The bus trip to Santiago was relatively uneventful, which
was a blessing. It must have been an ‘express’,
as none of us has any memory of stopping during the night. I normally sleep very poorly on the bus,
however on this occasion, I only wake up as we hit the outskirts of
Santiago. The girls continue to sleep
until about 5 minutes before the busport.
I don’t know how they do it…
We manage to find the ticket booth for the bus to the
airport after 10 minutes of wandering around.
Turns out it was right in front of where we got off. It figures.
The bus is remarkably cheap, only a couple of dollars each for the
tickets and we are delivered right to the main terminal. Great value!
We decide on breakfast in the terminal at a place we’ve
eaten at before – Gatsby’s. It turns out
to be the worst decision we’ve made on these holidays. Terrible breakfast, even for Chileans. None of us feel particularly well
afterwards. We then head to the check-in
gates. We’re there a good 5 hours before
the flight is scheduled to leave and as it so happens, Sky Airlines do not let
you check in until 2 hours before the flight.
That leaves us 3 hours to kill.
We’re tired, not feeling great and now bored. Happy days…
Anyone considering waiting in the check-in area at the Santiago airport,
our suggestion is head downstairs, just outside the arrivals hall. It’s quieter than upstairs. The café’s there are also better than the
ones upstairs!
Eventually the clock wound its way to mid-day and we could
check in, which surprisingly, was accomplished without major fuss. I’ve never flown with Sky before and they are
making a reasonable impression so far.
We make our way through the new immigration hall and this
time, leaving the country is easy. Last
time was a major drag due to an over-zealous immigration peon deciding to
hassle us about Alma and her ‘permission to leave the country’
documentation. Now she is 18, all that
has gone away.
Wandering the halls of the international airport can
sometimes be entertaining, but not on this occasion. We tried to lunch at a few place, none of
which had the items we wanted. Welcome
to Chile. We eventually settled on
something eminently forgettable and highly over-priced.
Boarding time came and went.
Goodwill towards Sky is evaporating…
Eventually we get the call to board and guess what. We are in the absolutely last aisle on the
plane. The one with the special “even
smaller than usual” seats. Nice. For the snack service, I am the absolutely
last person on the plane to be offered something, despite having an aisle seat. Everyone loves a gringo!
Our arrival into Lima goes smoothly. So smoothly that we’re out beyond customs
before we really know it. I’d organised
a pick-up with the hostal we’re staying at, and good news, there’s a gentleman
waiting in the arrivals hall with a sign and my name is on it. Our driver is a young’ish lad, well dressed
and very polite. He drives like a madman
though, along with the rest of Lima who all appear to want to be on the same
bit of road with us. Six lanes of
traffic on a five lane road is not unusual.
We cringe with terror for most of the trip to the hotel, however nothing
comes of our worries and we arrive safely.
Along the way, we’ve been treated to a beautiful sunset.
The hostal looks nice from the outside and is functional
inside. The Manager(?) is very helpful
and soon we’re in our room. It’s not
very large (which is OK – we’re only here for one night), featuring a double
bed and a bunk. There is a private
bathroom for us across the hall. The
most worrisome feature is the absence of an airconditioner or fan. When I’d made the booking, I forgot that we’d
be arriving into Lima in summer and that being on the coast, it might be a bit
steamy. It certainly is. Despite the temperature not being too high –
around 23 degrees, we can feel the humidity.
That might make sleeping uncomfortable.
Meanwhile, we head out for something to eat. On my last visit here, I had a Mexican meal
at a restaurant called “Como agua para chocolate” – Like Water for Chocolate –
and it was fabulous. I insisted that we
go there again but had not done enough research about how to get there from the
hostal. The directions we were given
turned out to be rubbish. We arrived
near where it was supposed to be and it wasn’t even remotely familiar to
me. We continued asking for directions
and had helpful people point us in the right direction, however none had a
clue. We asked a few taxi drivers and
none of them were any the wiser either.
Eventually we went looking for an internet café to do some googling but
meanwhile stumbled across a café whose staff were somewhat helpful, but even
more helpful was one of the clients who overheard us and googled it on her
phone. Turns out we were a long way
away.
We eventually found a taxi driver who got us to the right
area. We went to the restaurant and
GUESS WHAT? It was closed for summer
holidays. While I stood dumbfounded at
the front door, the owners walked out. After
we light-heartedly berated them, they explained they’d be back on the 20th,
which is OK, because we’ll be passing through Lima a bit after that.
Feeling a bit frustrated, we went to the chifa (local
version of a Chinese restaurant) next door and had some lovely meals there.
The taxi ride back to the hotel was again interesting. The taxi driver had to stop and ask
directions from a local tourist police officer – apparently it’s one of the
things they are there for – but we eventually got there, after having to stop
again and ask some guy walking his dogs where the street was. He turned around and pointed at our hostal…
