May 22nd

This morning was backpacking at its finest when we walked, packs on backs, from the hostel to the bus. But we didn’t exactly know where we were going and also my pack was very heavy. So 45 mins later, 2 wrong stations and a few enquiries with hand gestures and English we found where we were meant to be.

It was for a fleeting (very fleeting) moment that I wished that I had not packed my hair dryer, straightener, knickers, soap. But then I thought about how good my hair looks and I changed my mind back. Sore shoulders, excellent hair.

So Chile was chilly. Freezing cold. And in my denial of the cold I did not pack well for this! And we were jet lagged or hung over most of the time.

It was a nice looking city they have old churches and grand buildings everywhere, some quite run down and cool looking. We managed to find the fish markets which, as you can imagine, smelt great. But we did find Empanadas Zunino which is a classic bakery known for its Empanadas. Matt just informed me that in the 3 days he had 4 empanadas. Anyone would think that pastry goods were a favourite of his. I had an Empanada Queso and Matt had Empanada Pino, which was a meat of sorts. Then he went back for a Queso.

We met some people, a friend of a friend Mariah, who is an American whose been working in Chile for 7 years, her Chilean best friend Max, who sounds French when he speaks English and was hipster before it was cool to be hipster, Jamie who is also American (living in Chile for 5 years with her Chilean boyfriend) and then an Italian guy whose name escapes me but his dad and Max’s dad were friends and he met us after dinner.

So we went to dinner where I regretfully did not eat enough, then to a cool bar where I regretfully drank too much, then back to Mariah’s where I continued to drink more, (regretfully)! There more Chileans came, there was pop corn and lots of chatting and lots of fun and Jamie and her boyfriend dropped us home. Queue hangover (vomit) and sleeping. Lucky for me Matt is an absolute legend and looked after me all day.

So that, really, was Chile. Now we are on a bus to Mendoza and our Argentina adventure begins. Lucky the guy at the bus counter told us about the Reciprocity fee for Argentina that you can only pay online BEFORE we got to the boarder. Another $100 (damn). I don’t think being told we have to go back somewhere in the Andes would have been much fun.

Soooooo….. It turns out it was Men-don’t-go-za yesterday. We got 3.5 hours into the bus drive, then waited one hour on the bus to be told we’re turning around, the boarder was closed. So no stress from me (surprisingly) but the annoying Aussie woman in front of us was stressing enough for everyone.

We managed to get a hostel that had the loveliest hosts, it was their home that they’d turned into a hostel. It was a bit difficult to find, but once we did we had a private room and a private bathroom!! It was BLISS! We went to the shops and made our own dinner that night! A salad! More bliss! Then went or sleep at 8pm!!

May 23rd

This morning at 6:45am we left the hostel to return to the bus station and hope. At 7:30 we were told to come back at 9am, so packs on backs we went in search of McDonalds. Instead we found terrible coffee. Like the worst. 8:30am we head back to the bust station and find A FUCKING MCDONALDS exactly where we left! So I order us a Cheeseburger and my god it was the BEST Cheeseburger I have ever eaten. While waiting I see a single Peso on the ground ‘Find a Peso pick it up the rest of the day you’ll have good luck’. So here’s hoping. Now were on a bus again and apparently (!!) the boarder is open now!

WE MADE IT! Queue a “MENDOOOOZZZZAAAAAAAA” from Matt.

Santiago 19 de Mayo- 23 de Mayo

• 19th-22nd Princesa Insolente Hostal – not bad, pretty standard (filthy!) ok staff
• 22nd – 23rd The Magic Hostal – lovely staff, great facilities!

Best Meal – Empinadas from Zunino (or Cheeseburger at the bus station, I can’t decide)

What did I learn: you kiss on the cheek as a greeting (women / women, women / men) and hand shake (men / men).