Since returning to Santiago, we've taken things quite easy really even though we've done more on this visit that we did a week or so ago. We started by climbing San Cristobal, a small hill in Santiago. Well, when I say climb I actually meant that we went up on a funicular railway. Although Santiago is quite smoggy, we could still see a fair way and it was quite warm too (somewhere in the twenties). We had been on the lookout for some English books but had drawn a blank. We cooked spaghetti that night and caught an episode of CSI on a Spanish channel before retiring for the night. I also sampled half a bottle of a very drinkable Chilean Merlot and beat Claire at Canasta by a small margin.

The following day, Thursday, we took the metro across town to Providencia to find a second hand bookshop that specialised in English books. We successfully managed to swap our old books (including the very funny Mr. Nice) for some new ones that will keep us busy on the beaches in Tahiti. We also called in to see El Dia Despues de Manana at a local cinema. It looked pretty some of the time but was a bit pants really. (In case your Spanish is as bad as ours, it translates to The Day After Tomorrow.) We also consumed some rather nice doughnuts, the rest of our spaghetti and the remaining Merlot. I won at Canasta again (scoring a personal best of 3000+ points in the final round), and Mau Mau but Claire whipped me at Snap.

On Friday, we went to the zoo and saw lots on fun animals. Unfortunately it was too dark for photos (except for one of a tiger) so Gav will have to take our word that there were lots of monkies. Being a Friday, we had a lazy night a ordered pizza. We're so bad.

Saturday, today, is our 5th wedding anniversary. I had asked permission of the hostel to flood the place with wine (and why not) and so they knew. When we woke up, they gave us a small bunch of flowers which was very sweet of them. We went shopping and bought a huge chocolate cake for everyone to share and some fillet steaks for us. We spent the afternoon wandering around the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art and then went back to the hostel to cook, open lots of wine and slice the cake.

So, that's about it for now. I'm full and currently under the influence of four hundred rabbits (look at our Mexico diaries for Pulque if you need an explanation). You could also say that I'm three sheets to the wind. Nevermind. A leisurely morning tomorrow followed by a flight to Easter Island.