We’ve just realised that we’ve now almost been on the road for five months. It’s gone so fast and we’ve seen so much, and we’re looking forward to NZ, but we’ve still got a last fling to have in South America before we swap continents and head for Australasia.
On our first night in Santiago, after Alex’s escapades with the hire car and his run in with the modern day Dandy Highwayman (if you’re old enough, you’ll get the reference), we cooked spag Bol and sat outside in the little courtyard of the hostel. We decided to play a game of Ludo but after a few minutes our noses and eyes began to itch and there was a funny smell. Tear gas! We headed inside and the hostel staff shut all of the doors and windows. The riots were happening on our street and the adjacent one. We saw people waving bottles and everyone wearing gas masks. It was quite a scene. Alex went out with his camera to have a look and learnt that the riots happen daily from 1600-2200 and always in the street next to the hostel. Great! A few guests came in running in with tears streaming down their faces and one guy even had a cut foot. Before heading to Chile we had thought that the riots had stopped so we were slightly surprised by the current events. The big relief was that our Ludo game was magnetic so no one lost any moves. Phew! We also picked up 3 more players when we moved inside and it turned out to be quite a competitive game.
The next morning, as always, we joined a free walking tour. There were only 4 in our group. It was an excellent tour and we learnt a lot about Santiago and, of course, the riots. We passed a few people shouting at the cops as we walked through the town and you could feel the tense atmosphere. That afternoon we walked to collect Alex’s backpack that had finally been mended and grabbed a cab back to the hostel to be in before 1600. There were loads of rioters around and you could hear the tear gas canisters going off. It all felt very surreal. We packed our stuff up as the next day we were heading to Mendoza in Argentina for 4 days to see my brother Nick, sister-in-law Simone and niece Gabriela. We were so excited as they would be the first family we would have seen since leaving the UK on the 3rd September 2019!
After an early start to put our bags in storage and get a taxi to the airport, we were soon checked in and on our way. We picked up our hire car and headed to the supermarket to get up some supplies for the weekend. On arriving at the supermarket we realised that Alex had left his passport and driving licence at the hire car office. Nightmare. Luckily we were going back to pick up the others anyway so could collect it. We dropped everything off at the Airbnb, which had a lovely swimming pool and views of the mountains. We checked their flight and it was delayed so we didn’t rush back to the airport. We wanted to make sure we were there when they came through arrivals to surprise them. We failed. Google was wrong and their flight landed early!! Still. It was great to see everyone. A passport and licence retrieval later and we were headed back to the Airbnb. Gabriela is 18 months old and she educated me on the song ‘Baby Shark’. I wasn’t aware of this song but by the end of the weekend I was singing it in the shower, first thing when I woke up, everywhere!! That first evening we jumped in the pool, had some fizz and then our Airbnb hosts cooked us an epic Parilla (bbq). The steak was incred. We all went to bed full of food and wine.
The next morning we had an early start and were all feeling a bit jaded. Nick had organised our trip and today we were doing two wine wine tastings and tours followed by a 5 course lunch with wine pairings. To say this was a massive leap from the standard of our days in the previous 5 months is a huge understatement! Everything was amazing. That afternoon we headed back to the house and had a swim before Nick, Alex and I went off to a surprise activity that Nick had organised. We pulled into a field and there was a hot air balloon!! Nick and I were both a bit nervous but as soon as the balloon got going it was one of the best things I have ever done. It was so calm and peaceful. And not an ounce of turbulence! The pilot navigated us so we were skimming vineyards one moment and then high above trees the next. All 3 of us couldn’t stop grinning for the whole flight. On arrival the pilot told us to hold on and bend our knees as it could be a bumpy landing. We landed in a field and I thought Nick was going to fall out as the basket did a bit of a bounce, which was fun. We ended with a glass of fizz which our pilot told us was a ballooning tradition. What a fantastic evening.
Another early start for us the next day with another 2 tastings and this time a 7 course lunch with pairings. At the second vineyard the tour guide said that Mendoza has a special allowance to let people take 6 bottles of wine in their carry on so we stocked up and hoped we wouldn’t be necking it at security the following day! Lunch was superb. I couldn’t keep up with the pairings so found myself triple parked! Alex seemed to be enjoying himself too much as he knocked a glass of red wine all over Simone’s dress, but she also seemed to be enjoying herself too as she didn’t seem to care at all! That afternoon we relaxed by the pool as was about 36 degrees and had a chilled evening. Our check in for our New Zealand flight opened at 0040 so we stayed up to try and secure seats. We were stuck at the back with no option to change seats. As a nervous flyer I really hate being at the back as there is usually so much more turbulence. We hoped we could try and change them in the morning.
Sunday morning came around too quickly and the plan was for Alex and I to drop the others off and we would then head into Mendoza town as our flight was much later. We called England to try and change the seats and hopefully it worked but their were issues with the airline website. We got to the airport, and saying bye to family is always dreadful and I cried for ages! What a mess. We had had such a great trip and we knew we would have another 5 months before we saw family again so it made me very homesick. Still. We had lots of excitement to look forward to so no point feeling down. We wandered around the local town and had a pizza for lunch, then headed back to the airport. We dropped the car off and made it through security with the bottles no questions asked. Phew! A short flight and a taxi ride later (the latter including us having to dodge a fire on the road that had been lit by protestors) and we were at the hostel. We tried to sort our flight out again but it was still not working. So frustrating.
On our last day in Santiago we wanted to keep busy as we always feel weird before long flights. We walked up a big hill to see the views of the town and then did some shopping before having the local dish of what is essentially hot dogs! It tasted good! Riot time approached and so we made our way back to the hostel to chat to family and I caught up on my written diary for the first time since leaving England! The tear gas was awful and Alex was pouring with tears at one point as he had ignored my requests to not sit outside. ‘Told you so’ sprang to mind. The hostel was really nice and allowed us to use the kitchen and have a shower etc. We headed to airport for 2140 so 3 hours before our flight was due to leave so check in had just opened. It turned out that our seats hadn’t been changed and whilst we could move 20 rows forward we would be sitting behind one another. We took a gamble that someone would swap with us. A final Pisco sour in the airport and we boarded the flight. We couldn’t swap due to others being families but it was fine as we wanted to try and sleep anyway. After a couple of glasses of wine we both fell asleep, and 12.5 hours later we landed safely in Auckland, New Zealand, to start the next leg of our trip…..
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