Yesterday was a really great day. I headed out at 7:30am to try and catch the right bus to take me to the spot for hiking. I arrived on time and was told, no, this bus does not go where you want. After a bit the driver indicated (in Spanish, I figured out what he was saying) that he could take me part way and I would then transfer to another bus. Ok, fine, why not. We drove for about 30 minutes, then we stop in a small town and the driver starts speaking loudly and waving. Ah, it must be my stop.

There was another bus in front of us which I was supposed to get on. It was already overflowing with people and did not seem to be going anywhere. That´s because it was broken. After about 10 minutes another bus arrived, however I decided not to try to get on as there were just too many people.

I found a place in the town that had a sign saying ´rafting´and correctly assumed they were geared to tourists. Yay, someone spoke English! I explained that I wanted to go trekking (the word ´hiking´is not used as much here) and he gave me directions to walk up the hill at the side of the town. The little town was sitting between a couple of ok size hills/mountains, and that was perfect for me. His directions were:
1. Walk across the road and go to the end.
2. Take the stairs to the top.
3. Follow that road up to the top.
4. There is a fence, the guy there is friendly, you can go through and you are on the hill.

Ok, let´s see what happens. I made it up to the top with a bit of help from another local who randomly corrected me when I made a wrong turn, I guess it was pretty clear I was not a local and where I was trying to go. I got to the end and found a gate. I did not really want to go walking through and get someone made at me so I waited there until the guy who lived there came out to see why the dog was barking. He was happy and waved me through.

On to the hike! The first obstacle was right through the gate were a lot of blackberry bushes. Who remembers how many thorns those things have? Ouch! Once I made it through there it was clear going. There were no paths, just me by myself climbing up the side of the mountain. Perfect! It was slow going as it was a bit steep, but it was exactly what I was looking for. I climbed for about 2 hours, then took 45 minutes to get down. Going down was a lot less fun than going up. There was a ton of loose dirt/rocks so it was most like I slid down in a semi controlled manner. I made it.

I got back to the hostel and ran through a shower, then was off again with a couple of people to see my first ever football match. The stadium was pretty empty except for the cheap seats where we were sitting. We were right in the middle of the ´atmosphere´. The local supports had a massive drum which they kept at the whole game, along with their song/chants. It was really fun, and everything stayed calm. The ´interesting´ part was that wherever the crowd was into the game there were lots of fully prepared riot police. That was interesting. After the game there where tons of riot police outside, as well as armored vehicles. I'm kind of glad it was such a small crowd... The home team also won 3 to 1 so that helped.

Today I just walked around a bit and am now back at the hostel and am going to hang out here for a couple of hours until my ride to the airport. I depart 9:45pm local time and arrive in Toronto just after 6:00am. Back to reality/work Tuesday. Sigh.

This is now my third night in Santiago, only one more left after tonight before I start my trip home. Today was mainly a rest day. I tried to get out of town to go hiking but things did not work in my favour and I ended up at a park in town, found a bench in the shade and read. It was really needed after yesterday. This evening I went out to a steak house so that I could compare steak in Chile to steak in Argentina. In case you were wondering, it was good tonight, but Argentine wins hands down.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. I went out with a few people from the hostel and climbed the big hill in town. That mean approx. 300 meters up. 30+ degree weather. The first half there was no shade. It was fun and there was a great view of the city from the top. On the way back to the hostel we stopped at the fruit market and picked up a number of goodies along with a whole watermelon. That was the perfect thing to help rehydrate after the climb. In the evening there was a wine and cheese at the hostel which was a blast. There was a good group of people, lots (lots!) of wine, and some cheese and snacks.

Tomorrow I´ll make another attempt at hiking out of the city, then if I´m back in time hopefully head to a football (soccer) match. That that all happens it will be a very long day, however tomorrow is my last full day here so I´m fine with going all out.

My hostel in Santiago is interesting. It is relatively new, only 8 months old. The owner/manager is Jewish (I found at at the wine and cheese as he was hosting) so that was cool. My first night here was not so great. My room was right off of reception, but it was not too loud in the end. The issue was that the room has no windows and no fans. That means that the air was way past stale and it got fairly hot. I was given that room because I requested an en suite, however due to no windows or fans the bathroom just vents into the main room. I was not happy. The only semi good thing is that I was the only person in the room. I asked to be moved and was put in another room where I was the only person. There was plenty of other people in this hostel, just not my room. At least I now have a window so the room is much better. The non en suite bathrooms are much nicer anyways, so overall it's better. Weird, but ok.

I'm off to organize a bit and get to bed. I need to get up at 7am if I'm to get to the end of the metro line and catch my bus at 8:30am to the mountains.

I arrived in Santiago yesterday early afternoon after a short bus ride. After checking into the hostel it was lunch time so I made my way over to the fish market which is an interesting place. I had a massive portion of fish for lunch, it was ok. For the afternoon I went out on a walking tour of part of the city. The tour was good, it so happened that a couple of people from my hostel were on the same tour, and I met another Israeli. Last night a few people from the hostel went out for drinks which was fun.

I´m still working on figuring out how to get out of the city to go hiking in the mountains, I´m hopeful I can do this tomorrow. Saturday there may be a chance to see a football (soccer) game which would be really neat.

Last night in the hostel was not great as my room was a bit crappy. No window or fan, so the air was really stale. I changed rooms this morning so I´m hoping tonight will be better.

Only 3 more nights, then I start the journey home.