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Mountains, Palm Trees And Street Jugglers 25/08/17 – 26/08/17










The Andes 
Another Side of the Vast Andes 

A Local Stood Next to One of the Many Stray Dogs Present in Santiago

So the journey started off like any other – getting to the correct airport terminal after the initial short panic of not knowing which one was the right one. Here things proceeded as any other trip would, with food being the number one agenda. After satisfying mine and Emma’s hunger with a visit to a Wagamama we found our gates and boarded our first plane to Madrid. Here we experienced the usual “My legs gone to sleep”, “This flight is taking forever” and the all famous “Are we there yet?” This was on a 2 ½ hour flight… we had a connection flight to Santiago de Chile of 13 hours. You can tell that this is going to be fun, right?

Flight Map From Madrid to Santiago on a Boeing787-9 Dreamliner
    
The thing is, all of our expectations of the 13 hour flight being the same as the 2 ½ hour flight couldn’t have been more wrong. We boarded a giant commercial Dreamliner thinking oh great this is going to be worse than the previous flight but instead when we looked, we were greeted by rows of seats lined with tablets that offered a selection of films, TV shows, games, music and even a flight tracking map. We even had the luxury of a blanket, pillow and headphones that were provided. This is possibly one of the comfiest flights that I have had but my god was it long, sleeping made most of the journey ‘fly’ by – I reckon that was the main reason I survived it.


Upon making our way out of the airport we were greeted by the most unusual site I think I have ever experienced; the Andes behind numerous palm trees. Definitely something that will stay with me for a lifetime. From this initial awe, we got in to a taxi paying 7,000 pesos (the change in currency made it a mystery to how much I have actually spent but I’m sure this is something i'll get used to… eventually) and expected a ‘typical’ boring taxi journey to where we’d be staying for the first 9 nights of our visit in the capital, Santiago. This was far from boring. We saw the true raw culture of Chile, with street jugglers in front of the taxi at crossings, lots of small side streets showing beautifully decrepit buildings, stray dogs wondering the streets and having the time of their lives and the locals showing a small glimpse of their cultures. Something told me that a great deal of memories would be made here and this is only the beginning.


Palm Trees and Mountains
Hidden Gem of a Street
A Wonderful Local
           
Location: Santiago, Santiago Metropolitan Region, Chile

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