.

This evening I went to another of the local restaurants to my hotel and found the service to be equally slow. This evening it took me well over a half hour to be served with my cold starter. I was getting to the point that due to my general state of fatigue today, I was almost asleep at the table. The rest of the meal was very nice, I was possibly a little too tired to appreciate it to its full however.

Tomorrow I get some wine tasting in hopefully!

Night all!

PS. Things I've noted:

1. Santiago is the cleanest, prettiest and most European looking city I've seen so far in South America.
2. People don't use their horn here *nearly* as much as they do anywhere else I've been.
3. My bathroom in this hotel room makes Palf's look big. Somehow it contains a bath smaller than the shower from my last hotel.