I Love It When A Plan Comes Together!

On handing my luggage to the bus driver I overhear the person in front asking to be dropped off at the airport. I follow suit. Result! For the airport is some ½ hour outside of town. On arrival I find the place dead, virtually nothing it is open, so I chat to James, the other guy who was dropped off. He's Welsh, ginger, bearded, talks like an RAF Squadron Leader and is heading to the Falkland Islands for a week. And why not? I break conversation when a guy graces the information desk. The ticket sales office opens at 11:30 - it seems my Spanish still sucks but only ish! I luckily find a phone card I bought some time ago and am able to phone Visa to both draw some cash and buy a plane ticket ($235 US - doh!), it leaves at 15:55. I celebrate and buy James a beer. The Internet place it closed at the airport so it's back to Spanish lessons on my MP3 player. The plane is delayed by ½ hour, I later find out it's because they loaded a comatose man on a stretcher on board, complete with a life support system and a personal nurse. I hope I've got the same insurance policy as him!

On the other side I exit to discover the Internet at Santiago Airport is also closed. Bummer, without checking for an email from Isi I don't know where I'm going! Santiago is massive and houses one third of Chile's population - eek!!! I hazard a guess and blag a taxi to Downtown (or Centro) to a hotel with Internet for 10,000 pesos (£10). Another amazing taxi ride. This guy was swerving in between traffic on the motorway and flashing cars out of his way at over 180 kph! At one point he slammed on the his brakes in what felt like an emergency stop and spun the wheel to the right. There was nothing wrong, we were just exiting the motorway on a slip road! More of the usual red light running and we arrived at Victoria Hotel, downtown, a couple of blocks away from Plaza de Armes - the heart of Santiago. For $60 US a night I had a lush double room. And as promised it had Internet. Isi had returned my email and was in Hotel Espana, just a couple of blocks on the other side of Plaza de Armes. "I love it when a plan comes together!" says Stevie with an A-Team Hannibal smirk. Now where's my cigar?

I pop over to Hotel Espana and drag Isi out of bed to go to a bar (she was a bit under the weather and having an early night). The truck was on its last night in town and they were all out in a bar far, far away in a different district. The plan was to go meet them until we ended up getting wasted on some superb (and very cheap) Pisco Sours at a local bar. Whoops! Oh well, never mind eh!? The truck maybe leaving tomorrow, but Isi is hanging around Santiago for a few days before flying back to Canada. Cool.

Posted by Steve Eynon