A few particular memories from my couple of days in Santiago:

• Breakfast small-talk at the hostel quickly escalated into a full-blown debate on the problem of immigration and how best to solve it. Hearing perspectives from all around the world is always eye-opening and enlightening.
• Not a single Chilean spoke any English to me.
• Buying a SIM card and topping it up is a complex and unintuitive process. Apparently the pharmacy is where you have to go to top it up. Who knew?!
• Buying a socket adaptor is equally complex and unintuitive. After asking in about 8 shops I finally found one that sold them. But you first have to ask one assistant who finds it on their website and fills out the form, asking you lots of questions along the way (‘Your Chilean tax number please?’). Then you take the order form and go to the cashier at the back of the shop to pay. Then you take your receipt and go upstairs to collect your purchase from another assistant. All explained in super-fast Spanish.
• The Santiago metro (subway) system is excellent. And their cards are called ‘Bip!’ – which I find vaguely amusing.
• I walked up Cerro San Cristobel, a hill near the centre of town, offering views over all of Santiago and the surrounding mountains. Apparently I look sufficiently like a local as I was constantly being asked for directions etc in Spanish.
• The ‘free’ (tips) walking tour is excellent. Our guide, Felipe, was everything a guide should be – clear, informative, interesting and funny. After the tour four of us headed to the fish market for a late lunch at one of the fish restaurants. I had the most amazing, rich, cheesy crab cake. You’d have to taste it to believe me but I can’t wait to go back and have it again!