For years people have been asking me why I haven’t visited South America yet, to which I have always replied “I’ll get there one day. There are so many places in the world I want to see” or something similar.
It seems that the time has finally come as I will be jetting off to Chile for 11 days in January 2016. I booked at the end of June, only a few weeks after coming back from Central Asia, but didn’t want to post anything here until my blog from that previous trip was online. It’s a shame I can’t stay longer, due to work commitments, otherwise I would have travelled extensively around Chile or seen other countries in the area, but I know I’ll have a good time regardless.
I’m not sure what I’ll be seeing when I’m in Chile. Obviously I’ll be seeing Santiago, as that is where my flight goes, but beyond that nothing is definite. There have been suggestions of visiting Valparaíso, Viña del Mar, La Serena and the wineries in the valleys near Santiago but it’ll probably be a little while before anything is set in stone. I will also have to wait until nearer the time to see how the recovery from the recent magnitude 8.4 earthquake and Tsunami progresses before making any commitments to visit the coast.
There will be a lot of flexibility on this trip as I’m travelling on my own to visit a friend, rather than being part of an organised group, so I can see what I want and won’t have to deal with problematic group members. Maybe I’ll visit Punta Arenas or fly up to the Atacama for a few days but maybe I’ll stay close to Santiago, we will see when I get there.
South America is a region of the world that always comes highly recommended by people who like to travel so I’m glad I will finally be able to see part of it for myself. It’ll be very hot in January, but I’ll be fine. I prefer colder weather but after my nights shivering in sub-zero temperatures at Song-Kul Lake in Kyrgyzstan it’ll be nice to go somewhere hot!
I’m in the process of improving upon the Spanish which I learned in school in order to be able to communicate with the Chilean people without having to rely on my friend to translate. In Chile they speak a complicated variety of Spanish so it may not be too easy but I’ll do my best. I’m planning to visit Madrid for a few nights some time before Christmas in order to get some hands-on experience with the language before Chile.