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Got up Monday 13th July 2014 at 7:00am. No sleep in today

Shower and downstairs to wait for the tour bus pick up.
On a day trip to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar

Bus rep arrived for pick up at 8:20am 20 mins late. Then had to walk three hundred metres to meet the actual bus. Travelled across Santiago to the far side of town where we got out and had to get on another bus.

Basically all the different tours the company were running were leaving from this car park. Jumped on board for the trip which would take approx. 2 hours to Vilna Del Mar as we now had to drive all the way across Santiago again in peak hour traffic.

South American deficiency at its finest again. The punters on the trip could have been asked to congregate at various locations as the bus headed through Santiago and saved a shit load of time.

Settled back well didn’t really settle back as the bus was full and the seat I had chosen was broken. Well it had a fault. Basically it ever so slightly eased into the recline position. You would be sitting upright then in a couple of minutes you would be laying down.

Had a pile of Brazilians on the trip and only 2other English speakers. Both American. One of them I wanted to strangle as every time he spoke to me he used the word mate in some type of sarcastic stereotype.

Was really enjoying the Chilean countryside was quite inspiring and a little unique. After an hour we stopped at a shop for a rest stop. Obviously a good kick back for the bus company

Not long after it started to rain. I hadn’t actually seen rain for about a month. Last time I seen rain was in Rio at the start of June. The World Cup had come and gone and the closest I got to rain was rain causing issues for my plane to land but by the time we hit the ground it had stopped

Bit of an irritation as the rain brings fogging to the windows of the bus so the next hour was hard to see much out the window.

Made it into Vina del Mar as the rain was ongoing it made the next hour fun not.

As it barely rains in Chile the place gets less than 250mm a year the tour guys had very little idea what to do. The place we were going to was closed due to the rain so we had a bit of an ad hoc tour

Ended up going and seeing a monument from Easter Island. There are only 3 on the planet that have been moved from Easter Island which is a part of Chile about 5 hours plane ride away in the Pacific Ocean. This is the only one actually in Chile.

As it was raining it was a case of duck out get some photos get back on the bus and get going again.

Next up we stopped at the Ocean. Going for a swim here was out of the question. The surf was huge and dangerous plus due to Arctic Currents is on 12-13C
Not much good in summer either as those currents persist year round

Next up we stopped at some clock made out of flowers. The thing was fantastically done with flowers arranged in certain ways in different colours about the size of a centre circle on a football pitch. Better yet it had poles that moved and you could actually tell the time from it.

After this headed off for lunch at a seaside seafood restaurant.

Waited an hour for the meal and had the bizarre situation where the min came out minus the side of potatoes and the side of rice. Sat there looking confused for 3minutes before digging in. The fish was gone and then out came the potatoes and rice. Food was good anyway even if the restaurant struggled with their service and organisation.

After this went and had a walk by the waterfront. Got saturated but didn’t care. Had a raised vantage point so headed up and had a look out.
Finally headed back to the bus at 2:30 which became 2:50 by the time the stragglers arrived.

Ridiculous to have a 2 hour lunch break and even more ridiculous that people were late. I was at a table where we were the last to be fed so have NFI what everyone else was doing when I wasted 30mins by the water and still made it back on time

Anyway bus heeded off to Valparaiso and a short 15mins we were there. The rain had cleared and we got out for a walk. The town is very hilly. Some of the streets are near on 40degree inline. What’s worse is they go for 500m or 1.5km up hill.

Our bus took us up the top and we walked downhill thank Griff.

Lots of wonderful street art and we once again had some shoddy paving. As we were walked we were followed by dogs with two of them at one stage fighting for about 2mins

Ended up down the bottom with a splendid view over the town.

From here we took a cable car ride down the bottom. These things were about 1000 years old an operated on a pulley winch system and this is how the locals got around the place

After this jumped back on the bus and headed back to Santiago. Got back at 6pm and were stuck in traffic for 45 mins before we made it back to the shopping centre car park.

Here I made a huge mistake by taking up the offer to be dropped at my apartment. Should have got out and taken the metro which would have only taken 15-20mins tops. It took 20mins to drive out of the car park and turn the bus around I the traffic and pass the shopping centre.

After this we visited nearly every back street in Santiago.

Finally got dropped off but across the main drag 300metres from my apartment.

As it was raining then had to negotiate Santiago’s rain issues.

Basically water just pools here. Puddles are everywhere. As they got so little rain it is almost like storm water runoff wasn’t part of the town planning.

As a result you almost have to wade through the place in some parts to get home. Got in absolutely saturated.

Now the rain wasn’t that bad. It was at a level that would see NBN games called off though 4days before the match leaving everyone to ask why.

As for the tour the rain made a mess of the day but bit of a joke really.
1hour wasted at the start of the day getting picked up and going to the rendezvous point.

Two hours travel there.

1.5hours in Vina del Mar.
2hr 20mins on lunch 1hour in Valparaiso and then another 2hour trip home to Santiago.
Bit of a farce really.

Very little time spent actually seeing Valparaiso or Vilna del Mar which I thought was the reason we actually went

Headed out and grabbed some dinner. Went to KFC as I just couldn’t be ****ed having a sit down meal. Rather bizarrely my burger had avocado on it.
Took it back to the apartment and ate there before hitting the hay at 11:30pm