Sitting in our air conditioned room in Santiago I have to say thank heavens we are not in the hot box we started out in here at Santiago a lifetime ago at the beginning of our trip.

Last night was another long night flying from Puno to Lima and then, and after being delayed in Lima we didnt arrive until after 1am this morning. A few technical difficulties with our booking so sleep was slow coming and it has been another hot day!

I couldn’t believe it was Sunday and all the little special shops are shut for our last day! Also, after finally having some reasonable Spanish conversations in Peru we are back in Glasgow! I couldnt even order breakfast this morning without the shop assistant muttering “gringo” as he tried to explain the type of juice in Glaswegian! Jugo de naranga was all that I wanted Pedro! (orange juice) – and as I said “Soy de Australia! No soy de Estados Unida!” My beloved relied on me to tell them Jamon y Queso and pedro had trouble with comprehending that! I think thats enough about Pedro except to say he got no chow pescado from me!

So we skirted around the Plaza de Armas and had a good visit to the Cathedral de Santiago – photos permitted and all. It wasnt as old as the Cusco churches, nor as ornate, but it was very impressive anyway – with various Archbishops buried below also it seemed. We laughed at the traffic signals that showed a lighted green man walking who started to run as it got closer to turning red. Council would be sued in Australia if someone ran and fell over!

We found a small handicraft market and watched a number of street performers throughout the day, and we watched the illegals packup stalls as the police come through and open them seconds later. All in all it was quite a pleasant last day in Santiago.

In the evening we found a great little restaurant in Barrio Lassaria and saw some night markets and busking musicians, had one last pisco sour and enjoyed a nice pinot noir to farewell Sud America!!

Hasta luego Santiago!