South America! We finally made it! Strange feeling when we finally got on the long flight from Sydney via Auckland to Santiago in Chile. Something both Sal and I had looked forward to, finally happened! The first days in Santiago have been kind of slow. We arrived in the early afternoon on Tuesday, but were to tired from the flight to actually do anything… we forced ourselves to stay awake and went into town for a bit, just to make it to the evening and fight the jetlag, but even so we went to bed early and didn´t leave the hotel the next day until about 15:00 in the afternoon!

But even though we got up late, we did do much more then the day before! Went strolled around the city center a bit and went up the Cerro San Cristóbal (a hill close to the city) to have a look over the city… well… we missed out on quite a bit. Santiago is situated between big hills on one side and the Andes mountains on the other, so the smog the city produces doesn´t resolve very quickly… so during normal days (as it was yesterday) the city is covered in a grey haze of smog… Not all that great.

Back in the city there is, through the smog, actually some things to see though. There are tons of Spanish colonial buildings, which are quite pretty and interesting. Some areas have quite a Spanish feel to it. Others not at all, where colonial buildings are interchanged with many “new” or “modern” Chilean buildings.

Having said that, we are looking to leave the city and it´s smog for a day already! We are looking to go to the coast tomorrow, to visit some old towns and the day after we might try and do some wine tasting outside of the city. Should be good fun! Sunday we have booked for a museum tour (museums are free on Sundays!) and I am especially looking forward to the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, which should display pre-Spanish invasion art. Should be very interesting!

That´s it for now! Soon more! :-)
No pictures yet… have made over 100 already, but still have to figure out a way to put them online… Hopefully I will get that sorted quickly… would be nice to put some pictures with the stories! Hasta luego!

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