Tuesday in the Andes

We were up early ready to head over the border to Argentina. Our guide, Christian was picking us up from the apartment at 8am, so Anne & Eddie met us and we headed off together. There was also a Mexican girl on the trip with us.
We headed out of Santiago and our first stop was at a historical site called Chacabuco where some fight had occured. The monument was quite impressive. A few minutes after we pulled up some cars pulled up looking very official. There were men in army uniforms all saluting some dignatory in a black car. We've no idea what this was all about.
While heading out along the main road we were stopped several times by road works and not just for a few minutes at a time, some times it was a good 10 or 15 minutes. Eventually we made it to the border crossing and had to have our passports checked to allow us to enter Argentina then headed off to the Puente del Inca a spanish word for Inca bridge. It was a bridge naturally formed from ice and sand. There used to be hot water springs here as well and a hotel, however several years ago an avalanche destroyed the hotel and the springs were too dangerous to use.
We drove on a little way further through a nice scenic valley. The mountains were high up above us, although we had climbed a fair way by this stage up some more switch backs, following hundreds of trucks and buses.
Our driver took us back to the customs area where we had lunch. This consisted of lomo (beef) ham, cheese and tomatoe in a bun. They call this a sandwich!. I should have asked for just cheese and tomato as the site of the beef made my stomach churn again. I couldn't eat all of it, but enough to stop starving myself.
The next stop was at Aconcagua. At 6,962 metres (22,841 ft), Cerro Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the Americas, and the highest mountain outside Asia. We did a short 15 minute walk here and nearly froze. It was so bitterly cold, but the spectacular view made up for it. Back in the van, we made our way to the Portillo Ski Centre for afternoon tea. Another spectacular view, this time of a frozen lake with snowy mountains all around. It reminded us a lot of Lake Louise in Canada.

It was now time to head home, I kept falling asleep as we got caught up in the road works again and spent some 15 minutes just stopped, waiting to get through. Not sure how there system works here, but it doesn't appear to work very consistently. It was after 8pm before we got home and I wasn't too long out of bed again that night.
This morning Bob and I both slept in, we were both stuffed - again - we've been on the go a lot and showing signs of ageing :-)) I've also lost weight having not eaten much over the last few days.
I went off with Melissa and Harley to play group, while Bob stayed home with the maid and baby Arden. I forgot to take the chip from my camera out of the computer, so there were no photos taken at play group today.

Snow Play to Valparaíso

We arrived back from Peru Friday evening and caught a taxi from the airport. I didn't want to just get into any taxi, so I went to the counter at the airport to order one. Melissa told us to only pay 13 pesos or no more than 15. They wanted to charge us 18, but I said no, 15. The other guys on the next counter laughed and I said in my best Spanish - no more than 15 pesos, he said 16 and I said no. He accepted 15. We paid the 15 pesos then was told to meet the taxi out the salider (exit) door. As we walked out all these other drivers were there wanting our business, but a guy came up to us with a sign with the name of the taxi we had booked. Soon we were ushered into this nice luxury taxi and off we went with nice relaxing music AND seat belts. It seemed so nice to be back in Santiago after the unbelieveable time we had in Cusco. Soon we were at Melissa's apartment and after a quick meal it was time for bed. By this time my stomach was starting to feel very odd.
The next morning we headed up into the mountains to the snow, hiring a taboggan along the way plus we had one that Melissa had borrowed from her friend Sue. There were 40 cervs (bends) to go around. Even though I had a funny stomach I had taken some tablets and was doing ok. We stopped at Valle Nevardo ski resort to have some morning tea then went down the mountain a little way to a nice spot where we could park the car and taboggan on the snow. That was great fun. Even though we had walked on snow for only a few minutes on our New Zealand trip, we had not actually done any fun stuff.
Harley had a ball, he loves the snow and enjoyed having rides with us on the taboggan. At one stage Melissa sat on a taboggan to feed Arden so she didn't have to sit on the wet snow.
Soon it was time to head back down again. Jason took us for a bit of a siteseeing tour through some other ski resorts that were now closed as it was the off season, then we headed home.
That evening we went out for dinner to a restaurnat called the Zanibar, with Sue and her husband Mike, and Sue's parents Anne & Eddie. Anne & Eddie were going join us on a trip to a town called Valparaíso on the coast the next day. My stomach was still feeling yukky and even though my meal was very nice, it was spicy so I only ate a portion of it.
The next morning we had to get up quite early as Anne & Eddie were going to meet us at the apartment then Melissa was to drop us off at the train station where her Spanish teacher Jose was meeting us. We did a short train ride, then caught the bus for nearly 2 hours out to Via Del Mao. As soon as we arrived Jose took us to find a horse and carriage that took us for a ride around the town and to the floral clock. Then it was another short train ride to Valpariseo. It was lunch time by now, so Jose took us to this nice restaurant on the wharf and we watched the antics of the Chileans fighting (not nastily) for a spot close to the wharf, to take you for a ride. It was so funny to watch. There was a sunken boat in the harbour and eventually someone towed it away, not far though, then dumped it.
I had grilled chicken (pollo - po-yo) with some chips, but the chicken was not cooked right through and my stomach just churned over looking at it. Oh dear, I really just need to order vegetarian meals I think. Bob and I both ordered a Pisco Sour drink, but the alcohol contend was so strong it nearly knocked our head off. I asked for mine to be weakened, but it was still far too strong to continue drinking, especially in the middle of the day. What a shame :(
After lunch we walked to the fenicular that took us up the top of a hill that overlooked the harbour. There are apparently 13 feniculars in Valparaíso but we only went on this one. We caught a bus to somewhere with Jose, our guide and as we had no idea where we were meant to be going, we didn't question him. Melissa & Helen both raved about Valparaíso so we're not sure what else we should have seen. Supposedly it is very hilly and some great views, we saw none of this. Oh well, put it down to experience.
It was late evening when we got back to Santiago and I was ready for a good nights sleep and a rest day on Monday. The only thing we ended up doing was going for a drive through a funky suburb called Bella Vista and I took some photos of the buildings and some graffiti. Isn't it funny how graffiti can become a tourist attraction. Some of it was very cleverly done.

