Day 57 - Santiago, Chile to La Paz, Bolivia

Time to leave Santiago. It's certainly a city that has grown on us the longer we have stayed here. It is actually a lovely introduction into South America and we are pleased we had five nights here to get over the jet lag from NZ and get our body clocks on South American time. Would be great to come back in the winter when there is a lot of great skiing just a couple of hours from the city. 

We grab a cab to the airport and had a very amusing taxi driver who also taught English. He was fascinated by English phrases that he struggles to translate into Spanish for his students such as;

"Don't beat around bush"

"You can lead a horse to water.."

"Cost me an arm and a leg"

"Driving me round the bend"

"Kill two birds with one stone"

Really amusing to hear him reel them all off!

We get to the airport after some slight confusion about our flight. Our flight is actually going via a place called Iquique in northern Chile. First we have heard of it. This means we need to head to domestic departures rather than international. 

So long Santiago. When we take off it puts it into perspective how the city is positioned vs the huge mountains around it. If you look top right in this picture just below the tip of the wing that is the height of the mountain. The clearest one bottom left is San Cristobel Hill which is next to where we were staying. 

The flight was so random. We fly for about two hours up the coast and then land in Iquique. It's random for four reasons;

1) The decent and landing is a little bit scary. We literally head straight towards a huge mountain then have to bank hard to the right at the last minute to land on a little runaway that runs along the front of the mountains. Really strange - if we would have flown for another couple of minutes straight on we would have been easily eating mountain. 

2) This tiny airport with only two gates appears to be in the arse end of nowhere. It's the middle of what looks like a desert. We could easily be in Death Valley with the scenry. 

3) Everyone has to get off the plane, leaving all our stuff on it to go through customs then get back on the plane. 

4) Pretty much 99% of the passengers do this so I have no idea why we have stopped here. I am not even sure if any new people get on!

About to touch down after our right turn. 

The second leg of the flight was not the best. The huge clouds on the way in made for a very rocky landing but pretty cool scenary. Nat's stomach was doing back flips again!!

For a short flight (1hr) the scenary has changed pretty drastically from before, getting a lot greener. 

We also get our first glimpse of the snow covered mountain peaks. 

El Alto, the part of La Paz we fly over to land, looks like a bit of a shanty town, but a very orderly one. Every house seems to have their own walled plot of land and every street is a dirt track. Plenty of football pitches though. 

 

We arrive to some pretty heavy rain (not unexpected due to those massive clouds) which we haven't seen since our first day in Bali. Better get used to it as the forecast says we are in for a fair bit of this for the next three weeks. 

Once out of the airport we are met by the guy from the hotel and set off on what turns out to be the best ride from an airport to a hotel we have ever had. The scenery is spectacular. 

The city actually sits in a bowl surrounded by the high mountains of the altiplano. As it grew, the city climbed the hills, resulting in varying elevations from 3,200 to 4,100 m (10,500 to 13,500 ft). Overlooking the city is the triple-peaked Illimani, which is always snow-covered and can be seen from most of the city. 

The airport is actually set higher than the city so you effectively drive around three quarters of the bowl to get to our hotel. 

Our hotel is gorgeous. We are staying in the Stannum Boutique hotel. 

http://www.stannumhotels.com/movil/

Greeted by a lovely cup of coco tea which is supposed to help combat altitude sickness. This stuff is from the leaves of cocaine plants and apparently you would technically fail a drugs test after having a few. We don't feel any of these nice effexts though! We are however really feeling the effects of the altitude particularly as we left from sea level. We are so short of breath and continue to be for the rest of the night. Even short walks take it out of us. No wonder there are oxygen tanks everywhere! 

Great view from our room. 

Overlooking the little old British Embassy. 

Plush hotel room. Might even push the treat ourselves and push the beds together tonight! ;-)

Hotel doesn't look much from the outside but is great. 

We go for a walk around but it is pretty dead as it's a Sunday night. Most restaurants are closed and as were are tired and short of breath we decide to eat at the hotel. Gorgeous setting with the fire on as the temperature drops outside. 

And gorgeous food. I go for the local speciality which is just beef, chicken, chorizo, sausage, onions, peppers and fries. Damn tasty!

Nat flagging. Time for bed to watch the Golden Globes.