Day 32 and 33 - The final full day of our Kumuka 'Southern Explorer' trip and big night out in Santiago! Kumuka group, thank you, WE WILL M ISS YOU!!
 
Nearing the city, the vastness of Santiago really hits you, it was huge and as we drove by taxi to our hotel, the white Victorian / Georgian style buildings and history reminded us of London, again we could quite easily have been back at home right now! After some sleep we wandered to find food . The Zocalo was beautiful with the historic buildings and dominating cathedral lining the edges, the backstreets were busy full of shops, department stores, shoe stores etc... And along with the modern and well dressed society going about their busy daily life, how scruffy did we look walking round, take us back to Bolivia!!! After experiencing London even more with most cafes and restaurants full to the brim and no room for the starving, we finally found a vegetarian place 'El Naturista' which was good and did the best vitamin juice ever, just what we all needed! What was so bizarre though is that in this rushed western lifestyle, people tend to eat in places standing up!!! Is the western influence really a good thing.....so far we were all thinking not!
 
That eve it was our farewell dinner so in a posh restaurant next to the hotel we all got suitably hammered on Pisco sours and too much wine, was incredibly noisy then ended up at some nightclub where we all danced like idiots to some tunes and had a right laugh. At 2am a few of us continued, including yours duo truly, to some reggae club which both have absolutely no recollection of apart from the fact that it took our taxi home nearly 2 hours in the rain to find our hotel which was a 15 minute drive away and we both ended up staggering in at 5am...ouch! Having said our goodbyes the eve before was a good thing as we missed breakfast and by the time a few of us were up a few people had already left. But all that needs to be said is A BIG THANK YOU to everyone on our Kumuka trip!! It was an absolute honour and blast to travel with you all for 5 weeks, so thank you! Keep in touch and we hope to see you all again one day . x
 
Day 33 - 37 - Chilling in Santiago and a sad farewell to mum and Ian, boo hoo!!
 
At the end of the trip the four of us moved further out of the city to cheaper accommodation at a hostel called 'Aji Hostel' in the university area. Ian had found it and mum and he were looking forward to finishing on a true backpacker note, their first hostel of the trip!!! Thankfully it didn't disappoint and the bright pink exterior was actually a lovely old house inside, again just like home, high ceilings, wooden floors, a modern kitchen and lovely clean, bright rooms, result! This homely feel beat a hotel any day of the week, back to backpacking it was!
 
Mum and Ian had 2 more days with us which we spent walking round the city, visiting the history museum, climbing the castle with views rights across the city and sampling many coffee shops, thanks Ian and mum for those extra luxuries you treated us too!!! The university area we were in was lovely, full of old buildings and was fairly chilled and despite most people we had met saying Santiago wasn't great, we surprised ourselves and really liked it as a city, some of the architecture was just stunning . Plus it had many parks and beautifully palm tree lined main roads to take that edge off the manic city feel.
 
On our first night post trip we ate with some of the group again for another final goodbye and then on mum and Ian's last night we went back to the restaurant where we had all been so noisy and drunk on our last Kumuka night. Bumping into Mal and Jody doing the same for their last night with a good steak, we were embarrassingly recognised by the staff (ooops!) and then mum, who nervous of her flight the next day needed brandy, continued to get very drunk and hilariously kept us amused for the rest of the evening! A final mint liqueur on the house tipped her over the edge and walking home was the only option, after we had visited the 'conservatory' of course which mum in her drunken state was meaning 'supermarket' all very mad and funny indeed!
 
The next day it was our final goodbyes which was VERY hard, we again had had such an amazing time with mum and Ian and to say goodbye for the third time was not nice, but just incredible to have even more treasured memories with people that have joined our world trip with us, thank you again mum and Ian!!!
 
Enjoying our hostel home life too much we ended up staying for another 3 days, getting much needed rest, doing research for Patagonia, sorting flight issues and for Adam having a couple of days in bed not feeling too good. Finally feeling a tad better we saw for the first time the stunning snow capped mountains that border the city (but which only appear when the clouds and smog move!) and could see why Santiago is said to be located in such a stunning setting! Unfortunately we had no money to enjoy these mountains more and ski so we decided to head to the coast to the multi-coloured madness of Valparaiso!