Arrival at Santiago - amazing place!

I have now spent a week in Santiago, and have totally fallen for the place even with the limitations of going solo!
The plane journey from Mount Pleasant to Santiago was reasonably pleasant, got put in the responsible seats - the ones by the emergency exits where you are required to read a special leaflet to know what to do in an emergency. I loved the seats, for a start, the legroom was so amazing I had to slump considerably to even touch the seat in front. Also unless they have a completely full flight, they leave the seats in the middle free (each side has 3 seats), so plenty of room to stretch out! So slept the first half of the journey to Punta Arenas, where we all trooped off with our hand luggage, left Paul behind for his trekking (minus his hold luggage, hope he has got it now!) went through customs, and then trooped back on again. More sleeping and snacks, and we arrived in Santiago. I had organised to stay in the same hotel as the rest of the BAS people for the first night so it wouldnt be a total culture shock, but a separate transfer to the hotel. So after collecting my hold luggage, I went outside and located my transfer (guy with a board saying Brony Hull.... one day I will turn up somewhere and they will have my name right...) and had a long car journey to the Hotel Regal Pacific. This hotel has to be the most ridiculously expensive hotel (for S. America) I have ever been in, and all we were doing in it was sleeping, I will never understand BAS... I got there half and hour before the others and checked in easily (Mr Bryony Hull this time - the plane tickets were for Mrs Bryony Hull...). Found everyone, then agreed that people would call me if they were going anywhere, and wandered back to my room. Never got a call, discovered later that everyone thought I had gone off with everyone else, oh well! The room had a GIANT double bed, bath, shower and widescreen tv, very nice... Got up reasonably early the next morning as I couldnt remember when the others wre leaving and I still had to hand over my laptop to Rob to take back to BAS for me. Got downstairs to discover Huw and Hilary there, so went to breakfast (included of course!) with them. They had enormous quantities of fresh fruit, bread products, scrambled egg, bacon, fresh fruit juices and cakes. I had a large plate of scrambled eggs and bacon, a huge bowl of strawberries and a plate full of pastries which were crammed full of chocolate filling.... mmm.... didnt need lunch! turned out they were all leaving at 3 (my hotel transfer was at 12) so bumped into Rob, handed over my laptop, then sat down with one of the Rotherites (sorry cant remember his name - very nice guy) and David Pearce, and discussed Santiago. The upshot - no bad areas, all pretty safe, make sure I visit the Museo Chileano de Arte Precolumbino (I am sure you can translate that!) and San Cristobal. So off I toddled with my luggage to my new hotel after some goodbyes and good lucks all round. This is where I am now, the Hotel Galerias, booked til Sunday when I fly to Peru. Very nice hotel, again a little on the expensive side for S. America (dirt cheap in UK!) but at the time of booking, it was a question of finding me somewhere at all! Amazing location, right in the heart of downtown Santiago which I have thoroughly explored and almost know my way around! Arrived at the hotel to discover I couldnt check in til 2pm (it was half 12) so left my luggage with them, and found a little park (later I was to discover this tiny park was right next to Santa Lucia Hill, a gorgeous park, but I missed out that day!), sat down and started perusing my spanish phrasebook (I had even forgotten gracias on the plane so some memorising was required!). At half 1, I was interrupted by a man handing out love poems (translation in english provided - urgghh!), unfortunately he spoke good english so I couldnt escape from the recitation of his life story - father exiled to Manchester by Pinochet, universities privatised by Pinochet, doing a medical degree, very expensive... then after listing a dozen places my group should visit (I didnt admit I was by myself of course!) on the back of the poem which was rather nice of him I thought, he requested money. I caved - after all it was nice to talk to someone in English when surrounded by Spanish speakers! Didnt give him a lot though and eventually he went away, telling me to be careful of the bad men that could prey on me because of my hair colour... hmmm... Wandered back to the hotel, checked in, and then Im afraid I watched TV and slept!