Santiago first day

Left Sydney on time around 11am Sunday morning and had one of the better seats on the plane (747) well forward and in the exit row I'd pre selected and paid extra for (tons of legroom) seated between a Peruvian lady from Sydney returning to Lima to visit her family and an Australian man flying to Buenos Aires to visit friends from a time when he previously taught at a school there. He introduced me to an app for my mobile phone which may be useful - a language translator. I haven't tried it yet, but I need it! Thankfully, Douglas (pronounced Dooglaas, here) the host at my AirBnB is bilingual and a great help with information. The flight arrived into a hazy Santiago on time at 11am Sunday morning having crossed the date line and saving a day. It didn't feel like I'd just left Sydney a few minutes earlier, though, as I think my doctor gave me placebos instead of real Zopiclones. I didn't sleep on the plane but managed to get some rest during the 5 or 6 hours of darkness that was a compressed night somewhere over Antartica (I guess). On arrival the usual horde of touts approached wanting to ferry me into the city to my accommodation but as I had about 8 hours to kill before I could check in I opted to take a bus. USD$100 converted at a money changer gave me 57,000 pesos - two of the notes are 20,000 pesos each, which sounds a lot but they don't go that far. The bus fare into the city was 1,800 pesos (about USD$3) and a "small" pizza I bought for tea was 4,400 pesos but it would have fed two people easily!! Unlike most places, the pizza was made to fit the box i.e. it was square rather than round so there was a lot more of it. And a pizza that measures 24cms x 24cms is quite a stomach full, especially when there's plenty of topping on it! 

My accommodation is NOISY!! Excellent apartment (new) but on a noisy street and although I went to bed exhausted at about 8pm last night I woke several times to loud noise - it takes ages for the rubbish collectors to empty dozens (maybe hundreds) of bins full of empty bottles into their rubbish truck at midnight - the high rise apartments here are HUGE and where I'm staying is just one of several on this street. Then the traffic is blasting horns at each other all night and then every half hour a pack of dogs start up loud barking which is amplified in the concrete canyons. So, I'll be glad to move on to smaller towns in the next few days.

Today I'll get my bearings and bus into the central city (which is close) and see what kind of tours I can join to see the sights. If I'm game I may even try the subway system which is extensive. I don't have any photos to post this time but will likely have at least one worth posting by tonight. All for now.