Tried having a lay in but my body clock must be all over the place so I ended up getting up at about 8am. I went down for breakfast as I got the impression that once stuff goes its gone and they don’t fill up. Had some apple juice, and a toasted barm thing with butter and jam followed by a banana. The breakfast room was only small and consisted of about 3 small tables so you kinda had to eat and go so that there was room for other people as they came down. It was free though you couldn’t really complain.
Hannah met me downstairs at 9:30am and I had a cup of tea while she ate breakfast. We then spoke to Franseca on reception to see if we could book a city tour so that we could see some of the place. Hannah is only here a couple of nights too so we thought we’d get chance to see the main things. We could only get on the tour at 2:50pm so we said we would go and do our own thing for the morning and then meet back in reception just before 3pm. We also booked for the Chilean dinner at 7pm as we thought it would be a good chance to sample the local food and also mingle with some of the others in the hostel. It was only 4,000 clp (about £4) and the city tour was only 3.5 hours so we should be back just in time.
I had a wander to the local mini mart and bought a large bread roll and a pack of cheese. I made a cheese butty for lunch but it was that big I kept half in a plastic bag in my locker as I thought it would do for breakfast tomorrow before I leave for the airport. I would probably be too early for breakfast at the hostel so it was best to have a back-up plan ;-)
Had a wander around the local area trying to find somewhere to buy an adapter as it’s a different kind of pin here, it’s 3 round ones in a row. In the end I gave up and went back to the hostel to type up a couple of days journal that I’d missed. There was an American guy in one of the other bunks so I asked him and he had an adapter that I could borrow o charge my laptop. Typed up my blogs and uploaded them on travelopod along with my photos onto facebook. Ironed my clothes for later tonight and tomorrow and lay them out on my locket at the side of my bed so my escape route was clear for the morning lol. That’s always the bad bit in a dorm when you have to be up early and you’re trying to get ready without waking people up. By the time I had got everything done and sorted out all my stuff for the morning it was time to meet Hannah.
The minibus came for us on time but then took us about 10 minutes away where we then had to wait for a bigger coach to come for us. It arrived at 3:30pm with various people on from mixed countries. It’s not looking like we will make that 7pm dinner at this rate. Our tour guide Maria was bilingual and the group had both English and Spanish-speaking nationalities so we had to hear all the clap trap twice which felt like it took forever.
We went to various places for photo opportunities and got off the coach here and there. Went half way up this big hill to get views of the city and the Andes mountain range (I think that’s what they were). Me and Hannah kinda dosed on the coach during all the waffle and were just happy getting off and taking photos every now and then. I just tuned her out most of the time as it was hard to tell when she switched from Spanish to English at times At one place when we got of we were greeted by this woman pretending to be a journalist with some History programme. She then went through this acting bit where she explained we would be transported back in time blah bah….queue some actors in period clothing. Can’t remember who he was but him and his woman who were conquering Peru and Chile did a bit of a play thing in Spanish and the woman acted translated for us. It was all very serious and they were really loud so load of other people gathered round to watch, but I find all that stuff a bit embarrassing. I always don’t know where to look when they are acting as though its all real yet you clearly know you haven’t gone back in time etc. The journalist woman was well over the top and hyper, I think she’d had one too many espresso’s this morning. They were joined by a third bare chested guy who was defending peru I think, it was all very confusing.
Once that was over and people had taken pics with the actors it was back on the coach and off to sample a pisco sour. Pisco is the traditional Chile drink but the amount we got in a small paper cup was barely worth writing hoe about. Needless to say I didn’t write home lol. She tested us when we got there to see if we could remember the drink and whoever did got an extra one. Well I already had that down as when she mentioned it I remember thinking it probably got its name cos someone said…”don’t drink too much of that it’ll make yer piss-go-sour” lol.
Anyway we got this sample in an expensive jewellery/souvenir shop while we paid for the trip, obviously so some gullible people would buy something. I left with a small cooper and ceramic ornament lol. It was already 6:45pm so that meal was looking a bit like we’d be late.
We got on the bus at 7pm and then were sat in rush hour traffic that was much worse that at home for what seemed like ages. Half way there I stopped panicking and thought, they probably won’t start on time as it’s all Maniana maniana time here and they don’t rush.
Got back to the hostel at about 7:30pm after a quick sprint up the street. Went straight to reception and said “sorry we are late for the dinner, can you tell us where it is”? she said “si it’s on the roof patio but it will 8:30pm as they were late starting”. What did I tell you? At least we could get washed and changed ready for dinner, so we both went to our dorm and get ready and met downstairs just before 8:30pm. When we wandered up there was a table set for 6 people and then a small square table with a candle on it and another place setting. There were already 5 people at the table so I said I would sit at the little one, but I felt a right Billy no mates. Hannah in the end said she’d scoot round and we’d all fit cos she thought it would be hard for me to be included in conversation like that. Next thing 4 more people came up who must of booked late, so we did a total re-think and added the small table to the main one and pulled a load of chairs round.
An old lady wobbled up the stairs with a great big cooking pot and put it on the table. The pot was filled with a kind of broth as well as muscles, clams, chicken pieces (on the bone), piece of really nice pork steaks and Spanish sausage and whatever else they used to make the flavour. Then ensued a big hoo haa with how she was gonna serve everyone as all the seafood was at the top so she needed to dish all them out first so she could get to the stuff underneath. There was lots of passing back and forth of plates, giving them out then recalling them back in so in the end once she finished the first plate which looked to have a nice portion and a big piece of pork I just kept a grip of that plate and claimed that one. I told Hannah to do the same as I had a feeling by the way she was dishing out that she was gonna run out of stuff by the end and some unlucky bugger would end up with just juice and not bits. I thought “that’s not gonna be me on no siree”. There was also piece of French stick and salsa as well as a boil of coiled potatoes that had gone cold by the time all the dishing out was done. The food was actually very nice and she had another pot downstairs so there was plenty. There was red and white wine to go with the food, but it seemed everyone had gone for red so a few of us made the switch to white when we realised it would probably go a bit further than the red ;-) (always thinking).
It was all very nice and even though it was all very disorganised, with the emergency plastic chairs and the different shapes and sized bowls and plates, but it kinda added to the experience I guess. The group were really nice, a few ozzy’s, some Kiwis and some Canadians. oh apart from a really annoying American guy. Apparently he was firend of the cooks daughter (who was waiting on), but he acted like it was his party and sat himself at the head of the table and expected someone to squeeze through rather than move up and let someone else be at the head. In the end he must of realised he looked stupid so moved. All through the meal it was like his every move had a running commentary. “I think I’ll get some more of this wine”….”could somebody pass me the bread”…I think I could get a big plate so I can have more”. I could see a few people were thinking the same as I kept making ete contact at the same point and then we’d end up smiling. In the end I muttered under my breath “could you BE more annoying” and the relevant people knew what and who I meant. Then he said “I need an empty plate so I have somewhere to put all my trash”..I thought “try shoving it in yer gob there’s plenty of room” but I kept well buttoned lol.
Gobby Guy left the table after the meal (probably to stuff his face in the kitchen). We sat for a while having some more drinks as one of the Kiwis got us all a cold beer from his room and Simon from New Zealand opened a bottle of his own wine for us. It was a really nice crown ones Gobby Guy had gone but then at about 12am me and Hannah hit the sack as we both had to be up early.
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