Time is marching on

Keeping up with my blog has been a bit more of a chore than I realised. More due to the fact that we've been pretty tired but enjoying every moment of our holiday.
Last week saw us take two flights, one to Lima in Peru, then on Cusco. Wow! Were we in for a surprise when we landed in Cusco. Firstly we were to look out for someone with my name on a card who would be picking us up and taking us to our hotel called Inkarri. That was fine, we found him ok and he took us to his car. Before we hopped in though, he took our luggage back out and said he'd get us to go with someone else as he had our others to pick up as well. We followed him to these other waiting cars and he said, hop in and I'll send your luggage along. I must have looked worried as he gave someone some money and got into this other car. By now my heart was racing. All the images of the documentary we had seen before leaving Australia on tourists being taken in Cusco (Holiday in Paradise) were flashing before my eyes.
I sat on the edge of the seat the whole way and didn't see where we were going except that we were going up narrow, windy, cobblestone streets. Everything looked dirty, old and so unclean. Oh my, if he didn't stop soon, I was going to have to shout at him to stop and let us out. Where on earth would we get out, we couldn't speak a word of Spanish. Then..... suddenly we turned down this narrow walled street and there were the words Inkarri on the wall beside us. A blue door opened and a nice looking man came and helped us out of the car and grabbed our luggage. The car took off as there was a bank of other cars behind him, tooting their horns. We were to see later, that this city is full of taxis, 100s of 1000s of them.
We were lead into a nice cobblestone courtyard and offered a cup of coca tea. This tea is well known for its healing benefits and especially altitude sickness. We were to have quite a few of these teas before we were to leave Peru.
Once we had filled out our room details and handed over our passports..... golly I hate doing that, but they wanted to take a photo copy of them. I got a bit paranoid about them so the lady gave them back until she could take them to be copied somewhere else. I did get them back and kept them close by me the whole holiday.
We then got settled in our little room overlooking the clay roofs of the homes of Cusco. This was unreal. Nothing like the neat tiled roofs of home, this city is old and I mean old. I rang Melissa to tell her we had arrived and were safe. She suggested as we had the afternoon free to walk into the Plaza de Armas, the centre of Cusco. We had thought we would stay put as the streets seemed so narrow and we were sure to get lost, however the reception assured us we'd be ok and gave us a map to follow. So off we went, it wasn't long before we were puffing and running out of breath. None of this was up hill or up any steps, it was just the altitude.
When we arrived at the Plaza after negotiating some very narrow streets with very narrow foot paths full of pot holes and trying not to get run down by the taxis that rattled and honked along. Wow, there are no road rules in Cusco, just honk your horn and nudge your way through.
Well from here on in we would be jostled to buy souveniers from the people walking around the Plaza or pay to have your photo taken. We each had a photo taken with two girls dressed in national custom and a baby Llama. Then further on this old lady with the blackest of teeth asked us to take a photo of her baby for a tip. Melissa advised us to only give them one sole (50c). We found later that everything was really cheap in Peru, so this one sole and the many more I'm sure they'd get throughout the day, would add up to a tidy little sum.
The whole excitement of arriving in Cusco, being literally lead up a garden path to our room and seeing the people in the streets was a real eye opening experience.
We walked around for a few hours, taking it slowly to become aclimatised. We were told we were at the highest point that we would be going to during our time here, so we wanted to be sure we were going to be ok. we both ended up suffering from a headache pretty constantly for about two days. I had a heap of medication with me as my bronchitis felt like it was coming back again along with a cold, so I was using my asthma spray a lot as advised by my doctor back home. I think it saved the holiday.
We weren't too sure about staying out too late on our first night and not wanting to walk the streets in the dark, so we didn't take Melissa's advise and buy a Turisto Econimo meal (about $5 for a 3 course meal), so we headed back to our room and ordered some Mexican tacos. Mine were so hot I couldn't eat them.
The next day we were picked up by our tour companies agent (he was to be excellent over the next few days, keeping us safe, picking us up and generally looking after us). He caught one of these amazing rattle trap taxis with no seatbelts and took us to a bus that was to take us on a tour to see the Inca Salt mines at Moray and a few other very interesting sites. We were meant to be back by 2pm for our City tour however were an hour late, but our little tour agent waited for us to get back and took us to a point where the next bus was coming to and made sure we didn't miss much of the city tour. I'm glad we did this as it was also very interesting. This night we did make our own way back to our room as we realised even though the streets were narrow, they were quite well lit and there were people everywhere, so you were never alone. Truthfully, I felt more safe in Peru than I did in Chile.
We weren't overly hungry so decided to order takeaway pizza for our room again. When it came it was fine, but ever so salty. Most of the food in Peru is very very salty.
