Free day in Santiago (joke we are exhausted)

This morning we woke at 9.10 am. You might think what is so amazing about that but Craig wakes every day between 6.30 and 7am even at the weekend so this is bliss a sleep in and we didn't have to be anywhere today and had no plans except we had to be at breakfast by 10am. So we enjoyed a delicious breakfast in the dining room and planned the day. The first thing we needed was coffee and would you believe the hotel was out of espresso coffee but they told us where to find it in town. We made a plan to go to the supermarket because I need plasters from my flash new bargains shoes from Kathmandu and we thought we would go to some museums and go to the restaurant for our free complimentary drinks. It is always interesting to go to the supermarket in another country it gives you insight into the cost of things and how people live. As I had Craig with me I only bought plasters and one chocolate bar a Super8 which is being sold by poor people to car drivers as they drive through the streets of Santiago. Next we went in search of coffee and a lady on the street directed us to good coffee around the corner. I think she stopped us because we looked lost or indecisive. She didn't speak English but everyone understands cafe and she pointed around the corner and I had my first unco moment for the day. We ordered a double espresso and a large latte and a bottle of water between us. Instead of the espresso being double the size it was double the strength which nearly killed poor Craig as he had to add sugar to make it palatable and some of his cold water. On the other hand my latte was ok but the milk was a little burnt and it was stronger than I like but I could live without sugar. Anyway that is all quite dull and I was trying to engage Craig in the fine art of conversation and I said we could read the Newspaper like we do in cafes and he was rather scornful until I pointed out that mostly I do the Sudoku while he reads the paper. So I got up to get the papers to see if there were any sudokus and forgot I had my infamous purple bag around my neck and unended my coffee. This certainly drew attention to us so I apologised profusely and the workers were very generous so I paid and left. We then went walking and saw some beautiful street art.

We ended up in the Armoury Square where the Cathedral of the Virgins and the sculpture from yesterday were and talked to a man on a standup bike thingy stopped to practise his English and gave us some maps and told us the most interesting museum was the pre Columban Museum so we wandered off down there and had an hour looking at artefacts that looked like they came from archaeological dig. I did learn though that the Incas were in the Santiago region. We then walked for miles the wrong way and eventually had lunch at the Vienna Cafe where the owner spoke English. The reason we chose it was because we sat down opposite a church with very sore feet and Craig said he was very hungry so we had coffee water and a sandwich outside looking at this church.

My feet were quite sore and we debated what we were going to do next all day walking is hard work. Anyway on our list was the Belles Artes Gallery and another one with a Maori Arts display which we thought we might check out however we thought we could do that at home in NZ and headed for Jose Gil de Castro and here is a link to some of his art work http://www.artistasplasticoschilenos.cl/658/w3-article-39925.html Craig did offer to sit outside and wait for me as they seem to all charge - to go into the pre Columban museum it cost us $NZ15 anyway the Art Gallery was free and here is Craig in the entrance way

. The building itself is quite magnificent

On the way back to the hotel we stopped in at the El Toro Restaurant for our free complimentary drink and had a red wine each and back to the hotel for a rest and writing blogs over a coffee. Luckily the hotel has coffee again as that is dinner! Terri has got Intrepid into action and we are being picked up at 11.40am to go to Argentina tomorrow! Go Terri and Patricia also rang because she has been trying to help us too. Anyone doing tours in Santiago need to go with Patricia she is the best!