Day 01 - Grassy Arse Buenos Aires!   Today was transfer day again.  I got up early to meet 'a guy in a car' to go to the airport.  I accidently gave him a $US10 tip...   which is quite a lot in Buenos Aires.   He probably took the rest of the day off.    Then at the Buenos Aires airport I paid my $US18 departure tax and I was on my way!   The flight across was actually kinda rough.   When the plane ride started to get rough I saw one flight attendant throw herself into a seat next to a passenger and strap herself in.  Not a good sign.    It eventually it smoothed out and we had a nice flight across the snow capped mountains into Santiago.  At Santiago airport I paid another $US30 in tax.   I thought it was a joke at first....   but no.  Apparently when America introduced a tax for visitors from South America then some South American countries introduced a "Reciprocal Tax", and later extended it to Australians and Canadians. 
Then I jumped in a taxi into Santiago.  Somehow the driver convinced me to give him more money than I had already paid to take the "quicker road" into Santiago.   And I arrived at Hotel Espano.
I booked Hotel Espano on the net because it was in the middle of downtown, it was cheap, and it was 4 stars.    I think it was 4 stars in the 70's when it got it's last coat of paint.   In the very dim lighting in my internal room I can barely see the gold wall paper peeling from the walls.   I should have guessed something was up when I went to get into the elevator and had to climb up into it.  And then the lift climbed through the building's structure with no internal door.   As it climbed it was occasionally scratch the concrete and bricks and dust would fall into the lift.    Oh my god...  the other nicer place was only 30 bucks more!   And to top it off the internet access is only via an old PC which sits in a part of the building I'm too scared to go to (in fact that's most of the building).   I shouldn't be too harsh...  the heating works.
Speaking of heating....  Santiago is so cold!   It was just 11 degrees here today  (50 degrees farenheit).   I swear the wind was coming right off those snow capped mountains.   The hotel is in a pretty good location.  Just 2 blocks back from the main downtown pedestrian mall.   Since I'm here for just the weekend I have already booked myself onto a tour for tomorrow.  I'm being picked up (entrapped) at 8.30am.   Early night for me.

Day 02 - Touring Santiago:   Today was actually a really nice day.  I woke up really early to be picked up by the tour bus.   I was the first person to be picked up.  Then we headed round all the other hotels picking up passengers.  I was amazed by how many people had to be coaxed from their hotel rooms while we all sat waiting in the bus.  I didn't mind...  the bus was warm and the seats were so comformtable...  I could have easily slept there.   But it was on with the City Tour.  We visited a stack of places and of course it ended with drinks in a tourist shop.   The trip back into the city wasn't so easy as there was some kind of traffic jam, so I ended up getting out and walking across the city back to my hotel.   The bus was full of mostly older people and 3 of them were Aussies.   Afterwards I had lunch in a food court in the central mall and then went for a walk around the Mercado Central  (food markets) and headed back up through the mall.   Along the way I bought myself a nice pair of brown suede leather hush puppies.  I'm a little bit infatuated with them at the moment.   I'm waiting till I get home to wear them so they are not in danger of coming in contact with some real hush puppy poo.   I had the worst dinner tonight at one of the fast food joints just off the Plaza De Mayo.   It was greasy chicken and chips.  So tomorrow I have to eat something more healthy.  My diet of meat and fries has to stop.   And even later Hector came round to my hotel to hang out for a few hours.   Hector knew very little English so it was fun trying to communicate.  But what a huge day!  Tomorrow I'm doing nothing.

Day 03 - Sunday Sunday:   I woke up just in time for the free breakfast.   And still being in a daze I thought I had lost my room key somewhere in the dining room or the reception area, so I asked for another one.   So all day I imagined someone going into my room with the key they'd found on the ground.  Later at night I found the key in the pocket of my jeans.   On Sundays in the main mall while all the shops are closed rows and rows of market stalls set up to sell their goods.  Mostly crafts and second hand items.  There are also loads of street performers and group of people dancing to loud Chilean music.   This is possibly one of the nicest days to hang out in the downtown area.   I realized later that it's also a big family day in the city.   In the afternoon I found a cafe overlooking one of the big pedestrian areas that was crowded with parents and kids vying for the attention of people dressed in large cartoon character outfits.   And something occurred to me.   There is something really beautiful and innocent about the Chilean people.   Even though Santiago is a big international city, they are still quite unaffected by other parts of the world.   The kids here thrilled just to get to hug a man dressed in an animal costume or get given a balloon.   The parents were happy to listen to and dance to some music.   Maybe so many people came out because the sun was out and it was warmer than the previous days.  But it was really nice seeing so many people in the middle of a major city having so much fun.
The funniest thing I saw was a chubby boy with a t-shirt that said "Rent a Kid" and that's exactly what he was doing.  He was going from one animal costume to another helping them give out these balloons and collect money from the people.  And he was doing it all with such fierce aggression.   He was quite funny to watch.
The markets stayed open till late at night...  and many of the families still stayed out, singing, dancing and hanging out in the city.
After dinner I headed further downtown to the Hoyts Cinema to see a film with Adam Sandler in it called "Golpa Bajo".   It was about Adam getting a football team together in a prison.  Im sure it has an english name too.  Im just not sure what it is.   Afterwards I headed straight back to my hotel because the streets started to be quite empty.

Santiago Buses:   The 9000 yellow buses on the streets of Santiago are blamed for the air pollution problems here in the city.   They compare the pollution levels here with those levels in Los Angeles.  The pollution problem is also the reason why you can buy a brand new apartment in the middle of the city for just $US36000.   People prefer to live out of the city where the air is cleaner.
The city is now trying to reduce the number of diesel buses and provide alternate cleaner buses.   The other matter is that the drivers are now paid on a commission basis...  the more passengers they pick up the more money they make.   This is why they always seem to be trying to out race each other in the streets.    When the new buses come the drivers will receive a salary and end the competitiveness.   This will all supposedly reduce the air pollution by over 60%.

PHOTOS

The snowy mountains near Sanyiago	My hotel	The smoky buses	An abandoned Circus	Santa Lucia Hill	Santa Lucia Hill
The view from the hill	Our tour guide	Santa Lucia Hill	Santa Lucia Hill	Santa Lucia Hill	Santa Lucia Hill
Santa Lucia Hill	Plaza de Armas (the main city square)		Government Palace		Goverment Palace
Racetrack		People selling things at intersections	The view from my room	Lots of construction in Santiago	There were loads of these on the streets.  I'm not sure what they are for.
See the snow behind the buildings?		Subway	More snowy mountains in the distance	Look who's popular in Chile..	Sunday Markets
Dancing in the streets				Creepy...
	More dancing		Shopping	Mmm..   little boy pizza	Plaza de Armas