This morning, I packed my bag and walked to the bus station, after shaking off a golden retriever puppy which first peed in my room then wouldn't let go of my trousers, finding it all tremendously good fun to sink its tiny teeth into me.

I didn't sleep too well as the four people in the room next to me got back from their night out at about 4 and decided to party some more in their room. I did ask them very nicely to turn the music off but to no avail. I don't know many suitable swear words in Spanish otherwise I would have told them to 'fucking shut up'.

At the bus station I had a bus with about two minutes to spare. I arrived in Santiago at about 12, and took a taxi through the pouring rain to the Eurotel, which is in Providencia and will possibly be the most comfortable place I am staying in in all of this trip, so I'm making it worth my while.

I called mom and dad, am using the (free) internet connection now and will be taking a long hot shower in a bit... hmmm.

I arrived just in time to catch the briefing from the JLA tour leader, Duncan. Afterwards, we went on the metro to the city centre, to have lunch at the fish market. I had chupa de mariscos, which was very nice but a bit chewy.
And gaaah gaaah, the band started playing... Guantanamera.

The group is very diverse, from people in their 20ies to 60ies, couples, single people... About twenty in all. Mostly they are people who have travelled quite a lot, and a few are on a longer trip, like me. They all look the part, with hiking boots and Goretex coats, so I hope I'll be able to keep up! I also heard some more good reports on Bolivia, so I'm really looking forward to that!

Tomorrow is a day off and in the evening we are catching the overnight bus to Pucón, and then the adventure begins again... Now where's that shower?

pt II

We went to El Otro Sitio, a restaurant in Bellavista but for some reason two of the four taxi's went missing. I bet Duncan was thrilled for that to happen on the very first night! The restaurant was nice but I think I'm going to get into trouble if we keep going to these expensive places, I really can't spend that much on food every day.

I also had a pisco sour, which is a typical drink from here. It was nice, with lots of limón, but well, sour of course. I must say I still prefer the Cuba Libres.