CHILE

Good morning iCAN!

Well, I´ve finally arrived in Chile after what has certainly felt like an epic journey. I´ve spent the past 2 weeks on the north island in New Zealand, where I was Best Man at my mate Grahams wedding - it was a stunning setting on the beach (with black sand) and we took most of the wedding pics up in the caves and crevices of the cliffs - can´t wait to see how they look ... although my hair looked pretty wild (which I didn´t know about until we returned to the reception and I saw my reflection for the first time in a couple of hours!)

Onto my journey to Chile ... as most of you I´m sure will know, there was a massive earthquake here on Saturday which reached 8.8 on the richter scale - in comparison it was 500 times more powerful than the earthquake which devastated Haiti in January. Scientists have concluded that the shake was so strong, it has altered the orbit of the earth and shortened the length of each year ... do any of you know how much shorter each year will be from now on¿ (I can´t find a question mark the right way up on this keyboard!). There was lots of uncertainty whether I would actually arrive in Chile, as the main airport in Santiago has been closed. In fact when I went to check in yesterday in Auckland I was given the option of staying in a hotel in Auckland for a few days until they could confirm the airport would be receiving incoming flights and would be fully operational. But as I wanted to get to Chile so that I could volunteer in the relief effort, there was really no decision to make, so I took a chance and boarded the plane to Buenos Aires (Argentina) where I would see if I could catch my connection.

On my flight across South America towards Buenos Aires I saw the most amazing sight from the window ... we flew over what appeared to be an active volcano. The smoke/steam was pumping out of the centre and the surrounding 5km or so of land was glowing pink and orange in the heat. Can any of you track down which volcano it might have been - it was about 2 hours on the plane SW or SSW of Buenos Aires. I only wish I´d taken a flip-clip to show you all!

However, the attached clip is me looking tired, bedraggled and in need of a shave at Buenos Aires airport (I´ve tried uploading but my batteries have just died - will hopefully attach next time). After a few hours delay ... luckily the onward flight to Santiago was going to be happening (the first one since Saturday) I was on my way to Chile.

On arrival at Santiago airport we had to stay on the plane for what seemed like hours, as they offloaded all the baggage from the hold (... just my luck, when I´d only brought carry on baggage with me ... my mates in NZ think I must be the lightest traveller ever as my whole bag only weighed 6kg ... for the 11 weeks that I´m away!). I had packed all the essentials though ... 1 pair trousers, 2 pairs of shorts, 3 t-shirts, 2 shirts, 3 boxers, 1 pair trainer socks, 1 pair crocs and 1 pair flip-flops, along with a couple of books (both of which I´ve already read on the plane) and my phone and flip. It felt a bit like a warzone getting off the plane and reminded me of programmes I´d seen about evacuees during the WW2 - we were all being directed (in Spanish ... I just followed everyone else) by a lady on a loud speaker. There was no entry to the terminal building, just makeshift tents next to the runway. Everyone had to collect their luggage which was all in a pile next to the runway and then make one straight line ... I didn´t get the straight line bit at first and was put in place by the guy in front who thought I was pushing in! Once we were all in a straight line (which felt like it took another hour, whilst everyone found their luggage) we had to put all our bags on the floor and the sniffer dogs worked their way down the line, checking we weren´t carrying anything we shouldn´t be. Then we progressed, in single file, to the police who checked and stamped passports before being allowed to leave. And that was that ... I was in Chile with only a few words of basic Spanish and no means of making my way into the centre, as the ATM I´d been hoping to access at the airport was down! I eventually managed to flag down a taxi driver, Philippe, who took me to the centre and an ATM then onto my apartment, which I´ve rented for the first couple of days whilst I get my bearings and sort myself out to head south.

So, after a HUGE sleep (waking up at 3pm local time ... does anyone know how many hours ahead of PP I am here¿) I headed into the city to buy a sim card and find this internet cafe! I´ve also made a contact at the Red Cross so will hopefully be able to update you with my volunteering in my next mail. My planned route whilst in South America is:
March in Chile
March/April in Bolivia
April in PeruMay in Argentina
iCAN on Monday 17th May!

Let me know if there´s anything I should definitely be visiting on my travels - the next couple of weeks or so will most likely be spent volunteering in the south of Chile.

Amigos Mr. D