The following day was our tour of the Sacred Valley. This was unreal, the scenery was fantastic. The Pisac markets were on this particular day, so we had quite a bit of time to wonder through and buy any souveniers you wanted. Everything was so colourful and there was so much of the same thing that it became a bit bewildering as to what to buy or at what price to pay for it. We became pretty crafty with our negotiating after a while. We had a lovely buffet lunch at Urubama then went on to Ollyantambo to see some more Inca ruins. Bob and I were pretty stuffed by now and decided we'd had enough climbing. One things for sure, we should come back pretty fit. It was quite cold while we were waiting for everyone else on the bus to clamber up and over the ruins so we were on the look out for a nice warm corner to sit in. The only thing was there were 1000s of other people, and at one stage we couldn't find our tour leader and thought they may have already come down and were looking for us!! Oh no, we didn't want to be "those" tourists who held everyone up. All was well and we were ok.
That night we went to a restaurant for dinner and ordered spaghetti bol, Bob had an egg and bacon one, but it was sooooo salty neither of us could eat it. We drank our pisco sour (a very common drink in South America), paid for our meal and left. Oh dear, what were we going to eat. Thankfully we had had a pretty good lunch.
The next day saw us up bright and early to catch the bus to Ollyantambo then the train to Aquas Calieantes, the town near Maccu Pichu. We weren't sure what to expect as we had seen many an Inca ruin by now and thought, oh no, not another ruin. A bit like in the UK, once you've seen a few castles, you've seen them all, then one becomes more amazing than the rest. Well the same happened in Maccu Pichu. The scenery from the train was fanastic and when we arrived, there was no one to meet us. A guy came along to check on us and rang someone, then said in English to wait as someone was coming. Eventually, about 30 mins later, this lady strolls in and shows us and another couple to our room. We threw our bags on the bed, and went out to look for somewhere to get something to eat. Once again we were warned that the restaurants would beg us for their business and everyone of them did just that. There are 100s and 100s of restaurants here, all wanting your business. As Melissa said, just pick one you think looks ok. Well we didn't want baked guinea pig, so opted for a drink and a sandwich with fries (papas frittas). We were learning a few Spanish words by now and got by fairly well, some can speak English, others none at all, but you get by ok. The sandwich, actually it was a bun but called a sandwich, filled a gap before we went back and grabbed our bathers and headed for the hot springs. This was quite relaxing although I'm not so keen on bathing in water that looks like everyone has peed in it, so we didn't stay all that long and went back to our room for a rest. By this time we were puffing and panting again.
That evening we were met in our room by our tour guide who told us what was to happen tomorrow, where to meet him etc etc. Then just as we'd dropped off to sleep about 9.30 there was a knock at our door and the tour guide came back, change of plans, we were now to meet a guy called Washington with the red flag named Kosmos!! Ok!! Let's get some sleep, big day ahead.
The next morning we were going to get up early, but by 4am we could already hear noise going on as people started waking up and getting off to an early start. They would no doubt be the ones who were going to walk to Maccu Pichu and up to Waynu Pichu. Not us! So we waited and eventually came down for breakfast which consisted of a dry bun with jam, warm cup of tea and a banana. hmmm... ok. We had also asked for a boxed lunch, as Melissa said the meals on the mountain were very expensive. Well no boxed lunch arrived, so we grabbed a banana and thought we'd just have to get something up there or come back down to the town and have a late lunch, which is exactly what we did, even though we did share a piece of quiche and a corn drink.
At 7am we were on a bus and heading up the mountain. This was another unreal experience, the bus went around and around these switch backs, sheer drops down the sides and an amazing view. At the top we decided to go into Maccu Pichu for a quick look before meeting our guide as Helen and Melissa had both said to go early to beat the crowds. When we went through the check point and around the corner and up a few stairs, there before us was this amazing view of the Inca village and mount Waynu Pichu. I couldn't resist and just had to ring Melissa. She was surprised we could get reception. I then sent a text message to Karen as she has always wanted to go to Maccu Pichu. I was excited to be there for her.
After about 15 mins we made our way down to meet our tour guide. There were so many people starting to gather and it was becoming a little overwhelming. The guide was talking in Spanish and although we could see our names on the list, we didn't hear him call us out, so pointed our names out to him. I think he may have called them, but in such an unrecognizable way, we didn't hear. All was good, and the tour took 2.5 hours, all over the inca village. The English guide we joined up with was excellent and the whole experience was well worth the trip to Peru. It is something I would recommend everyone put on their bucket list. We can give you a few tips on what to do and not to do!!!! Like yea!!!
I don't quite know what happened but I either got a bug from some food or the water and have ended up with diarrhoea which has been around for about 4 days now. You think you're right, then nope, it's all on again. Feeling well otherwise.
More blog as I get time to fill you in on the last couple of days adventures.

