After sleeping late, to recover from the nearly 24 hours on a bus, I was again able to start thinking about how I will spend the remaining 5 weeks in South America. I headed out to cash some travelers’ cheques and also found a lab that processes slide film the same day.
Then I went to the office of Aerolineas Argentinas. I asked one sensible question, and also what probably turned out to be one silly question. My Aerolineas Argentinas flight from Buenos Aires to New Zealand has a stop on the way, at a place called Rios Gallegos in the far south of Argentina. My question was whether my ticket would allow me to board the flight at Rios Gallegos instead of Buenos Aires. This will be an interesting option if I am in the far south, enjoying the Southern Andes so much that I decide not to head all the way back north to Buenos Aires just to catch the flight south again. Anyway, the answer is that yes, I can board the Auckland flight at Rios Gallegos if they change my ticket first.
One reason I’m thinking I might be in the far south for longer than previously thought will be if I manage to get myself to Antarctica. So my silly question to Aerolineas Argentinas was whether there are any flights from Argentina to Antarctica! The answer was emphatically that NO, there aren’t!! So that may be the end of that little scheme…
I wandered around the centre of Santiago. This Chilean capital is refreshingly cosmopolitan, clean, and functional, compared with what I’ve seen during the last couple of months, and parts look quite wealthy. I found a little hill called Cerro Santa Lucia. It gave a nice view of the city from the top, though the (supposedly) snow capped Andes, which should have been visible to the west, were hard to see because of the smog.
I then wandered to the Plaza de Armas, the main square, and had a look in the cathedral. Having thus finished my film, I went to drop it off for processing along with some previous rolls, and I stocked up with new film.
After a fish lunch (seafood is supposed to be good in Chile…) I went to the south bus terminal to ask about transport south – there are 2 trains and several buses. I noted the times, still being unsure when I actually want to head south. At the terminal I ran into 2 Danish backpackers – Henrik and Michael, who I last saw in Puno, Peru. It was good to see them! We arranged to meet later at their hotel, and I then went to pick up my developed films. The slides I’m taking seem to be coming out fine. The lab lent me a light table and magnifying glass so I could see the details properly.
Later I had a good chat with Henrik and Michael, swapping stories of our routes south through Bolivia and Chile. After a beer with them, I went back to my hotel, where Dave, the Australian from San Pedro de Atacama, had turned up. He wanted to see some proper Santiago night life, and after putting on my least scruffy clothes, we headed out in search for some. However we seemed to be in the wrong part of town, and had nothing more than a rather long and fruitless walk which ended back at the hotel.