We have stopped being lazy and ive decided to take the first step to start a travel blog. dont know how long we'll keep it up but we'll try. We have been in santiago for about 6 days, its been great, the first view of the city was from my aunty's flat which is on the 16th floor right in the middle of town. Overshadowig the city are the andes mountains, covered in snow, its looks pretty cool. (when u can see it). this city is so polluted, there are morning when you cant see the hills surroundign it, and nights when there are no stars.On the first day, we walked up to cerro san cristobal, this huge steep hill where people from all over the place go to prey at the feet of the statue of the virgin mary. not that we are catholic or anything but it was a pretty cool experience. when u get to the top u can see the entire city, its SO high up, u get up there on this crappy old wooden lift. The tracks were like those of a rollercoaster. When we got the the top we took an air lift that went over the city aswell. this place expands as far out as it possible can right to the foot of the mountains.
My aunty has been spoiling us like crazy with food and trips here and there. On thursday we went to Valparaiso (will post some pics eventually), this amazing olf port city, that has so much charm as it does history. It has been built on the hilliest terrain they could find, and when you look up at it its filled with tiny little shacks in all different colours. Chile's (and arguably south america's) greatest writer, Pablo Neruda lived here and wrote a lot of his works in this city. We didnt go to his house but we're returning here in January, I'm in love.Paul loved it too, and he got to try Congrio, this fish travellers that have come to chile rave about, and its fair to say its pretty effen nice!
Where we are staying is in Bellavista, the bohemian suburb of the city. we can take a stroll down there and get a 1lt of beer for less than 3 aussie bucks. the streets in this neighbourhood are lines with terraces painted in all different colours, decorated with graffiti and mosaics on the footpath and crazy arty benches.its pretty cool and the atmosphere is pretty relaxing, everyone is just downthere sitting on tables and chairs drinking, talking and eating simple food like hot chips with mayo and hot dogs smothered in avo and mayo (chileans even add mayo to their soups! haha). There seems to be a huge class division in the place, none racial aT all, but definitely with money status. some people we've met wont even comeinto the city because too many derros (pungas they call them) hang around, but theyre just street punks.harmless, we haven't felt at danger at all here, plus paul can pass as a chilean easy.
ok kids, on tuesday we{re heading south, we shall have more stories by then. and hopefully we'll put more pics up soon.