Playgroup & craft markets.

This morning I had the pleasure of going to Harley's playgroup and meeting some of Melissa's English speaking friends. It was a bit hard getting down on the floor to sit on the cushions, however I perservered and did ok. I just know that I have good chiropractors back home in Geraldton who will help me out if I get too distorted.
We spent the morning singing songs, listening to a story and after morning tea the kids just run a muck. Well they weren't that bad really.
We're starting to notice that maybe Harley and probably half the kids at the play group have a reaction to red cordial. Each time he's had something with red in it, whether it be a drink or an ice cream, he suddenly becomes very naughty. It will be interesting to see how he is over the next few days with no red colouring and then maybe just try it again in a few days and just see if it is.
While we were at the play group, Bob went for a walk around the neighbourhood. He didn't think play group was his thing and I don't think it was either, totally not his scene.
Each day when we get home from where ever we've been, Sylvia the maid has our lunch ready. Today we went down to the apartment pool and had lunch under the shelter. The weather has been really nice, not too hot and not too cold although it is melting the snow on the mountains.
Once Harley had been put down to sleep and Arden had settled, Melissa took us to the Los Dominicos markets. Here they had lots of crafty things. I bought a scarf with a Chilean coin on it, a match stick creation, (hope customs will let us through with it, not very big, so surely won't be a problem), some ear rings for Alana and a glass plate for me. Unfortunately when I went to the bathroom (barnos), it broke as I put it down on the cement floor. I was really annoyed and know I shouldn't have bought the long plate. It is a clean break, so we hope to be able to mend it when we get home or it will be a souvenier in the cabinet forever.
We headed back to the apartment by 4pm. Both Harley and Arden were awake. I think Sylvia must have had her hands full by this time.
Bob braved the shops on his own this time and went for a walk to the supermarket to buy his beer. Amazing what you can do when a beer is at stake.!

