After a reasonable breakfast and a chat with some Canadians and Americans at the hotel we all agreed to head to Santiago for Christmas day. Basically to soak up some history and it was a cold overcast day on the coast. After a phone call home to our better halves it was time to pack up. Our fear was navigating this huge city, especially with our experience of the road signs yesterday. We looked in the guidebooks, picked a mid range hotel and decided to head for it.

Going back the other way we found the roads we had missed the night before and took a good road back into the city. Being Christmas day the roads were pretty clear and by luck and good judgement we found ourselves on the right road to the hotel. It wasn’t too pretty a sight, but the rooms inside were ok. The view of the concrete wall from the window left something to be desired and in the heat some ventilation would have been good, air conditioning would have been wonderful!

We arrived and checked in about 2pm. The car park was actually the local multi-storey a few blocks away. So we unloaded outside the hotel and drew a crowd including some very friendly policemen. Sitting in the car their holsters were at eye level, which was a little off-putting. We needed to fettle the cars again Julian’s exhaust was on its last legs and needed more welding, Ivor’s battery charging was still causing problems and his electric fan was rattling, and I wanted to make sure the Westie’s alternator connection was not going to shake loose and give her a check, I might even replace the speedo cable. The speedo cable had been broken by the gravel roads long ago. The dust had finished the workings of the rev counter a few days ago, so for the last few days speed had to be judged by ear and against other traffic. But today was Christmas day, a day off?

Julian found that the city tours were still running today. This was basically a smart mini-bus with air conditioning taking you on a 4 hour tour of the city with places to stop and look around. Ideal to get an overall flavour of the place. The only problem it was leaving so soon we didn’t have time to eat again. A very quick beer and we were whisked off in the mini-bus with some guests from other hotels, judging by their front doors – a lot posher than ours!

The tour was interesting. The city had been founded in about 1541 by a Spaniard, Pedro de Valdivia who arrived with 1,000 Indians, some other Spaniards and one white woman! In an amazingly short space of time churches, administration buildings and all the trappings of a city were built. Unfortunately the city is right on the San Andreas fault line and every 20 years or so suffers a major earthquake. Only one 17thC church has survived all these quakes.

Chile, like many South American countries, has had its fair share of dictators. The last coup de’ta was in the 80s when a President refused to leave after being voted out. The tanks moved in to his Presidential palace and finally the air force bombed it. He was found dead, shot, in his office. Some say suicide, others say assassin.

Darwin also came here, apparently he didn’t like it much, to the amusement of our guide ‘he said it was a bloody awful place’.

The view from the top of the hill in the centre of town was fantastic, though the smog made it hard to see the Andes surrounding the city. The city is in a large bowl, surrounded by mountains, so it can get very hot and very polluted. The rich tend to live on the foothills of the Andes where it is cooler and the air cleaner.