Touchdown: First day
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Hello everyone. I have no real recollection of the amount of time on the plane or of the waiting in transit lounges but I think all up we've been in transit for about 28 hours after getting up at 3.15am on Wednesday morning. That's not too bad I guess (and I think it's a little longer on the way home).
The flights were fine and seats about as comfy as you can expect. Kellie and I also had great company on the way from Imogen -- one of our friends from Adelaide also following the pilgrim trail and going to Buenos Aires to dance -- luckily also a bit of a light sleeper on flights so that we had someone to talk to along the way.
The stopover in Auckland wasn't long enought to get enough oxygen flowing through the system, but we still managed walk through the terminal to get some cool-ish bottles of beer while we were waiting. Hmmm maybe not so great an idea.
We have finally landed in Santiago de Chile. The approach in the plane gave us a good look at the surrounding mountains which looked awesome... albeit hard to see through the smog. In going through ¨the process¨, we had to pay a US$56 entrance fee and everywhere else we walked throughout the airport we were asked by people working there ¨Australian Passport? Have you paid the entrance fee?¨ while directing us to the right line with wide cheshire-cat grins. The immigration officer immediately translated my puzzled expression as ¨No entiendo¨ as he pretty much immediately switched to english. Haha. Before letting us go he of course also asked whether we'd paid our entrance fee? I think this is a bit of a joke on all of the incoming Australian, New Zealand, Canadian and US visitors as we are the only ones required to pay.
The airport is exactly as I imagined it with taxi drivers looming around the exit with rather dubious looking ¨Taxi Official¨ placards around their necks. Even the official booking counters look a bit dodgy :) We climbed into our taxi bus after one of the attendents checked up on our booking while another entertained us by humming along to a long forgotten techno/house tune (it's on the tip of my tongue) and dancing around the floor in a really funny & subtle way like he's been told off for doing it in the past or something. Hehe.
Hotel is a little ordinary but we're not paying much for this leg and it's not too far away from the central area of Santiago.
Posted byAndrew at 5:54 pm
Dzien dobry and jak sie masz Andjei & Kellie! So pleased that you have both arrived safely. Live it and love it like there's not tomorrow :)
Love, Kasia xxx