Santiago, Chile (30th November to 13th December)

Back in La Chimba Hostel again, but this time in a single room because Mr Greenhead had flown home to England for a few days. His sister was getting married, so he went back for the ceremony and the party afterwards. Meanwhile I stayed to explore more of Chile's capital city.

 I managed to find some great bakeries and a park that had an outdoor gym, so I could treat myself and then exercise to work it off. However the best thing I did was the free walking tour around Santiago. It goes every day at 10am and 3pm from Plaza de Armas and is led by an English speaking guide, who gets paid with the tips he is given. Our guide was a super enthusiastic and funny guy called Phillipe. He took us round the centre telling us about the cathedral, the museums, the theatres and the presidential palace.

Then he gave us a tour of the best places to get local food, including the best ice cream shop in Chile. Finally he took us to a few of the parks and told us about the stray dogs.  South America is full of stray dogs but the ones in Santiago are pretty healthy looking compared to most - apparently the local people leave out food. Then the tour finished very near to my hostal in Bellavista. Our final stop was Pablo Neruda's house - a famous poet from Chile.

Then the night before Mr Greenhead got back, disaster struck. I was in an internet cafe updating my blog and someone stole my bag from right under my nose. It has several important things in it, including my passport, driving licence and camera! The man from the shop kindly accompanied me to the police station, then I had to use my very limited Spanish to explain what had happened. Fortunately I have insurance and I had downloaded my photos onto the computer.

However it took a week to sort out new documents, get the police report and buy a new camera.To get a new passport you have to go to the British Embassy, where they give you an emergency (temporary) passport. This was straight forward compared to the paperwork I had to fill in so that we could cross the border back into Argentina. At least it happened in the capital city, if it had happened anywhere else, I would had to return here to get everything sorted out.

We spent our extra week in Santiago getting to know the city even better. Using my new knowledge, I took Mr Greenhead around the walking tour. Whilst I didn't get a tip, I did get an ice cream. We also hiked up to Cerro San Cristobal (869m) which gives a great view of the city. The hill was very busy the day we chose to hike up because it was Immaculate Conception Day. Traditionally thousands of people hike up to pray in the church at the top and confess their sins, which meant huge crowds and a holiday atmosphere. The rest of our time was spent chilling out and exercising at the outdoor gym. However the 30°C heat meant you had to wait till after 7pm to exercise, it was too hot before that.

A BBQ with new friends on our last night.