| Diary 11 |
| 23rd Sept 2005 Got up early despite a bit of a hangover!! And were the first out on the slopes, so had the place to ourselves! Walked up the nursery slopes to try again, as the drag lifts hadn�t started up yet. A lot more icy than yesterday, so harder on the bum and knees, but managed somehow to get down eventually (Claire, this is obviously). Drag lifts now working so decided to give them a try and promptly fell over and started being dragged up as forgot to let go!! Struggled to my feet to find Terry in fits almost wetting himself!!! Gave it a few tries, then gave up and walked up the top - good exercise anyway. Don�t think the man operating the lifts was that impressed!!!! Was a bit better this time, but ended up with very bruised knees and twisted a muscle in my side - who said this was meant to be fun??? Terry left me to practice and went back up again, but I gave up after a little while and limped over to watch him.... making it sound worse than it was... did enjoy it and determined to learn one day!! Went back to the hotel so that I could change, and Terry discovered how to put the camera on colour for videoing... so after three months of black and white videos we managed to get some footage of Terry coming down in colour. The videos of the jungle etc would have been so good in colour!!! After Terry had finished showing off and doing jumps etc... we took all the equipment back and then went up in the chair lift so that I could see the view from the top. Quite a bit of snow up there!!!!! After dinner that night we only had 1 Peso left to our name, as there are no banks in Penitentes - luckily we�d already paid for the bus to Chile the next day. 24th Sept 2005 Had breakfast (included in the price of the room luckily) and checked out, with an hour to spare before the bus was supposed to pick us up at 11.30am. Sat and played cards and waited in reception. 11.30am came and went, so did 12pm and even 12.30pm, 1pm.... getting a fed up now - wandered outside to look up the road for a bus and have a look at the boarders on the slopes..... 1.30pm, 2pm, finally a minibus turned up at 2.30pm - not what we had expected!!! So with no money, we were rather hungry and thirsty now and still had to get to Chile!!! Arrived at the border after about an hour and took forever to get through. First of all there were queues and lots of forms to fill in to get exit and entrance stamps, and then they had to x-ray all of our luggage, but they take their time about doing so!! First time we've had to do that - not allowed to take fruit and veg, meat etc.. into Chile, but it's not like they're an island!!! Eventually got across and then drove through ski resorts on the Chilean side, down a very windy road with stunning scenery. Eventually at 5pm we arrived in Santiago and warm weather again. Got a taxi to La Casa Roja and checked in to possibly the best room we've had (huge big old mansion converted into a hostel - sleeps about 80, but we had private room with high ceilings and a beautiful ensuite). Very hungry by now, so went to a steak restaurant just round the corner and then to a bar for a few drinks. 25th Sept 2005 Washed the worst of the grubbiness off our day bags and left them to dry while we went to explore Santiago. Despite what the guide book says, Santiago is a lovely city. Walked up to the Plaza de Armas and onto a big fish market, in a building that was constructed in Birmingham some time in the 1800s and shipped out here. Lots of stalls with some very strange looking fish, as well as lobsters, crabs, oysters and other shell fish, but everyone hassling us to buy stuff we made a dart for the exit and walked to the foot of Cerro San Cristobal - a hill overlooking the city. We caught a funicular to the top (type of train/cable car that goes up the side of the hill), and had great views of the city over to the Andes where we�d been skiing. For a late lunch we went back to the fish market and had sea bass. Then took a leisurely stroll back to the hostel and vegged out for the evening. 26th Sept 2005 A lazy morning spent in the hostel until we visited a vineyard in the afternoon for a tour and wine tasting. Quite a short tour, but still interesting. Got given wine glasses and for each tasing they were filled up - not the thimble full we imagined we�d get!!! Tried a white wine that�s made from a black grape and it was delicious so bought two bottles to be shipped home - it�s not exported from Chile so not available anywhere else. Got back to the hostel and went out for a Chinese. 27th Sept 2005 Yet another lazy morning in the hostel - it's so easy to relax there. Then in the afternoon we went paragliding - as you do!!! Claire went first and had a great flight as there was quite a bit of wind. Was gliding with the birds for about half an hour before coming down and landing without falling over!! By the time the pilot had got back to the top of the hill the wind had dropped and so Terry could only glide straight down (waited for an hour to see if it would pick up, but no luck) - still enjoyed it though and didn't get charged as much. Got back and decided to spend the money we'd saved in the steak restaurant from the first night and we had to have more Chillean wine! 28th Sept 2005 Terry got up and went running while I stayed in bed!!! When we eventually got ready, we took lots of bits and pieces that we'd collected and didn't need anymore to the post office. Spent an age, as usual, getting it wrapped up, weighed etc... Then back at the hostel we started reading up on New Zealand and sorting more of our bits out - making sure everything's clean and doing some sewing too (thanks girls for the sewing kit!!). Having had a healthy day of just fruit and cereal we found a Dominoes Pizza and caved in!!!! 29th Sept 2005 OUR LAST DAY IN SOUTH AMERICA!!!! Took the last lot of laundry so we start a fresh in NZ. And spent ages on the internet typing all of this and sending photos. Next installent will be written from New Zealand!!! 30th Sept 2005 Got to the airport and checked in. Then the flight was delayed for 2 hours and with everyone moaning around us we found out that had I not been organised and checked the flights to see that it had changed from Thursday night to Friday morning, we could have turned up the airport last night and been given a night in the Sheraton Hotel - great!!!! So all we got was breakfast on the house at the airport due to the 2 hour delay and we didn't even want that because we'd already eaten!!!! The flight finally left at 11.30am. |