Santiago Markets

This morning we experienced an experience... the Santiago markets. Downtown Santiago is where the markets are and they sold every thing you could possibly imagine in the way of food. What got us the most was the lack of refridgeration and sanitation. The meats were huge chunks, how on earth you would cook it is anyone's guess. You just wouldn't buy your meat from here unless you were Chilean. The smell was gross, so you just had to switch off to that and go with the flow. I clicked my camera whenever I could and just kept walking, not taking the time to stop or I'm sure we would have passed out. At the end of one row, on the outside of the markets, was a lady selling chicken in plastic bags with absolutely no refridgeration at all. Oh my! We stopped to buy some nuts, dried fruits and grapes. The fruit and veges looked fine, they wouldn't be a problem. Melissa bought us a juice and that was nice and refreshing. Bob also bought or rather, I bought, as he hasn't handled the Chilean pesos yet, some pickled onions and gherkins.
The fish we saw was also gross and this section stunk worse than the meats. We only saw one section that had some ice on the fish, certainly not all over it like you would think.
A few times people on the stalls would tell us to mind our bags and cameras. My bag was over my neck and shoulders, my purse was also attached to a strap on my bag so it couldn't be snatched from me, while my camera was over my neck with a Creative Memories lanyard and also around my wrist. I'm sure it was all safe, but we still got told anyway. We even had a couple of security guards watching us to see that we were ok.
I'm glad we didn't take the kids down there, it wasn't overly crowded, but not a place for kids. Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing any kids there at all. Arden stayed with the nana (maid, Sylvia) while Harley was at his Jardine (day care). He loves going to Jardine but is never quite sure who should he go with. Yesterday he wanted mummy to take him, today it was ok that Sylvia did. Pop has walked down with him, although Melissa went too. They do speak English so that is something.
We are getting by with being able to buy a few things ourselves. Just being able to understand how much they are asking for is difficult, but fortunately Melissa is with us and can understand most of what is being said. Next week when we go to Peru could be a different story. Melissa says to just get them to write it down although I'm starting to understand the numbers, like uno = one, dos = two. If I stop and listen I think I can pick up what they are saying, but once we get past dies (ten) then I'll be stumped. Melissa has loaned us her Spanish phrasebook to use.
We have also experienced the South American toilets. This is unreal and something hard to get used to. They obviously don't have a good sewerage system or it's just their way, but you don't put the paper down the loo, there are bins next to them for it. How gross. Thankfully at the apartment, we do it our way.
The holiday is great, we are certainly finding out about another countries customs and will no doubt appreciate ours when we go home. I'm enjoying seeing Harley, he's cute when he climbs in the bed with nanna each morning and I'm also getting lots of cuddles with Arden who is now just over one month old.

