Didn't go to bed until about 3:30am and despite not drinking anything at all yesterday I woke up feeling crap about midday. I dozed fitfully until woken (as yesterday) by the cleaner sounding the buzzer about 1pm. I never have a clue what she's saying - it can't help talking to her through the door either - but I managed to put her off. She wanted to change something, although I don't know what.
After a hasty look at the guide book I thought I'd go over to Cerro Santa Lucia, a largish park in the centre (and a short walk from the hotel, as it turned out) which was supposed to have good views over the city. And it did, once I found my way in and up to the lookout tower. Half the gates are locked which makes getting in and out a bit tricky, and both entrances I saw had guys there asking you to write down your name and country before they'd let you in. I have no idea why, they didn't want to see any ID so you could put anything down. Maybe it's just statistics, but then why ask for your name? I alternate between being from Skegness and London in these circumstances, depending on my mood. I sometimes think Skegness sounds more exotic. :-)
While trying to get up to the lookout tower I was handed a flyer by a woman who then started talking to me. I got the impression she was advertising some sort of cultural event. She was very friendly and said nice things about my Spanish. Shortly afterwards we were joined by another two women and they claimed to be students at the university. They were very helpful and scribbled a number of interesting places to visit on the back of some more flyers. One of them was flirting with me, which should have put me on my guard, but I was feeling a bit overwhelmed to be honest. In the end it turned out they were asking for money (allegedly) to fund their studies. After talking to them for so long I felt compelled to unbelt. I was going to give them a couple of thousand pesos but unfortunately I pulled out a (blue) CLP10,000 note and one of them said 'can't we have the blue one?' For some dumb reason I gave it to her. It then transpired they were collecting individually and the others wanted
something too, but my fiscal sense finally kicked in and I told them they'd have to split it. I walked off in a daze feeling a bit of a moron. Oh well, it's only about £13 and they say experience is cheap at any price. I'm not sure exactly what I've learned though.
The view from the lookout tower was quite good and I've now definitely seen the Andes, although since there are two different mountain ranges either side of the city and I didn't know way I was looking, I couldn't tell which was which.
I went to the Casa Colorada afterwards, which was OK if a bit dull to be honest. It's CLP500 to get it but it turns out if you're that desperate to save money nothing at all stops you walking in through the back entrance.
I've just had a late lunch at a cheap cafe-type place near the Plaza de Armas and am having a post-prandial beer at a bar round the back of the Casa Colorada. I have no idea what I'm going to do this afternoon but I guess I'll go to some other museum kind of place if I can find one.
It's too hot for me today, but at least it isn't raining.
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