All airports are more of less the same....hurry up and wait! We always have to hurry to be on time and then after checking in luggage and going through all the checks you have to relax and wait until you have to rush around again....funny concept.

The airplane is rather empty and I can take pictures during the flight . At Santiago we decide to not take the R300 taxi, but rather to try another option which includes a bus, a metro line and some foot work. We arrive with rucksacks at our fancy hotel and suddenly we have to pay upfront...funny how people judge a book by its cover – when we arrived in a taxi previously (with the same luggage but not on our backs) we had the privilege to pay the next day.

We quickly check emails and then go out to buy gifts at the flea market at Santa Maria. (We have long since stopped buying gifts – the rand is too weak and you can only buy small pieces of "rubbish" anyway!!)

Back in the hotel we are just in time to join the welcoming of all the delegates from all over the world to this conference.Everyone is wearing evening dress and is very formal. I do not even own such wonderful clothes and we both feel out of place.The people in Chilli really dress very posh.

While Kevin is busy with the conference I am entertained by Nicole. Nicole is married to a Chilean guy and she takes me on a walking tour. It is through her that I first “meet” the poet Pablo Neruda. We go to his house in Santiago called La Chascona. Pablo Neruda is the pen name of Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He is a well-known Chilean poet who also was intensely political. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1979, loved the ladies (had 3 wives) and wrote about love in most of his poems . He was very eccentric and this house not only looks like a boat, it also sounds as if you are in a boat as you move about inside. Later I bought the movie Il Postino, a beautiful film containing a lot of his poetry. Here is some of his work – just to get you going....

“I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close.”
― Pablo Neruda, 100 Love Sonnets

 “I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, 
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.” 
― Pablo Neruda, 100 Love Sonnets

 “Love is so short, forgetting is so long.” 
― Pablo Neruda, Love: Ten Poems

 “Someday, somewhere - anywhere, unfailingly, you'll find yourself, and that, and only that, can be the happiest or bitterest hour of your life.” 
― Pablo Neruda

Nicole and I walk to Bellavista and enjoy the most wonderful flea markets. I have never seen so much fruit in such a good condition in such a short time.

At Museo de Belles we are moved by photos of a well-known French photographer (I am sorry, I do not remember his name!!).The photos were taken between 1926 and 1987. The war photography is gruesome and amazing at the same time – to think that all the photos were taken before digital cameras....I want to bow to this artist.

We take a taxi back to the hotel and I have a fantastic meal joined by Kevin and his learned friends. He really enjoys this technical conversation very much.

After lunch I go back to the flea market and I buy Lapis Lazuli jewellery for my sister, my mom and Kev's mom (Lapis Lazuli stones are only found in Chilli and Afghanistan.) The boys get lovely T shirts – I miss them already!

I am just back at the hotel and then Kevin arrives. We go for another walk and this time we visit the street markets to the north of Rio Mapucho (my poor feet!!!!). By chance we find Plaza de Armas.

Nightlife in Santiago is very different from nightlife in South Africa. As the sun sets in South Africa, people close their gates and switch on their television sets, but here they sit in the parks cuddling and kissing, everyone is outside enjoying music and art in the parks – shops are open from 10am till 10pm – this place is totally alive!!!

We watch a street artist entertain us by making spray paint paintings using dramatic music and huge arm movements. We buy the one he made in front of us (a volcano, with stormy water and a great cloudy sky). We buy Cafe con Leche, eat Espanada (pastries with cheese inside) and Langos...we are enjoying Santiago!!!

Back at the hotel we have to wash clothes and Kevin has to prepare his speech as he has to deliver a talk tomorrow.