Day 3

We have been in Santiago for 3 days already and can't get over the view from our window, looking out over the snow covered mountains. I keep taking photos at different times of the day. It has been hazy everyday, however we are sure we'll get a clear day before long. Tonight the sun is shining directly on to the mountains and they have lit up beautifully.
On the first day, Saturday, we went for a drive down to Conchay Toro, a very famous winery about an hour south from here. Jason had hired a Kia van for us to use on the weekends as there are 6 of us now with baby Arden. It's a great van as Harley sits in the back with either Melissa or Nanna and watches DVDs. It keeps him occupied on the trips.
We were pretty tired after the trip south, so everyone had a nap in the afternoon. I slept so soundly that Melissa had to wake us up so we could go to the supermarket to do some shopping. This was an eye opening experience. Trying to decipher what the food was in the first place, some was obvious, others not so, and the pricing, Chilean's use the peso and 1000 mils equals about $2.05 in Australian Dollars. It's just the way it's written that confused us.
Saturday night we went to a restaurant called El Mason. When we first walked in, there were these lambs being cooked on stakes over hot coals. Oh, so this is what we're having for tea. Melissa said it was a very traditional Chilean restaurant that we were going to. We all ordered the lamb and when it came it was huge ribs of lamb, very hard to cut with a knife and fork, so in the end we just used our fingers to pull the meat off the bone. Not very elegant, if you didn't you would have starved. Jason also ordered for us a Pisco Sour drink, a Chilean drink and very nice.
The next day, Sunday, saw us driving south again, this time stopping at San Jose de Maipo. It was a nice little town/village and even though it was 10am by this stage the markets were just setting up. Interesting, as back home they would have been just about packing up to go home by now. Jason bought some chocolate and Harley had a bounce on a trampoline. Bob and I walked around the town and took some interesting photos. Before we left we tried some of the jams that were 4 sale and ended up buying some fig jam - not so traditional. That was our first purchase in Chilean money.
At about 10.30 and having paid some lady some money for parking, (really weird how you have to pay somebody something for everything!!) we headed further south, going in between these magnificent mountains. The plan was to either go tabogganing or swiming in the baths. Unfortunately we did neither as the snow had melted on the field where we would have gone tabogganing and we couldn't get up to where the baths were. The road was also blocked due to a landside so we couldn't go further south. However we did stop for lunch at a beautiful restaurant near Banos Morales. The mountains covered in snow were looming overhead. Unreal. Melissa & I had chicken and couscous while Bob & Jason had these huge "lumps" of steak and pototoes (papas). We stopped on the way back at a huge shopping centre so Melissa could feed Arden, and while we waited, Bob and I went for a walk and bravely bought some batteries for the camera. Phew! This is scary stuff when you don't know what is being said back to you. It was late in the afternoon by the time we got back to Las Condes, where Melissa & Jason live and we were all pretty tired and ready for an early night.
Monday 5th October - after Harley went off to Jardine (pronounced Hardin) and Arden stayed home with the nana (Sylvia), Melissa drove Bob & I into the city centre, Plaza de Armas to see the changing of the guards at the Palacio de la Moneda. It was similar to the Buckingham Palace changing of the guards, but different in the uniforms they wore. We walked around the plaza and took photos of some of the interesting buildings and had coffee at the Cultural Centre.
The catedral (without the h) was very interesting to see. The Chileans are very religious, mostly Catholics.
The driving in Chile is very sparodic, you really have to have your wits about you. At any one moment someone can pull out or walk out in front of your car without a care in the world. Some parts of the roads aren't even marked, and if you're not careful you could find yourself walking down the middle of the road!!! Interestingly enough there doesn't appear to be any accidents, well, touch wood, none that we've seen so far.
While we were out checking out the sites of Santiago, the nana (maid) was doing our washing and cleaning the house. She also had our lunch made when we go home after picking Harley up from Jardine and this evening the spaghetti was cooked ready for us to eat. Now I could get used to that. Imagine how much time I would have to run my Creative Memories business and play with Storybook!!!???
This afternoon we went to the BB Cafe, a cafe especially for parents to take their kids. I ordered a Chocolate Capuccino and as I've found since coming here, they will insist on topping everything with cream. Will have to find out the word for cream and ask for NO cream, por favor (please!). Phew, I think we're starting to get a hang of some of the main words to use.

Saturday 3rd October

Our first night was pretty hard, we stayed awake for as long as we could. Jason took us for a drive around to get a view over Santiago. It would have been about 8.30 -9pm and we'd had enough, time to call it a night. I woke up a couple of times during the night and went straight back to sleep so that wasn't too bad for the first night. At precisely 7am the next morning, our bedroom door opened and in walked Harley and climbed into our bed. Melissa had apparently told him to come into our room first think each morning. It's funny seeing how much he has grown since we last saw him 12 months ago. He talks a lot and hopefully in a few days I'll have a better understanding of what he's trying to say.

The journey

Thursday 1st October. Our flight was not leaving until midnight from Perth so we took our time leaving in the morning. Pottering around the house, cleaning up a few things and some last minute packing. We eventually got on the road by 11:15 and arrived in Perth just after 4pm, going to Helen's work at Studio Red Dust in Mt Hawthorn.

We left our car at Helen's unit in Scarborough and then drove up to her boyfriends house near Hillary's where we had dinner, talked to Melissa & Harley on Skype then headed out to the airport at about 9pm. Helen dropped us off and we went straight to the check in counter. No one else was in the queue so it was great getting in and out quickly, even with the 4 cases we were taking. We had no trouble with these as Unbeknown to us, we could use double the amount of luggage than a normal international flight. Melissa knew this, so we were loaded up with baby gear, Weetbix, Vegemite, Tim Tams.

