It was a bit of a mammoth journey to get to Chile, for some reason it was not possible to find an airline that flies directly between Quito and Santiago.  I ended up with a flight that was via Panama, which means that first 2 hours flying is 100% in the wrong direction.  I made it into a long overnight flight, arriving in Santiago at 6am.  The problem at that time is access to a hotel room, that would not be available for 7-8 hours, and I was tired from little sleep on the plane flights.

So, like a true adventurer I set off into a new city early on Sunday morning.  I had a map, but apart from that had little idea about the lay of the land in Santiago.  I’d decided to have a little wander, which in Avison speak means anything could happen.  23 miles later a taxi brought me back to the hotel and I collapsed, almost quite literally.

The streets to Santiago were fairly quiet as I took the shuttle bus from Santiago airport to Los Herros metro station in downtown.  That $2 shuttle bus was going to become a good friend during my stay coming from my airport-based hotel.  I wandered around as I tried to get some bearings, some fresh air and a feel for Santiago.  It can be sometimes pretty easy to begin to ‘understand’ a city, but those initial impressions left me with more questions than answers as I began to explore this capital.

I headed for Cerro San Cristobal, an iconic landmark of the city and an area I was about to spend several hours in, and quite a few more than intended.  It’s a long and winding road that takes you to the heights of San Cristobal, but it was Sunday, it was sunny and lots of locals were out for the stroll up to the top.  I was in good company.  There were so many walking dogs, I felt pretty sorry for the poor dogs having been given a Sunday walk up this long hill rise.  You can go the top by cable car or funicular, but, not only did I want to walk, the lines for the transport were ginormous.  With so many great viewpoints on the way up it was not that difficult of a choice.

After sometime at the top I decided to head back down. The lines for transport were still long, and it was downhill right, so easy?  That’s what I thought, but unbeknown to me I did not end up on the same path down as I took up, and it did not lead back to my expected starting point.  I was on the wrong side of the huge hill and started to try and navigate my way around, I tried several different routes and options over the next couple of hours, but was getting nowhere.  Somewhere along the way my water bottle had fallen from my backpack, and on this sunny warm day I was not well prepared for the “well, not quite lost” walking trip.  I knew where I was, I knew where I wanted to go, I just couldn’t quite get there.  I seem to do that frequently wandering new countries 🙂

Eventually, I decided I was not going to be able to figure out my way around, and would have to go back up to the top and start the climb again.  It took a while, I was not in a good way due to the shortage of water and the exertions of the day were beginning to tell.  It was not the smartest thing I have ever done, mirages of water fountains began to appear as I was clearly running on empty, like a car sputtering its way to the gas station on the last dregs of fuel.  The water fountain did finally arrive, and I accepted the water gladly.  Massively fatigued I made it to the top, not sure how, but I did.  I got in the queue for the funicular, the line had gone down somewhat as we were much later into the day.  Once I got to the bottom of San Cristobal there was only going to be one answer to get back to the hotel.  I got in a taxi and got the driver to take me back, no matter the cost.  The driver did not know how grateful I was to finally arrive back to the friend of my comfortable hotel bed.

The lesson of managing water intake was very well learned, and I took that into the next few days as I was more prepared than a boy scout as I set off for new adventures. I slept like three logs that night.

Day 2 in Chile I got my hire car from the airport, no GPS, but I headed to Valpariso and Vina Del Mar.  It was the best day of the entire trip.  I loved both places, the street art of Valpariso is amazing, the vibe around town is unique and I thoroughly enjoyed my time meandering through the streets and districts of Valpariso, particularly Concepcion and Alegre.  It was a lot o fun.

On leaving Valpo I then headed a few miles down the coast to Vina Del Mar with no knowledge or expectation of what was ahead.  I had a recommendation to go, and it was a brilliant place.  Un beknown to me 31^st October is a national holiday in Chile, and the beaches, roads and streets of Vina Del Mar were packed, but it was the packed-ness and energy of all those people that brought the place to life in the lovely sunny weather.  I’m not sure I would have gotten the same impression on a cold quiet wet Tuesday, but what I did see was great.  I spent a bit of time to wander around and make sure Vina was actually as good as I thought.  It was.

Back to Santiago for day 3 and day 4, and finding more places to go.  To delve into the city a little deeper   As I got to know Santiago, the more familiar, and the more I liked it.   The streets are welcoming and lead to many interesting places.  Lots of wandering, lots of discovering and I enjoyed the city a great deal, and added to Valpariso and Vina Del Mar made it into a wonderful four days adventure.

On my 4th day I went up to the top of the Sky Costanera, which is one of the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere at 984 feet ball. The venture up in the lift is fast and the 360 degree view of Santiago is impressive.

There was one little nugget of intrigue to a couple of days.  I got into taking the Airporter bus from Santiago airport into town, for $2 it was the best transport money can buy for the 35-minute journey into the city.  The problem was the ‘little’ walk from my hotel to connect to the Centropuerto bus.   I thought it would be simple, but of course it wasn’t, and had me navigating path, terrain and dual carriageways with speeding cars.  Got the blood flowing and was probably not legal, but I made it in and out with just a couple of heart stopping moments.