Santiago!!! safely!!!!

Our hotel above!!!
The general architecture of paris-londres!!!

Hola! Buenos dias a Santiago!!!

Yep, we made it safe and sound after a 2 hour delay leaving Auckland!!

Culture shock? mmmmmm YES!!! nothing like plopping in to a city with a foreign language that you only have only a very basic grasp of to throw you well out of your comfort zone!!!! But we are doing ok, so far we have booked a hostel room over the phone, bus tickets, and ordered pizza! awww yeah! we will be fluent before you know it!?!!

Santiago is MENTAL, really busy, with lots of music coming from every direction, including the room next to ours in the hotel. The drive in from the airport was a real eye opener! A litter filled river with lots of shack style housing on the banks.... We are staying in the Paris-Londres area right in the centre, really funky with a great little cafe nearby that we have frequnted for many a Cervessa and vino tinto in the evenings.....

We are heading off on a 22 hour bus journey north this afternnon to San Pedro, a high altitude desert town in the north, which is apparently stunning. We are there for a few days before heading back south to Satiago, then south to the lake district area where we will cross in to Argentina!!

The bus journey up and back is designated "language Learning" time.... We need it!!!!!

p.s. As a nation the chilian people are quite small, and thus I (james) am source of much fascination to many of them!! GRANDE they all laugh.... V-amusing

well over and out...

xxj&j..