Sydney, Australia

Hi all. Have made it home at last. We had a beautiful morning for our arrival home. It was great to be able to see blue sky. Don’t laugh or scoff….this is a luxury! We don’t realise how lucky we are living in this part of the world. We have so much going for us apart from our Latitude, Longitude, ambient temperatures and favourable coastal currents….I could go on…..!!! In true Lat Am style, even the plane trip home was an experience. We left Santiago at about midnight Monday on a 767 full of World Youth Day kids, a few older chaperones and a couple of priests and nuns all making their way to Sydney to see Papa and for WYD. They were mostly Brazilians but there were a few Chileans as well. It was a strange flight with a kind of Flying Nun’ feel to it….those of you who are old enough to remember the show. I kept thinking that Sally Field would pop up out of one of the seats at any moment, complete with wimple and guitar,and burst into song….such was the atmosphere amongst the pilgrims on this flight. We spent our last day in Santiago on another day trip out of the city at the coastal resort area of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso. What a mistake this was. Think of a bad, Brighton Le Sands, perhaps crossed with a bit of Napoli slum architecture and this should give you some idea of what the place was like. But then, add the gloomy sea mist that lasts for most of the year and you have one depressing formula for a day. The sad thing though was that the guide was so terribly proud of this area, boasting how pretty it could be in the summer. Could be? I really wandered whether it would ever be possible to see past the terrible slums surrounding the city and to witness any beauty here at all. It had been a clear and sunny day higher up at the 500m altitude of the Santiago basin area and we really wished that we had stayed in town for the day and wandered around the city until our flight home. Anyway, home now and really glad to be so. Had a real adventure but, South America is a land of contrasts and is hard work. Cheers, until next time!