Holidaaaay!

Wow, I feel knackered. A week of travelling in the north staying in a different hostel every night is to blame, but what a week it was. Jessiquita and myself did make quite the rookie error though - staying out until 4am the night before a looong 7-hour bus journey is never a good idea.

Like the true intrepid travellers/fools that we are, we didn't book anything for the first night and so ended up staying in a cold, pokey motel-like institution with, according to our guidebook "the best breakfast in La Serena". It did include pancakes, so yum, although Jess was less than impressed by the homemade cherry jam that reminded her of rotting fruit.

The following five days were spent in pursuit of some truly authentic Chilean experiences: going to a "pampilla", a big festival-type-effort, on the day celebrating Chile's independence from Spain, which had a real-life rodeo(!); hanging out in a rocker bar and being informed by a creepy old man in broken English that we were a "nice group" and that he felt... "niiiiiiice"; seeing the night sky through a big telescope contraption at an astronomical observatory - the mooooon was well impressive; going on a tour of a distillery specialising in Pisco, the country's national tipple, a grape brandy that gives you a pretty harsh hangover.

Also, we met some cranky llamas and got surrounded by a gang of snarling stray dogs (they're everywhere here), so I'm not really feeling the love from the animal kingdom right now.

The cycle was completed by a drinking-game fuelled final night, leading to some typically mental moves from yours truly on the dancefloor of a reggaeton club. All together now: "...a ella le gusta la gasolina, dame mas gasolina!".

...and the riots continue.

Working at one of the most left-wing-educational-institutions-with-communist-affiliations in Santiago certainly makes life interesting. The first set of protests I wrote about took place around Chilean Labour Day, whereas this week they have been "practising" for September 11th; no, it's nothing to do with the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but instead marks the 1973 military coup, which signalled the end of Salvador Allende's socialist government and the beginning of Augusto Pinochet's tyrannical dictatorship.

Different motives, same methods; three times now I've had to rush towards the back entrance with a tissue covering my nose while masked protesters and police engage in an explosively symbolic confrontation. There's no need to fear though - the students are well-versed in dealing with such madness and have taken good care of me. A useful tip when dealing with tear gas: suck on a lemon, it will never have tasted so good.

Riots aside, I have had to contend with the city's chaotic transport system while manically searching for somewhere more permanent to live. I swear I will never complain about overcrowding on the tube again; changing lines on the Santiago metro with what seemed a like a thousand-odd others was a whole other experience. Thankfully, I've managed to find myself a lovely flat with mountain views and cable TV! Roll on amazingly over-the-top South American soap operas.

As for the work, it looks like I will mainly be assisting the teachers by acting as a human dictionary/sharing my uniquely "British" views on life - sounds well challenging don't it. I will also be expected to run a kind of "cultural program" on Wednesdays i.e. show films, play music and the like. Any other ideas would be very much appreciated. Did I mention I now have two weeks holiday? It's a hard life...

Riot!

The adventure begins...

I've been in Santiago almost a week now and, as the cliche goes, it's been a rollercoaster so far. Even before I got here, I had to contend with the absolute uselessness of airline companies - to cut a long story short, BA messed up which meant I had to stay the night in Madrid on my way over. On the plus side, it was in "the biggest hotel in Europe", an enormous 4* establishment with massive buffets included.

Arriving in a chilly Chile (yeah, I know - but it really was cold i tell thee!) at 7:30am on Tuesday morning, I was taken directly to the university I'm going to be working at and immediately proceeded to meet plenty of new faces - I was even thrust into an informal "getting to know you" session with some of the first years in which I had to explain the concept of "jet lag", something I knew just a little bit about at the time!

Due to another organisation messing up (this time the British Council), I had to stay the first few nights at an all-male Catholic residence across the road where I had a 9:30pm curfew - oh joy. Everyone was uber friendly though, and I'm now staying with one of the teachers while I look for a flat. First impressions of Santiago: sprawling, smoggy & just a bit chaotic, but with plenty of cool neighbourhoods, manic nightlife and the impressive snow-capped Andes overlooking it all.

I could probably write a whole lot more, but I don't want to send you to the land of nod quite yet. Just a little something to leave you with though: on my second and third day here, I experienced the joys of student riots (thankfully from within the confines of the English Department) - molotov cocktails were thrown, tear gas was deployed and classes were suspended, apparently just another day in the life of a santiaguino.

The reception building of the Uni