Hello Santiago, Chile
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While I look out the window of the Qantas Boeing 747 I say a huge goodbye to my family, friends and Australia. It finally hits me and tears roll down my cheeks. David grabs my hand and I give him a blubbering smile and think to myself that all I have every known here in Australia I am about to leave behind. A new chapter awaits me in Santiago, Chile and even though I am super excited I am also having feelings of sadness. I ask David who is reading the Melbourne Sun Herald not to throw it away. He looks at me strangely and I begin to explain that as silly as it may sound the newspaper to me is a part of Melbourne, my home town and where my heart lies and I’m not quite ready to say goodbye to all that yet… Two years are a long time to be away from home and I just hope I’m up for the challenge…
When we arrive into Santiago I am firstly so glad and relieved to get off that plane (over 12 hour flight is way to long for this girl) and secondly completely overwhelmed with all the things that have to be done. Passport checks, fees to pay to get into the country and the declaring of a bag of popcorn we brought from home…. Then we get out of the airport and WOW!!!!! It is happening.. People everywhere asking if we require a taxi, us trying to find out where we should be going and then trying to communicate with unfriendly security guards as to where we can find a phone shop for a sim card for my phone. It’s all too much and we decide to catch a Uber to the place we are staying and suss it all out tomorrow. All I can say is thank god for airport WiFi.
So when we arrive at our hostel accommodation, Ricardo Matte Perez in Providencia I think David is happy to get out of the front passenger seat of the car, the driving skills here in Chile are vastly different then that of home. Road rules, what are they……
We are pleasantly delighted by the room, our host, Christian and the other Aussie guests that are staying here. Now all we need is the bike which apparently is yet to arrive……… And some extremely overdue sleep. Not to sure about you but I’ve never been able to sleep on a plane.