Eventually our flight left and we headed for Sydney. Not very happy 'cos we were sitting in the middle of the middle row seats with two young guys on either side of who both fell asleep and we were stuck. We have no idea how that happened as we did ask for a window seat. We did not get a lot of sleep as the guy next to Bob snored the whole way and a little baby cried and cried. I really felt for the parents. We were even given a meal at this time, like 1 a.m. in the morning, thought that was pretty strange, and there was no breakfast.

At Sydney we had about a 2 hour stop over. We caught a shuttle bus that took us over to the International airport. On this flight we were sitting on window seats. This flight left at 8:30 and we did get some breakfast. Eventually we arrived in Auckland and had to check in to get our seats allocated. The lady frightened us a bit as she said we had to collect our luggage and that it was not going through to Santiago. Huh? She reread our luggage labels (twice) and yes, it was ok. We were seated in the middle again, so she rang downstairs and had them unblock some seats and we were changed to window seats. Thank goodness.

We had not eaten in a while and were feeling pekish ourselves so we grabbed a bagel and croissanats to keep us going.

It was not long and we were on our way to Santiago. The flight we thought was going to take 11.5 hours only took 10 hrs, so we landed early. We were prepared for what was going to happen at Santiago airport with regards to paying the tourist visa, declaring what we were carrying in the way of food and that we would get hassled at the entrance for taxi's and people to carry our luggage. Well we got the visa bit wrong and did not see where we had to pay the tourist visa, so had to go back and do that, before we could go through immigration. Helen had done the same thing and warned us, but the sign was not obvious and we weren't the only ones who walked straight passed it. This was a $ 61USA fee so we were prepared with U.S. dollars.

We eventually made it through immigration and customs, declaring the weetbix & vegemite then made our way out the front. There were so many people there and yes they we jossling for first position to offer us a taxi. I must have looked a bit lost (although I was only looking around for Melissa) but this policeman came up to me and asked if he could help me. I just said we had family coming to pick us up, so he nodded and gave me some information in English, about being aware around airports. Anyway, we made our way outside and waited for Melissa. More people offered us taxi's. About 10 minutes later she came with Harley. It was so great to see them. Jason had finished work so he stayed home to look after Arden. We eventually made our way out of the airport and home to their apartment just out of the main city.

Twas the night before Christmas...

Well not Christmas exactly, but I'm sure Harley thinks it is. He can't wait to go to the airport to meet nanna and pop. We've just been talking to him on Skype and he's looking forward to us coming to South America to visit. Arden has been in hospital for the last two days with a congested chest but seems to be on the mend.re
The bags are packed, a few last minute things to pull together in the morning, then it will be time to hit the road. First off, travelling to Perth, about a 4 1/2-5 hour trip depending on how much stopping we do. There's no rush, we just need to be there by 4pm to meet Helen at her work. She will take us to her home, where we'll leave our car. Then to her boyfriend Troy's house for dinner before she'll take us out to the airport.
It's getting very exciting now. Melissa has prepared us for the things that could go wrong at the airport, but hey, we'll be ok. Whatever will be will be. Just have to take it as it comes.
The next blog will probably be from Chile in 2 days time.

This is too funny not to include in my blog.

These are some notes Melissa sent us this morning to prepare us for our trip to Chile in a few days.

-------
They came from far deeper roots and have a lot more history and culture
20 years nehind Australia (I think this might be 2000?? Maybe?)
It takes generations to change attitudes
but they DON'T want to be western
Buses go on strike all the time
Toilets don't have seats sometimes and they are dirty and wet floors
The roads aren't straight and make no sense
The taxis don't have seat belts
Lack of service everywhere
Systems that don't make sense and are inefficient
Roads are in bad shape
Drivers don't use indicators
Drivers change lanes without warning
Drivers exit round abouts from inside lane
Taxis and cars stop in the middle of the traffic
Use too many plastic bags
Never have money change
People make up answers when they don't know the answer
Never believe one person. Always ask others.
You will get hassled to buy things anywhere poor. Aguas Calientes restaurants, Cusco restaurants, La Vega,
Always carry small change for tipping
Use big notes whenever you can (ie big shopping centers.. always try big notes first, so you can get smaller change)
Restaurants always run out of food, never have things on the menu
Very rare to find a salad

BTW: these are all things you are NOT allowed to complain about. In fact, there will be lots of things you might want to complain about, but remember: I can't change it, so don't complain about it to me. and the people at the top, don't care about changing things either, so don't complain that they should.

