Woke at about 4am as the Chinese guy two beds down had got up to go to the loo and I thought he was getting up for work. It was only when I saw him get back in bed that I relaxed and went back to sleep. Woke up again at around 5:30am when he got up for work and then got up and showered so knew I was up. He was going to the airport so we shared a taxi.
While I was waiting for a taxi I got a bacon butty from my new found food place on the corner. I had a hunch they would be open early for the people on their way to work. They made the buttys just like I would and only used the circle bit of the bacon and not that scrag end streaky bit. Not fat on it at all and loads of brown sauce MMmmmm now THAT’s what I call breakfast !
Got to the airport in plenty of time for my flight and used the free wi fi to update facebook so my with my whereabouts.
Boarded the flight at about 10:45am and got myself comfortable. I was in the window seat and there was just one seat next to me which I was hoping might have been free but then an old-ish woman sat in it. I hate having someone next to you on a long flight in case you wanna go the loo and they have decided to go to sleep.
Anyway she turned out to be really nice did our Gina from Chile. Throughout the flight I was like her bezzy mate, she was telling me her life story, showing me pictures of the gran kids and making sure I didn’t miss out on anything going begging from the back of the plane lol. She kept coming back with a sandwich or a drink for us both saying “si si there is lots there and its all free” bless her. Only trouble was she didn’t quite pick up on the fact that when I had my headphones in and was watching the movie that I was actually WATCHING THE MOVIE. So every few minutes I would get a tap on the arm followed by “Mio mio” (I tried correcting her and telling her it was Neil not Mio but after the 5th time I gave up). She’d be asking/telling me something so I’d stop watching the film and take out the earphone nearest her to listen thinking it would be something quick, but then she’d prattle on for a good ten minutes. When she ran out of breath I’d smile, nod and quickly pop back in the earphone. Ten minutes later, another tap and “Mio mio” in the end I gave up on watching the films. I think I managed to get through “Twilight” and the rest was just intermingled with Gina’s pearl of wisdom. Things like “Mio you must get cardigan from Chile for your mama, iz very niiicccee”. I thought “yeah I can just see the look on my mum’s face when I pulled out a crocheted cardi for a pressie”. It would be as priceless as when my dad bought her a flanalette nightie that must have been made for an 8 foot giant. There was about 3 foot of gather at the bottom cos she;s only 4ft 4” stood on a dog turd lol. (I’m sure I missed out half an inch that she will correct me on.
Another suggestion was “Mio you must leather jacket from Chile – iz beautiful”. I thought aye yeah it will come in right useful too in 90 degrees on the beach. Gina wasn’t a sleeper either so try as I might to get a bit of shut eye it was not gonna happen. She was whipping the overhead light on by mistake, pressing the cabin crew instead of switching the light off, then asking me to sort her controls out for the telly as “I sink I press something wrong”.
Flight over the time zones meant that we set off Thursday morning and landed Thursday morning which felt like groundhog day. Oh well at least I know how the day ends already ;-)
Got to Chile at 11:45 am and then by the time I got through customs etc it was about 12:30pm. Said my Adios to Gina bless her and then went to look for someone hopefully holding my name on a piece of paper.
There was about 50 people with cards etc and taxi fellas trying to get you to take one of their cabs. I couldn’t find anyone with my name but there was someone with the Hostel Bellavista wrote on it and the name Hannah Bishop. I thought “that will do” so I went from Mio to Hannah but then explained I was going the same hostel so he said no problem and we waited for the real Hannah. Hannah came shortly after and we both got in the van to go to the hostel. He took us to a cash machine to get out some money but neither of us knew what the exchange rate was so asked him how much I’d need for 2 days. He said 200,000 pesos but I didn’t think I would need loads so just got out 100,000 (which he said was about £25 – the start of his cunning plan).
Hannah got out the same and we got back to the van where he said he needed to pay him and then the driver would take us. It was 50,000 pesos each he said so we handed over the money, but something told me that sounded a lot as I was sure I had read something about 16,000 if you get a taxi. He disappeared into the office near where he took us to the cash machine and the driver set off. As soon as I saw the piece of paper I told the driver he better get mi lado on the phone cos he’d charged us WAY too much. He made a call and pulled over and then said he would be with us in 5 minutes. The guy came back and was saying how it’s Chillean pesos and it's different than dollars etc but I was having none of it. I pointed to the paper where it said the hostel could send a van but if you got a taxi don’t pay more than 16,000 pesos. He tried fobbing me off and giving us back 10,000 each so I explained I was a freelance journalist for a travel website (only a small lie) and that I would have to verify all this with the hostel as they were sending out incorrect info etc. Anyway in the end he gave us back 30,000 each and charged us 20,000 which I could live with.
When we got to the hostel and checked in my bed wasn’t ready so me and Hannah just had a wander around to check out the area while it was daylight. Chile seems really nice and has some really colourful building (see pics).
Went back to the hostel about an hour late and the bed was ready. It was a 12 person dorm and I was lucky to get a bottom bunk so wouldn’t need to be mountain climbing in the night.
Had a wander to the local bottle shop and got a carton of the cheapest red wine and a bottle of coke as it’s the easiest way to get chatting to someone if you can offer em a drink ;-) Let Franceso the reception woman have a glass of red wine as it’s always useful to be on first name terms with the staff lol. Then Hannah joined me and a guy from Dublin called Colm. After a few drinks Hannah hit the sack as she was goosed and me and Colm went to join a few Americans he’d been chatting to earlier. We went to the main strip where the locals go and got a big bottle of beer between us for 1,000 pesos. Oh and managed to suss the exchange rate, its 800 ish pesos to the pound.
Had a few local beers in some bars and then hit the sack at about 1am.
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