Sometimes you've just gotta...

We are nearing the end of our stay in South America and our penultimate location has been Santiago, Chile. To know we've come back to Western Civilization is an understatement...

There seems to be a Starbucks on every corner and the drivers actually stop to let you cross the roads!!! (they don't even stop at red lights in Quito!) but I miss the different dress of the people, which is something I've become used to since we left Brazil.

So... we've seen many a thing in Santiago, children playing in the fountain in the Plaza De Armas to cool off, a lady peeing openly beside the children playing, and tonight, a bride and groom standing through the sunroof in a car whilst they were being driven along. We certainly aren't bored for things to amuse us. And everything was made even better when we bumped into Hilary (a lady from our Galapagos trip) in the middle of the shopping area. It was such a chance meeting and lovely to see her again.

Yesterday, we walked up a place called the Cerro Santa Lucia and it was hot! Even trying to sit on the benches you needed extra padding! But the view from the top was of the entire city and it

is big.

From there we reached the Plaza and into the Post Office - which looked like an interesting building to see and it didn't disappoint. It had a really good museum which not only had stamps from all over the world, but machinery for everyone to play with. We needed to cool down (that is our excuse) so we passed a bit of time in here and it was good fun. The place was really busy with people posting off their Christmas presents and families doing festive competitions with their children.

It does seem strange to see Christmas decorations when you are applying suncreams and eating melting ice-creams. I'm going to miss the weather which I relate to Christmas, but with having a cold at the moment, I'm not too upset!!! But we've complete our Christmas shopping and a box is on its way back to home!

Tomorrow we fly off to Easter Island and I cannot wait.