Santiago Day 186 23/03/2015

We'd hoped that the kingsize bed with crisp white linen at the Citylife Hotel would be conducive of a good night's sleep but unfortunately it was not to be. Must be missing our campervan already! We left the hotel just after 9am to go shopping for Simon's new boots. It's only when we got back to Auckland that we observed how little cultural diversity there is outside the city, especially on the south island. Thanks to Lesley and Richard's tips on where to go, we were successful in purchasing some boots at the first store which meant we had time for breakfast and headed to a near by cafe. We popped in a camera shop, the post office and the pharmacy (again) before returning to the hotel for the final attempt to fit everything in our bags. We checked out and got the shuttle bus back to the airport where, after checking in and being allocated 'good seats' by the lady at the desk, headed into the lounge to use as much wifi as possible and have lunch! The flight boarded just before 4pm and we were disappointed to be on the back row. After a quick chat with the air hostess we moved further up the plane. We left as scheduled at 4.15pm and had an uneventful flight. Despite our move neither of us slept and both felt jaded when we arrived in Santiago at 11am the same morning (Chile is 16 hours behind New Zealand). We'd decided that trying to navigate Santiago's buses would be too much for when we first arrived and had booked a shared minibus to take us to our hostel. It was all straight forward and after a short wait we drove the 20km into the city. We're staying at Hostal Rio Amazones just near Barrio Bellavista. We checked in and, knowing that it wasn't the best thing to do, couldn't resist having a sleep for a few hours. We dragged ourselves out just after 2pm and headed to Bellavista to stretch our legs and get something to eat. Back at the hotel we did a bit of planning for the next few weeks. The ferry that we've booked from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales has been delayed by 3 days due to bad weather conditions. We assume the bad conditions are now and it's delayed their ongoing schedule, otherwise they must have a good crystal ball! Also a volcano near Pucon is looking a bit lively and we're wondering whether we should re think our plans and avoid the town. We went out early evening to get something to eat before heading off to bed - wide awake!

Enjoying dinner at Galindo's