Christmas in Tierra del Fuego

i finally arrived in punta arenas on december the 23rd. it was a sunny day but with a chilly breeze, sort of an irishy feeling to it actually... .
the temperature change from santiagos 30 degrees to punta arenas 14 degrees takes some adjustment. the wind blows really strong here.


then on the 24th i took a bus which crossed the magellan straight to tierra del fuego and carried on to cerro sombrero.

the christmas rush in cerro sombrero

depite having a population of just 700 people!! cerro sombrero has a few amenities such as a museum, a leisure centre with swimming pool, gym , indoor sports arena and pool tables all completely free for everyone to use, a church, a school, a bar somewhere and a supermarket.. a cinema (that never seems to open), oh and i heard that there is a restaurant a few miles away. but apart from that, theres just miles and miles of bare landscape.

christmas shoppin

i had a genuine kerrygold moment when i informed paola that "yes indeed, we have this in ireland too!" :-)
now.. what i want to know is "whos taking the horse to france?"

travel tip of the day:

regardles of your level of spanish, do not attempt to explain that tony-the-tiger`s english motto is "grrrrrrrreat" . you´l only look stupid :-)

for those of you who ask do they celebrate christmas like we do?

heres you answer. feliz navidad!

mommy look what "viejito pascuero" broaght me! :-)

they call santa clause, viejito pascuero here, though given that pascua is easter wouldnt that mean the old easter-man?..

cerro sombrero was founded when oil was discovered here. they still celebrate the day of petroleo every year.

the museum in cerro sombrero displaying artifacts dating back through the ages.

the last remaining selk´nam people, the original inhabitants of these lands, now extinct. the photos were taken in the 1920 s.

is there anything cuter than a spanish speaking three year old?

this name "o´higgins" can be seen on street signs all over chile.

bernardo o´higgins (an irishman, no less) was the first president of chile upon liberation from spanish rule.

good christmas deeds.

during a trip to the local playground we found two frozen australians camping out. and invited them to the house for dinner and beers! they had driven from santiago and were on their way to ushuaia. seems they have been getting a lot of that kind of hospitality along the way, i must try that someday.

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links

Punta arenas

Bernardo O´Higgins

Cerro Sombrero

The Selknam

in remembrence of my mp3 player which was lost. iv decided to add songs to my blog.

so heres
todays theme song. :-)

Santiago

hi everyone, sorry i have not written for a few days now, internet availability has ben minimal for me this christmas. here are some finaly shots of santiago taken in the run up to navidad! (christmas)
culture shock as it was (coming from bolivia), i did grow to love santiago in the week i spent there, hope i can return.




my friend monica has a swimming pool ! what a place to spend a december day.


craft market in santiago

barrio bella vista . the place to go at night for clubbing & bars

pio nono street

some dj in some club.... oh its all a bit vague now.

there is a noticable differnece in the clb scene in chile from the countries of the central andes. slightly less latino and more electronica.

monument in plaza de armas

police man puts out bin fire

few late night drinks on the rooftom terrace with random hostel buddys from all over the place.

then an arly morning flight to punta arenas. actually i went with (recommended!) sky airlines, but lan had parked this plane nicely for a photo.

Chile - a walk around Santiago

Barrio Brazil, santiago


over the last few months i must have gotten used to the upbeat nature of ecuador peru and bolivia as it is taking some adjustment to get into the relaxed pace of chile. my usual hearty breakfeast of (arroz a la cubana and mate de coca) cuban rice and coca tea, has been replaced again by toast and coffee, the taxis pass quietly by without so much as a honk, and the buses merly write the destination on the front window, instead of having a guy hanging out the door rattling off the destinations like an auctioneer, i sort of miss that! also there are no ladies frying up tasty snacks on the roadside, meaning my stomach has to stick it out until i can find an adequate restaurant.
that said, santiago comes across as a happy, prosperous place and its really wonderful to take a walk around on a 26 degree december day.

is it france? is it spain?... nope its chile



Plaza Brazil, Santiago


street dogs, with kennels ?










Plaza de Armas (main square), Santiago











Links
Images of Santiago with chilean cueca music

Welcome to Chile

somewhere around the Bolivia, Chile border.


friendly llama comes over to the bus.

national park, just past the chilean customs checkpoint. which was tedious, they scanned every single bag that was on the bus. and made many many people open the bags. seems as though books have the same density as something naughty, they thaught they were onto a big haul with my lonely planet. hehe

valley approaching arica

Arica

sky airlines, saved my ass, literally! found a flight not a lot dearer than the 30 hour bus i was going to take from arica to santiago.

booked the night before, 89 dollars for 4 hour flight with nice meal included (turkey with rice, side salad, fruit salad for dessert, glass of orange juice, and a coffee and a free mint ! ) and no baggage charge. i wonder when ryanair will add a toilet charge.

santiago airport.

chile is quite different to the other countries i have visited so far. it feels almost like europe... only kinda different.

they have a metro

and machines to do the cleaning hehe !

the taxis look a bit like the taxis in Barcelona, Spain.

the currency is "pesos" here , though i like to say that the currency is "mil pesos" (thousand pesos) becuase you find everything costs in the thousands.

im holding 80 thousand pesos in the picture.

thats about 90 euros.