Chillin´ in Santiago, Chile

Right, someone get the word out to Bruce Mcavaney cos I´m redefining the word 'special'. I´ve decided that the definition of¨'special' for me now is- standing in the confined toilet area of a moving bus, sleep deprived, while trying to balance and aim at the same time and then looking up out of the window (who needs a window in a toilet anyway!!!) and seeing the magnificent Andes mountain range scrolling past. Gold!

Oh wow, a taxi driver just rammed into a bus right outside this internet cafe! It was slow speed at an intersection, they rammed, stopped and then kept going like it never happened! Crazy!

Of course, one could also use the word 'special' to define the efforts of the pies in defeating the dons on anzac day. Go Didak!

So now we´re in Santiago, Chile. We arrived yesterday after an overnight bus ride from Buenos Aires to Mendoza (still in Argentina) and then a bus ride during the day from Mendoza, through the Andes and into Santiago. Neither of us slept much at all on the overnight bus ride so we were like zombies by last night. The Andes were awesome. Snow capped peaks, massive mountains, an occasional great lake, quite cold and at the top, a little hard to breathe due to the thin air. The customs people at the chilean border were cheeky. They had all the people on the bus lined up with our bags ready for scanning and who knew what else and yet they had the nerve to pass the hat around asking for tips! I reckon I gave them about 20 cents but in coinage so it sounded like more.

Today we are taking things pretty easy. I´ve got a very annoying cold i'm trying to get rid of and sleepless nights on buses and getting over jetlag is not helping it so hopefully a day of kicking back, arranging the next part of our trip and perhaps even finding a park to hang out in and get the diary up to date will do the trick.

Santiago is pretty cool. While Buenos Aires was packed with people and seemed to be 'go, go, go', santiago seems more laid back. In both places the common thing we've noticed is how nice everyone is. A friendly dude helped us work out how to catch the train yesterday and people have been great at helping us when our spanish has let us down. I did notice a smile yesterday at the chemist when i was asking for cold and flu medication of the night and day variety and i tried to say i have a cold. Somehow i combined the word for 'cold' with the word for 'sick' so just made up a word and the woman only let out a small smile before she grabbed the packet from the shelf that I was after. We do seem to get the odd look here and there from people as they walk by though. Craig likes to think that every glance his way is because they are admiring the tatts on his arms (or 'guns' as he likes to call them, often) but i'm thinking it's probably because we stand out as the gringos we are. :)

One last thing. You would think it would be easy to get a good dose of local food. I'm talking beans and rice and some vegies wrapped in a taco or tortilla. That's what i'd like however it's eluded us so far. Pizza places are everywhere plus a maccas on every corner but trying to get local food in a restaurant is tough. We are heading to a restaurant area tonight where we should do better though. I never thought I could get sick of pizza but it's happening! As for the vegetarianism, it's tough. Concessions are being made on occasion just because getting protein from non-animal sources is proving too tricky at times. So the odd portion of beef has been consumed and it's gone down alright just quietly. :)