Cristobal & the police

On our second day in Santiago, we decided to go up Christoball mountain which is the highest view point. The hill has a fenicular which is a kind of train that goes up and down the hill. We chose not to do that and walk it as we had all day. Somehow we ended up walking up the biker track which was pretty vertical in places! In the 30 degree heat it was hard work. After half an hour or so of scaling the mountain we found the proper path and carried on up the mountain. The view from the top was amazing and well worth the hike. We sat with drinks at the top and enjoyed the view. However we got the fenicular down which was fun.
We had lunch in a restaurant where we could sit on the balcony overlooking the mountain. I had some amazing homemade lemonade. We spent an hour or so enjoying the view and then headed home for some relaxing in the sun before a late dinner.

On our last day in Santiago we climbed a smaller hill called Santa Lucia which was in the centre of all the skyscrapers (you can see it in the first photo). The views were pretty good. We went and looked at some of the big political buildings and some more of the city before going back to the hostel the sunbathe. We decided to try an Indian restaurant for dinner. It was pretty nice, but nothing on English curries! We were upgraded to a private room that night as the owner needed a space in the dorm for someone which was lovely!

Today we headed to valperaiso, a city a few hours away by the sea. We checked out of the hostel and got on the metro. When we had to change stations Jay realised his wallet was gone. After retracing our steps it was clear it was gone for good. We rushed back to the hostel to cancel bank cards. The hostel owner was so kind and said we could stay at the hostel another night for free in a private room if we wanted to. We only lost about 10,000 chilean pesos which is about £10 and the cards were all blocked. However they did have our driving licences in and after a bit of googling we decided we needed a police report in case we had to claim for anything.

The police officer we spoke to didn't know English and our Spanish was limited. We struggled by with hand signals and one word questions. Then a lady who might as well have been the fairy godmother came and asked if we wanted help with translation as she'd lived in London for 20 years. An hour later we were done and on our way back to the hostel to pick up our stuff.

We're now in valperaiso so we'll see what this cities like!

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!