Santiago de Chile

¡Ola!

We have arrived safely in Santiago, after a twelve hour flight (that was delayed by 5 hours), which meant we left New Zealand at 10pm on the 15th of May, arriving in santiago at 5pm... on the same day! Yes, we jumped 16 hours back in time, and our 15th of May 2008 lasted 40 hours! As a result we are both pretty jet lagged : for the past two nights we have been waking up around 3 am, and unable to get back to sleep until 6 or 7 am... which doesn't leave much time before you have to get up again! Well, we´re not going to complain, we just walk around Santiago in zombie mode, drinking lots of coffee! The weather, though, has been nice, especially after the cold of New Zealand. It´s winter here but the temperature is in the 70s F so it is very pleasant.
Santiago is a big city like any other, except maybe for the snowy Andes in the background. If you can see them through the smog, that is! Everyone here is very friendly, and our pitiful attempts at speaking Spanish are usually welcomed with patience, a big smile and a sense of humour, which really helps!
Tonight we are getting a bus South to Puert Montt, about 600 miles further down the coast, where it should be nice and chilly! If all goes to plan (big ?) we should be working on a farm for the next week or two, in exchange for board and lodging. Not sure when we will next meet a computer with internet, so don´t worry about us and "hasta luego!"