South America - Chile

The start of my latest adventure - after long flights and a bit of a melee at the airport, finally I get to the appartment booked for the first night. This is on the 15th floor and I  make note to self - when coming back after a beer, "Stay away from the balcony!". There is a pool on the roof just above, so a nice start to the next day after a long sleep. It won´t all be like this though. In Panama I once stayed in a tiny room with an awful bed over a petrol station, spending the night listening to the musical sound of large trucks pulling in and filling up with diesel :-(.

A new day, out for a wander, a beer and a bit of lunch.  Some people met up in places like this for their midday work break, "Not a bad idea" me thinks. Beats a sandwich in front of your pc.

I´m on the other side of the planet now, but life is not so different.

I need a haircut, so I find a small barbers near the hostel. When I get it done in Petts Wood it takes about 5 minutes and costs 9 quid. This chap carefully tucked my collar inside my shirt, put a towel around my neck, then a cape and then tucked bits of cotton wool inside the towel. Then each time he made a cut with the scissors he clicked them thre times, making me wonder how many times he´d done this - millions at the minimum.

He worked on my hair like it was a masterpiece, took over half an hour and then tidied up with a razor. Cost - 3800 pesos, or about 4 pounds.

He then proudly showed me a sign on the wall with some dates and a picture of himself when young. - He had had the shop since 1950, i.e. 64 years. He then explained that he was 82 years old! Lovely man!

Took a trip into the centre on the metro, green line - number five. Red is one, orange is two. What happened to three and four?

Some views of the city and the tour guide demonstrating the Chilean national dance - not the Samba(Brazil) or the Salsa(Cuba), but the Cueca.

That is the the statue of Virgin Mary, top left.

Statue for the Mapuche, native people.

Now back to the hostel - this is Ivan cooking the barbeque. Great food, conversations and fun with people from France, Norway and Brazil. Topics included the frustrations of travelling - such as the problems when lost and asking directions. Quite often you will get the answer - "Two blocks". This does not mean the junction one after the next, it means that the person you have asked doesn´t know, but doesn´t like to admit it. After two blocks you could ask again. However you might get the same answer!

Not exactly a highlight - 15 hours and a thousand odd miles to the south, on a bus. Bus stations are not theraputic at the best of times. When transporting a bicycle in a huge box, even worse.

Finally we have got to Puerto Montt and a new hostel. Not a bad view - that is the Andes in the background, at least I think so - they look quite hilly!

Now time to unpack my new bicycle "Fiona" and check that she has survived the trip - all OK except for a small bend in the rear rack. Put the handlebars back on pump up the tyres and so on - fortunately I had some helpers, though they didn´t do very much. Except for the kitten who liked attacking my tyres!