After New years we came back to Santiago where we tried couch surfing (where you sign up to a website and fellow travellers take you in for a couple of nights) in Santiago which was pretty interesting. The first guy was really nice we had our own room and bathroom which was better than the hostel. This place was close to the embassies and Lucio (the host) was a great translator. The first night he drove us around Santiago showing us the local sites. We finished at this beautiful place for dinner which Junior and I were stressing about as it was quite expensive. It was beauitful he picked his favourites and they were amazing. At the end he ended up paying which was so nice of him and a relief as we only had a few $$ on us.

The next night we went to his country club which was just down the road from his apartment. It was so amazing. We had a great meal which Lucio picked again although we paid this time as we had been to a money machine during the day luckily. He told us all about himself. His family had been members of the country club for years and at the age of 21 he had been given the opportunity to take on his own membership at the country club and they would waive the US$20,000 join up fee. So he did.

The next day we were back at the embassies trying to sort out our passports. Lucio had other plans that night so we went and caught up with some friends from the hostel which we had met at Christmas. Tania our friend that worked there took us to a place to try the local drink. When we got there the music was pumping, there was saw dust on the floor and the crowd of mainly locals were drunk and it was only 5pm. The drink is a Terremoto which consists of Pipeño (a sweet firmented wine) with pineapple ice-cream served in a
one-litre glass. Terremoto literally translates as 'Earthquake' since you
are left with the ground (and legs) feeling very shaky.

The next day we had to move out from his place as he had another couch surfer coming in. We found another place to stay so we missioned out to find him. This guy was a bit different and we didnt really click. We stayed for a couple of nights but then decided to head back to La Casa Roja where we stayed for the rest of our time in Santiago.

We met up with Rich and Dan some guys from London. They were waiting on a parcel to arrive from London as we were waiting on Passports so we decided to go to Pucon which was about a 12 hour bus trip down south.