Life as James knows it

Crossing the border from Chile to Argentina by road through the Andes overnight was a little arduous, and having a 2 hour delay waiting at the bus station didn't help, but bought some visual rewards in the early hours of the morning with the rising if the sun. Getting out of the bus for border processing high up in the Andes at about 3am is a surreal experience, the air is crisp and it's extremely cold - I'm layered up with clothing including my gore-tex jacket. Jill and I held the customs line up which was a little awkward, I think this was due to our reciprocity fee paperwork. Checking of this paper work at borders other than Ministro Pistarini Airport has only been in place for about a week, and as we'd already crossed in and out of the Argentinian border once already I think the they were trying to work out the validity of our multiple crossings and the correct days remaining as this is our second entry into the country. There are many older tradition style vill...

Spent a bit of time today looking around the city at the mixture of architecture and of course, some of the sights. Looking along some of the streets it's easy to notice the mixture of building architecture - style, type, age. Some of the buildings of note are the presidential office, market and chief plaza. One interesting establishment where I took a visit was a Café con piernas (Spanish for Coffee with Legs - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Café_con_piernas), you should be able to pick out to which picture I'm referring. Also, took some time out to visit a prestige winery - Undurraga ...... very pleasant way to finish of the afternoon.

Santiago, a sophisticated city of approximately 5 million people which is about a third the entire Chile population. The architecture of the buildings in the city are quite contrasting. Earthquakes have flattened many of the colonial era buildings, and what remains has been left to decay to the point that tearing down an antique mansion is cheaper than restoration. Thus, the city consists of a mixture of modern skyscrapers or cement apartment buildings towering over 200 year old relics. The food is absolutely sensational, tapas at a vino bar this evening was a gastronomy experience. This is a part of the world that is big on the eating of meats, it would be hard to describe passion people here have for meat style culinary delights. Special note - Flying in over the Andes was a spectacular sight with numerous snow covered mountain peaks well above the cloud line, the highest peak rising to nearly 7000 metres. Tomorrow I plan on doing some more sight seeing, the city centre is qui...

After travelling for some time Jill and I safely arrive in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Must say, Aerolineas Argentinas probably isn't the most luxurious airline with whom I've travelled. Facilities seemed a little dated, I'm not saying it's old but it's possible the aircraft I was on may have actually been one that Jesus used when he was a traveller. Although, I did appreciate the old style leg room and the service was exceptional. Weird feeling having left Australia 7:30pm last night, and while on the plain had dinner, a sleep, then breakfast, land in Buenos Aires and find it's 7:00pm last night ...... again! However, this visit is just a quick stop over (return to Buenos Aires late next week) before leaving for Santiago, Chile early tomorrow morning. Hopefully I'll have adjusted to the time zone by then.