Arrived safely!

Hi everyone

Finally we have got around to sitting down and writing our blog. We obviously arrived safely at our first destination - Santiago, Chile. We managed to arrive on the first day of a four day religious weekend holiday - ascension of the Virgin Mary! This meant for us that Santiago looked very dead. It is unbelievable the amount of Graffitti around the place - every single building is tagged even the historical ones and churches. That mixed with the smog, the city looked fairly drab and dirty and empty. Luckily the smog wasn't so bad, we could still see the Andes which has had a fresh dump of snow which makes the city's setting quite spectacular.

We spent the first 3 days walking around Santiago, visited the zoo (very smelly!) and a statue of Mary on the top of the same hill. The local markets also very smelly and the streets were smattered with dog poo which Curtis decided to make the most of and practise his rugby side steps to avoid stepping in it.  Our apartment was in the middle of the historical area of Santiago which made for interesting buildings and a neat area to hang out in at night.

We have also been out of town to Valparaiso for a couple of days. It was a nice coach trip through a lot of the famous vineyards of chile. Arriving in Valparaiso was freezing compared to the big city and again very dull and dirty. It's famous for its colourful buildings on many hills but getting around is treacherous as trying to avoid dog poo is a full time job, you don't dare look up at a site and walk at the same time! We have never been in a city with so many stray dogs on the streets. The people there feed and look after them but won't take responsibility for them. It's certainly a contentious issue and one that apparently is debated daily in the news. They have some great ascensores(cable cars) that go up and down the really steep areas of the city some dating back as far as 1883.

Not being able to speak Spanish very well  is a big drawback, i am pulling on the small amount i learnt when i was last here for eight months, but that is quite limited especially when I had to try and tell the guy looking after the apartments that my son had given the cleaners my sunglasses thinking they had been left behind by them and then they promptly whizzed down the lift to probably sell them on the street! Strangely enough the glasses haven't turned up,yet! I might be able to buy them back from a street hawker tonight! This was Curtis in one of his more helpful moments!

Food is fairly average alot seems to be fried and chicken. Curtis has already discovered the "empanadas pino" which is a pie filled with meat, onion, egg and olives and is now looking forward to guinea pig in Cusco!! The wine however is a different story, we have tasted a few really good reserve ones at amazing prices.  The people are lovely, always want to help lost lost looking gringos and love to practise their english - makes travelling all the more worthwhile.

We can't deny being a little homesick for the home comforts and the fresh air ! Curtis especially has been missing his friends and the dogs. Hopefully once we get moving more and get out to the more rural places we will settle into a routine. We are loving the time we are spending together and of course the laughs. Hopefully I can attach some photos with this blog. We are on email as well as this blog. The wifi so far has been great, but that may all change once we get into the rural areas.
Tomorrow we head to Calama and San pedro de Atacama - one of the driest cities in the world.

Chao, adios amigos!