Arrived Santiago, Chile

Hola all from Santiago, Chile!

I've given up on sleeping for now. It's 3.10am (I'm 14 hours behind you) and people are playing guitar outside! So after two hours of lying here awake I thought writing the blog might tire me a bit. 

So here I am at the very start of my big 2015 adventure. It was a really hard week of difficult goodbyes and lots of tears to be honest. The whole thing has overwhelmed me for a little while now, but before I know it I'll settle in. 

At 3.30am on Sunday the 4th Mum, Dad, Adam, Ash, Brendon and Ash's Dad Garry all left with me to go to the airport. I was the first flight out so we had to wait for the departures gate to open up. I thought I did pretty well saying goodbye, didn't cry too much. But if I'm honest I was a bit of a mess once I got through the gate, while I waited for my flight and on the flight itself! Goodbyes are so hard when you know you're going for so long. 

My first flight was to Auckland and I slept pretty well all the way. I've had some pretty awful tummy aches recently and the stress of leaving/being upset about saying goodbye didn't help so I couldn't really stomach any food. It went fairly quickly though. Then I had four hours to kill in Auckland. My next flight was an 11 hour one directly to Santiago. Kept telling myself it wasn't as bad as Europe flights so that got me through! I was very fortunate to be in a two seat row next to the window and due to my short legs (thanks mum and dad) I could curl up and lie down. I reckon I got about 6-7 hours of sleep! Watched two movies and was even able to eat a bit of food. 

When I arrived at Santiago airport I had to pay my US $117 reciprocity fee and en queued up in the huuuuuge immigration queue. Luckily the time passed easily as I met a retired couple called Maryanne and Richard from Adelaide. We had all travelled to a lot of countries so compared our visas and stamps in our passports and shared lots of stories. Before we knew it we were at the front of the queue and got through pretty quickly. 

Anyone who has seen me in the last week (especially the last few days) would know that even though I was excited about this trip I was also really anxious. So when I came through the arrivals gate it was so lovely to have people waiting for me. Elena, a girl that I taught on my teaching rounds in September has moved back here with her family (they are from Chile but lived in Melbourne for 4.5 years). Elena wasn't able to come to the airport but her Mum (Alejandra), Dad (Fernando) and two younger sisters (Paula and Andrea) were. I walked through the gate to see their smiling faces and them holding a sign with my name on it and an Australian flag. 

We drove to their house which is to the east of the city a little bit and spent the afternoon chilling out a bit. I had a shower and went for a bit of a swim in their pool (it was 37 degrees - yikes!). Later in the afternoon some of their friends from Melbourne (who are Chilean and English) and some Chilean friends came over. There were 13 people all speaking Spanish and I know three words!! Everyone was very friendly though :)

I had a nap which was intended to be for half an hour but turned into an hour and a half. Then Fernando and I went and picked up Elena from the train station, it's great to see her again! She's a really friendly girl, just as friendly as I remember her from Psychology. 

When we got back home I was really struggling and caved, going to bed at 6.30pm. I had intended to stay up but I felt hot, sick and tired so gave in hoping I would feel better in the long run. Now I've been wide awake since 1am and there are people playing guitar in the street at 3am!!! Never mind. 

Later today I'm being taken sightseeing which I'm really looking forward to, the mountains surrounding the city are stunning. They're part of the Andes, and even though it's so hot they're so high that in the distance you can see snow on them!!

So that's a wrap for day one of the year. There'll be a lot more posts to come! If I ever don't post it's due to having no wifi most likely, but I will as much as possible. 

Missing you all already,

Love

Claire

Xoxox