Packing

There are only 4 days now before we make the long drive to Perth to catch the midnight flight to Sydney/Auckland/Santiago.
Our house sitter has come over and checked out the run of the house, met the neighbours and the dog. It's so nice to know your house will be minded while you're away.
I'm trying to do the washing and ironing and to work out what stays and what goes into the bags. Having not been well over the past 6 weeks, we're not taking any risks and will be packing every pill and potion one can legally take. That includes, bandaids, pain killers, lozenges, hand cleanser, tissues and anything else I can think of.
Now to get back to it and pack a case full of Aussie stuff to take over to Melissa & Jason - Weetbix, Vegemite are the must haves apparently.! Thank goodness travelling to South America you're allowed to take double of what is normally allowed on European international flights or we would be well and truly overloaded.
It's a long weekend here in Western Australia too, so I have tomorrow to catch my breath.

Baby grandson

At 7.20am Saturday 5th September we were woken by a phone call from Melissa in South America. "You're going to be a nanna today". Oh wow, that is great news. A week early and it was all about to happen.

I had been chatting on Skype to Melissa the previous night and she was telling me about the full day she had planned ahead. One of those outings was to the midwife to see when they would book her in to be induced, as she was already quite big and didn't think she should go over. However, at the appointment she was told "you won't be going home, you're in labour". Which really surprised Melissa.

I was going to be at a Creative Memories workshop all day Saturday, so with the help of Skype phone, Melissa was able to ring me on my mobile and relay the good news just after 10am. Arden Santiago Tinsley arrived at 9.07pm, official date, 4th September 2009 (South American time) weighing 3.76kg (8lb 2oz), 52.5cm (20 1/2 inches) in length. Mother and baby doing well. Guess Dad is too...hi Jase... and little Harley is sure to be excited about having a new baby brother to play with... and maybe a fight or two as well as all siblings do.

We look forward to our trip to Chile in just over 3 weeks.

From Nanna 'Kay

Tickets to Machu Picchu

On Tuesday 25th August we purchased our tickets for the flight to Machu Picchu. The flight takes us from Santiago in the early morning to Lima in Peru. After nearly 2 hours stop over we then travel on to Cusco. From here we will visit Machu Picchu where the ruins of the Inca's are hidden high in the mountains.

Machu Picchu, Machu Pikchu, "Old Peak", is a Pre Columian site located 2,430 metres (8,000 ft) above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is 80 kilometres (50 mi) northwest of Cuzco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas", Machu Picchu is one of the most familiar symbols of the Inca Empire.

We have 4 days to visit this area before flying back to Santiago via Cuzco and Lima.

From the beginning

It all began on Wednesday 22nd July when our daughter Melissa rang from Chile, South America to ask us if we'd really consider coming over after the birth of her 2nd baby in September. There were some special deals on with Qantas and Melissa said Jason had offered to pay for one of our tickets if we would like to come. It didn't take too much thinking about, however I did need to check with my work mates and boss that it would be ok to take time off.
Everyone agreed I could take the time out, it was just a matter of when. Then at 3am on Friday 24th July, the phone rang, it was Melissa telling me to get out of bed, get online as we needed to book the tickets now, they were selling fast.
Half asleep, we were both online. Melissa had decided to transfer some frequent flyer points to our account so we could buy an any seat award and pay for one seat. Melissa did the frequent flyer ticket while I was doing the paid one. All the time we were on the phone to Chile, cheap call through Skype.
We finally had the flights ready to go, same date, same flight numbers etc, then as I went to go ok... this seat is no longer available. Stop Melissa! Don't press ok on your ticket. We had to start all over again. I can just see Bob now, heading off to SA on one flight and me following a few days later on another. !! Eventually we made it, the tickets were booked to South America.
I went back to bed, but couldn't sleep a wink. Had we really just booked to fly to South America on the 2nd October?? Yes!! Oh dear! Now we have to work out how to pay for the rest of the trip.
Some major selling of Creative Memories product and garage sales is going to be the order of the day.