The road to Santiago

Saturday morning, weather set fair, pole position on the bus (upstairs, front two seats) and making sure we had no fruit or meat on our possession by the time we reached the border. (big thing in Chile - and $200 fines!)

An amazing seven hour trip (including the border crossing) on a really comfortable coach - and all for a bargain £15. Tina's ticket cost the same as Ian's although she seemed to think her ticket included exclusive use of the centre armrest! Usual drill on the bus - DVD's shown - high on volume, bad language and gratuitous violence but low on quality - although to be fair, the first film was Avatar. The noise of the film coupled with one of the driver's liking for drum and bass music gave a less than relaxing soundrack to the journey!

There were some concerns that the road may be affected by snow but although there was some snow the road was good if pretty twisty - especially on the Chilean side.

The border was interesting - 1 1/2 hours in total - three sets of queues including a search for fruit, meat etc. The sniffer dog picked out one passenger who had an apple in his bag and he was duly picked out and escorted to a back office to take whatever punishment was dished out!

Once in Chile, the scene changed with more in the way of vineyards and beautiful autumn colours. The roads in Chile seem better than in Argentina - i.e they do have dual carriageways!

We arrived at the bus station having forgotten to get any local currency, not knowing which station we were coming into (there are 3) and having no idea on the peso rate! Managed however to get sorted and had a really entertaining taxi ride - a very funny driver who literally danced along to Simply Red and gave us a quick and amusing guide to the city.

We decided to have a few days of relative luxury - getting weekend rates at the Radisson Plaza. Can't believe how much we now appreciate soft towels, a mirror, an iron and a bath! Have not had this combination all trip.

We then met up with a contact through Ian's work who kindly picked us up from the hotel and along with his wife we went out to dinner in a very smart mall close by. In the Chilean restaurant, Tina selected the deep fried conga eel. Her grandmother from East Ham would have been proud! The aperitif of the local speciality 'Pisco Sour' knocked us both out and meant that by the time we returned to the hotel at midnight, we were pretty much dead on our feet!

Great day though and a varied introduction to our first day in Chile.

The twisty road down from the border. Sitting right at the front felt you were about to drop off the edge (don't worry Mum we didn't!) Click on video below to see how it felt.

The other picture was a quick shot out of the window as we drove
through a town in Chile on the way to Santiago.