Andes

We left mendoza at 1pm heading for Chile. As we left mendoza, we started driving towards the Andes. We'd seen them from a distance when we arrived in mendoza but they were 100 times more impressive this time.
We arrived at the chilean immigration at 4ish where we had our passports stamped twice. Once to leave Argentina, the next to enter Chile. We then all got back on the bus. It drove a 200m and they asked us all to get off again while they unloaded all our bags and put them through a scanner and had sniffer dogs check all our hand luggage. Very cautious! We werent allowed to bring in any raw food, animal products or plants. Not sure why, but the whole process took about 2.5 hours. We were supposed to arrive in Santiago at 7, but as it was 10.30 and we were at 10,000 feet high in the middle of the Andes that seemed unlikely.

The views coming down were amazing as the sun was setting too. Unfortunately I didnt agree with the altitude too much. Its taken almost 24 hours for my ears to fully pop and so have had no hearing out of one ear. A big sneeze soon popped it though so I can hear again now! We arrived in Santiago at 9.30 and searched for the metro. No luck. We decided to pay for a taxi to be on the safe side. Also we were both tired and hungry.  Apart from the taxi driver asking for directions twice, we got there safely. After checking in and making our beds (I thought I'd never have to make beds for a long time!  How wrong was I!) We went out to find some food. A pizza later we headed to bed. This is the first hostel with a duvet which I was pretty excited about!  Jay doesn't feel the cold so much, but with the air con on, I miss my duvet!

Today we went for a food shop and had lunch by the pool. We then went on a walking tour of santiago. They're free and just rely on tips. It was really fun and our guide,  Filipe, was enthusiastic about this history which helped us not to zone out. We tried the Chilean drink, pisco sours, which was nice! After a walk back through the park and dinner,  we're definitely ready for bed!