Rob and I were leaving later in the evening him to NZ and myself on a night bus to Mendoza Argentina so we had the day to explore more of Santiago. We came across a statue which included what looks like a fur seal being clawed by a lobster!

First stop was the Presidential Palace which has a few statues surrounding the front entrance and two fountains.

There are two ceremonial guards on horseback just inside the crowd control fencing. I guess they don’t have the same rules as the ones in front of Buckingham Palace as they were not statue still. There were also police around the fence line.

Across from the palace is one of the most massive flag poles and flags I have seen.

While we were standing there a few protestors jumped over the barriers and headed for the fountain carrying a sign which unfortunately Rob couldn’t translate and waving some odd flags. There was only one guy the rest were woman and one of them made it to the water. The police in their nicely polished shoes had to jump into the water after them and drag them out. Meantime the riot police were called in along with their dogs and the protestors were being handcuffed. A little bit of excitement ?

We went to the house of Pablo Neruna who was a Chilean Poet who got the Noble Prize in the early 70’s. The house is in three parts. The first part he built for his mistress to live in on her own while he divorced his wife. When he moved in with his mistress he added another part and then yet another part. He had a fascination with the sea so his houses are all in a ship theme. The first one is very narrow as it was built to one side of a stream and he must have been a short man as the ceilings are very low. Definantly a man of eclectic tastes with lots of different collections from around the world as he worked in the Chilean consulate in a few different countries.

Rob left before me it was odd to give him a hug and see him walk away after living with him for the last 14 months. Hopefully Tommy and Rob will be coming to see me next Northern winter for some California skiing if we are not all working South again! He is on to an adventure of cycling around the South Island of NZ and then to India to a course in guitar making (although he has already made a beautiful one).

I spent the night on the bus which was actually quite comfortable. It is necessary to take times with a pinch of salt in S America also the estimation of distances or numbers of blocks when taking directions. The supposed 6 hour trip was more like 9 and half hours which was fine as it meant we got to Mendoza at 7:30am. Getting through the border took about 3 hours as four people got full interrogation like me and my apple I guess. I was a little worried about using my British passport to enter but it seems there was not need to be – they are happy to take the pounds in tourism it seems.