All over and so soon

Finally, after a full recovery but a late start we were all up and about and ready to face the day, which by the way was glorious and sunny. We had a bit of lunch then headed into down town Santiago. It was so quiet in the town. Most of the shops were closed along with many of the bars and restaurants. Finally, after much wandering about, we found a bar which insisted that we order something to eat before serving us our Pisco sours and Brian's Mango sour which was absolutely awful.

He then ordered a beer or Schomp which is a draft beer. He waited and waited, waited and waited. The wind blew my Pisco sour over, straight onto Brian's lap and still he waited for his beer. Eventually, after getting someone's attention, we found out that there was no Schomp blonde so an amber Schomp was ordered. We waited and waited, waited and waited and then were informed that this too had run out. With a certasin amount of resignation and the bill paid, off we went. Eventually we found a shop that sold sunglasses for me, which was what we had set off to buy in the first place. Very close by we found a bar that finally brought us some beer. Big, big bottles of the stuff. All our shopping complete, we hailed a taxi to take us back to the apartment. What a stroke of luck. The cab driver, Roberto or Bob to us, had lived in London when he was a young man and spoke perfect English. He gave us his card and asked us to contact him if we needed anything.


The following day was much cloudier but still warm. We went to watch the changing of the guard but found that it wasn't on on a Sunday so we got the metro back


in perfect timing for being collected to go horse riding in the mountains.
What a laugh. None of us were over confident. Richard is incredibly tall and needed a big horse. He told us that he usually gets horses named Killer but on this occasion it was called Diego. Brian's horse just hadn't got much get up and go in him and Brian definitely was not comfortable with no throttle or brakes. Me, even though Suzanne told me I had a good posture on the horse, felt quite nervous initially. We went through some beautiful scenery and had some challenging ground to cover going down steep drops, across rivers and up the steep embankment on the opposite side.




Despite the fact that neither Brian nor Richard were what could be called competent riders, they kept insisting on racing each other, trying to beat the other round tight bends and along narrow paths. I laughed so much my jaw started to ache. At the end of the day, with trembling, shaking legs we dismounted and managed to hobble over to a waiting beer. The guy who owned the land offered Brian a recently removed sheepskin, still having a little blood and guts on the inside.


He thought that this would protect Brian's bum when riding on the shed. On the way back to the apartment we decided t go to one of the local watering holes to celebrate a good days riding. I won't tell you how much the bill came to but we all knew that we hadn't drunk the amount on the receipt, but hey, what can you do.


The following day, Monday, we went back to watch the changing of the guard. Another beautiful, sunny day and the pomp and ceremony was well worth going to see. This was something that Bob, the cab driver, had recommended. He came to pick us up in the evening and took us to a fish restaurant called the Ocean Pacifco.


What a fantastic experience. You have to take a camera when you go, so much to see and then the food - perfecto!

Tuesday and it was time for Richard to get ready to leave. Bob came to the apartment to lead Brian and the shed to Gabriel who was going to carry out a service.


Richard had brought lots of spare parts over and we were all pleasantly surprised at how big a concern Gabriel's place was. The shed safely delivered we went to a mal to get bag for the camping gear (the original had rotted and came apart when we took it off the back of the shed) and then just time for a spot of lunch before heading for the airport with a pannier lid in hand. Once Richard was checked in and Brian had bought a Santiago sticker we headed for a final drink together. Richard had the honour of putting the sticker on the pannier. A duly deserved honour having traveled all this way.

It became quite tough knowing that the time was nearing for saying our farewells.

I had a fantastic few days whilst Richard was here. He told me some very funny stories and he and Brian are quite a pair when they are together. He is Brian's best friend and he couldn't have better. Thanks for everything sweetie. It truly was great to have you here and your support on this 'unsupported' trip is very much appreciated.