Clear with a Slight Haze

The title was the forecast given to us as we came into Santiago Chile. After 12 hrs. of flying from New Zealand we flew in across the coast line to a sight that made us go "So that's what a mountain range looks like". The snow capped mountains (literally capped although some were like many older gentlemen with more of a dusting than a proper cap) were new to Jill and I .

Santiago airport could be a lovely place to photograph the forest preceding the snow capped mountains but the haze turned out more to be a bit more than the slight than us Australians are used to . We could see the end of the runway but only because that was where the lights of the incoming plane approached the ground. The mountains were just visible above the haze.

Apparently this is a standard view for Santiago and it is no real surprise as the view of Chile so far has been mountains with the valleys filled with settlements and farming. Without a stiff breeze these places would not get the fresh air that we are so used to.

The Chileans have been very friendly (I have to say that since Delfin our leader is Chilean) including a young girl at Starbucks (yes Starbucks are attempting to take over the world). She took my order for a hot chocolate but only after exclaiming in Spanish and climbing up on the counter rather excitedly to demonstrate how short she was (depending on your view of the world). At least the comments about my height will be in another language so I won't have heard all of them before.

Jill and Simon are fitting into their roles as South American Missionaries;
Simon was greeted on the plane from Sydney as if he was a local returning home while Jill could easily pass for one of the locals. The rest of the Australians (Delfin not counted) still stood out like sore thumbs. Alex was doing his best by wearing a hat he had purchased on a previous trip.

Upon our arrival we were handed a brochure about the VIP lounge and how it has been open up to the public for a small fee of US$30, this includes free drinks, internet, showers etc... but we decided to sit just outside the lounge and hook into the wireless network, so we didn't have to pay, and as our boarding passes for the Santiago to Lima leg were not able to be printed out in Sydney and we had to line up in Chile and wait for them to be printed we were given a free meal each at one of the local restaurants, and I must say the food was very nice.