Our last South American border crossing turned out to be the worst, with Chile turning out to be harder to get into than a nun's knickers! Arrived into Santiago four hours late and in the dark so we took the easy option and headed to the same hostel as an Australian girl we'd met on the bus and hoped they had a room. They did and it was rather nice so we spent our last 2 days in South America there.
We only had one full day in Santiago but we filled it quite well. Our main priority was hunting down a copy of the Lonely Planet for New Zealand (tip for anyone intending to by books in Chile - DON'T - they have a massive 20% tax on them and what should have cost us £15.99 actually cost about £30). Once we had updated our library we took a walking tour of the city taking in a few of the sights. Unfortunately Santiago is rather smoggy and spoiled some great views.
One of the more unusual attractions was Cerro Santa Lucia. It is a hill in the middle of the city upon which a castle was built. Much of the old castle has now crumbled away but at street level it has been lovingly restored to its former glory.
From the top you can get great vistas of the city, including views of Cerro San Cristobal, a smaller version of Rio's Cristo de Redentor.
The remainder of our time in Santiago was spent relaxing, updating the blog and drinking the wine I won! - yes, I know, we are several weeks behind - the cheapest internet access we can find in NZ is about NZ$4 an hour!!
We only had one full day in Santiago but we filled it quite well. Our main priority was hunting down a copy of the Lonely Planet for New Zealand (tip for anyone intending to by books in Chile - DON'T - they have a massive 20% tax on them and what should have cost us £15.99 actually cost about £30). Once we had updated our library we took a walking tour of the city taking in a few of the sights. Unfortunately Santiago is rather smoggy and spoiled some great views.
One of the more unusual attractions was Cerro Santa Lucia. It is a hill in the middle of the city upon which a castle was built. Much of the old castle has now crumbled away but at street level it has been lovingly restored to its former glory.
From the top you can get great vistas of the city, including views of Cerro San Cristobal, a smaller version of Rio's Cristo de Redentor.
The remainder of our time in Santiago was spent relaxing, updating the blog and drinking the wine I won! - yes, I know, we are several weeks behind - the cheapest internet access we can find in NZ is about NZ$4 an hour!!
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