Chance to Chill in Chile.

SANTIAGO, CHILE, 9 March, 2023.

We check out of the room before taking the shuttle bus to the airport. RJ wants to confirm that she doesn't need new immigration paperwork before this evening. It takes all of 5 minutes! So we sit at a cafe in the departure lounge to kill half an hour. The system is confusing. We queue at a sign saying Order Here until we're sent to a front bar. That's only for take away and we're told to sit at a table. Only the one we choose is not in use so we have to meet again! Finally, we get a coffee and a bun.

Phone the hotel and our shuttle bus driver arrives in 15 minutes. It's too hot to sit outside so we stay in the lobby until it's time to find some dinner. This morning we passed a restaurant on our walk so decided to give it a try. No menu without using a QR reader. And no WiFi access to help. So, we're left with trying to understand the waitress. It seems it's beef, chicken or hamburger. RJ tries the beef and is pleased with the choice. PG chooses the hamburger and it's awful. The burger is thick beef but the cheese plastic and the bread frozen. The red beer almost compensates for the poor food. And, it cost £33. We could only pay cash if we had the correct money, $34,217 to be exact, as if! We walk back to the hotel and meet Mike. An American of German extraction. He's married to an Irish girl from Donegal, lately of Kings Lynn.

He's going to Punta Arenas with his daughter tomorrow. Later, he notices that we've left RJ's bikini on the sunbed and shouts to let us know.

We're on the shuttle bus by 9pm. It's chaos at check-in. People are in groups everywhere. We try automatic check-in but it doesn't recognise us. After queuing and being checked for vaccinations in line, we finally check in the hold bag. Border Control is easy with no issue with RJ's missing documents. Security is slow but that's more to do with the passengers than the guards. People change lanes, make mobile calls and drag their heels generally. Attestation forms issued at check-in are collected and we receive a stamp on our boarding passes . We then get two more for having the correct documents. It feels like we're expected to shout Bingo at the end.

Boarding starts at 11pm but it seems desperately slow. We're amongst the last two be called. An Argentinian lad boards with us. He asks how we knew the call was for us as it was only made in Spanish. We tell him that we're learning Spanish but in truth we heard cinco and knew that was us. He thinks that the Spanish spoken in Chile is a lovely variant. The reason for the slow boarding becomes clear. All our cabin luggage is hand checked again before we're allowed to board. The planes takes off shortly after midnight. People were still standing and packing their luggage away. A strange mix of lax safety and over caution around the contents of our bags.