One night in Santiago – en route to Tierre del Fuego
From Buenos Aires, my next major destination was to be Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world.
Due to certain constraints imposed on my round the world ticket, rather than flying direct, the route involved going via Santiago, the capital of Chile.
This was a one night stopover – the plane landed at 6pm and I was due to fly out the next day at 8am.
Leaving the airport, I made my first real rookie mistake.
I didn´t know the exchange rate to convert Chilean pesos to British pounds.
It is roughly 1000 pesos to the pound.
Someone at the airport told me that 90,000 pesos was about $50 – actually it is more like $180.
The taxi driver then charged me 40,000 pesos to get to the hostel. As it was at least a half hour drive away, $20 seemed a reasonable luxury to pay, as the bus service somewhat seemed erratic and it would have taken a long time to get where I wanted to go.
When I arrive at the hostel, I have a whole dorm to myself which was furnished with exceptionally comfortable beds.
I offer to pay in advance as I was leaving early the next morning and preferred to square everything up to save time the following day.
The bed costs 6000 pesos for one night´s stay.
With the exchange rate that I was working with, this seemed unusually cheap, so I enquired further, only to discover that I had been completely ripped off by the taxi driver – paying about 40 pounds for my fare!
Santiago was fairly chilly (pardon the pun) when darkness fell and it was the first night a duvet was welcomed since being away.
It´s such a cosy, reassuring pleasure getting under a duvet in a cold bed and feeling it warm up as you drift off.
Having hardly experienced a day under 25°C, with well over 30°C being the norm for the last few months, Tierre del Fuego and Patagonia will no doubt be a sharp contrast.
At least my one packed jumper and jacket will finally get some use!
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MondayMorningMutiny.com 
April 11, 2007 at 3:14 am
Hello Maaaaarrrkkk!!! How do you do? I hope that your visit to Bariloche turns out great.
We had a really nice time in Ushuaia and Calafate with you mate.
Here is a song dedicated to you men:
“I’m so British, so damn British…”
See you soon. Right, right, bloody well right!!!!
Cheers,
Vicente
April 11, 2007 at 3:20 am
MARKYMARK!!!
guess who’s over at my pad? vicen, seba, and diego! we are exchanging photos and the only person missing is you! i hope you make to bs.as. safely (after seeing amazing things and taking really awesome pictures) and then share your pics with us (hopefully they’re not copywrited and i can pretend they are my own) WE MISS YOU YOU FRIGGIN DREADHEAD! get overe here!!!
UN BEESO
hope you are having fun in bariloch …. eh???
TERE
April 11, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Great to hear from you all!
Ushuaia and El Calafate was muy bueno, no?
Not made it as far as Bariloche yet as spent some time in El Chalten trekking and enjoying the scenery.
Currently in Esquel, a fairly nondescript place with pretty surrounding countryside and in 30mins I´m off to search out a Welsh settlement called Trevelin, as a friend of mine hails from Wales!
The change of pace is needed as I hurt my heel running in Chalten, so want to rest it up and be fully fit for some long bike rides in Bariloch.. Eh?
Looking forward to getting back to BsAs, getting somewhere nice and meeting up with you all again. All except Vicente…
Only joking mate – I feel witty. Oh so witty!
April 11, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Mark;
How good is hearing from you, I was so affraid of wrighting hear, just because my English sucks, but when i realized that in calafate you told me that I have a native accent all my fears dissapeared.
the places you are visiting are really marvellous and i thik they are the perfect introduction to bariloche wich I think is one of the most wonderfull places i ever been either in summer, autum, winter or spring.
April 11, 2007 at 2:24 pm
i am continuing my comments here, see you soon enjoy your trip
.
diego
April 11, 2007 at 2:39 pm
thanks for the continuation of
April 11, 2007 at 2:39 pm
your comments Diego : )
See you soon!
April 13, 2007 at 8:14 am
Hey Mark!
Hope you have/are having a fantastic time in BA but some bad news for you mate (well it is Friday 13th) there are some flight cases out the back of the building looking in need of flogging for a fortune on eBay but no-one to do the honours! (hehe- missing a chance there!)
Loved the pics of Mike by the way, is he going to be made famous on your blog?
May 23, 2007 at 12:07 am
He just has!