The Vega and Avenida Suecia

I went with David (dad's friend) to the hostel and dropped off my bag. It looked pretty cool. With a pool, bar and wireless internet. Then I went to the Vega which is a huge fruit and veg market where David exports fruit to other countries. It's not like any of the other places in Santiago that I've been. It's like proper south america or what I imagined it to be.

I got back to the hostel and found out that there was a bed for me (you get put on a waiting list and so have to phone at one each day until you get a bed.). Not long after I'd arrived my Dutch friend Marja turned up because she'd just got her purse knicked on the Plaza de Armas. We went to a call centre and she cancelled her cards and then went to the police station to report the robbery. That was quite amusing as the policeman didn't seem to be able to type or spell properly and need two other not very intelligent officers to help him. They were quite funny though and were joking with us.

In the evening I went round to Marja's and we cooked with her flatmates who were very multicultural (German, Dutch and American) but only spoke in Spansih which was good practise.

We went to a bar afterwards at one. That's normally going home time in England but people head out at that time here. We went to an area called Avenida Suecia which was a bit of a meat market but then left pretty sharpish and went to have a drink in Providencia (the area that Marja lives) which was much more pleasant and got back in at 5. I stayed at Marja's as I didn't want to wait for the tube and it's a long way back to where my hostel is in Barrio Brasil.