NEWS FROM CHILE

Well hello everyone, its been quite an adventure already. The flight from Paris to Santiago in Chile was very bumpy through the night, I managed about 1 hours sleep. At Santiago I was nearly the last off as I was at the back of the aircraft, whe I stood at the lugguage carousel I realised thast i was watching the last few bags going around and my small case was missing. I had tried to put everything into one sall rucksack but there was too much for that with 9 days on the trip. So thyere I was withy no fresh clothing. My friend Ricardo was waiting outside fort me not knowing the delay, likewise the tour company. Air France with their usual finesse just shrugged and give you a cheap pack of Chinese rubbish toileties for which I had no need.

We had a good time filming the trolleybuses in Valparaiso, there were about 18 in service on Monday there will be 24 or so. Ricardo guided me around safely and we made friends with several of the trolleybus staff. There were several Pullman trolleys original, those with standee windows ad the converted types, plus Swiss artics and 2 Chinese buses. They were all in reasonb le condition much better than in past years.

After filming Ricardo took me to shop for clothing. It became apparent that there was no summer clthingh as it was the start of autumn, no short socks in Chile and no short sleeved shirts. The belt I bought was too small but my trousers were slipping down, loose for the flight but no good trolley bashing. Trousers are impossible they only have long ones which are tailored to size, scissors was suggested! The sales assistant was Robert Hardy , Mandys maiden name, I asked for family discount!
I had a bit of a rip off meal in the best restaurant but service was rushed and it was draughty , food was passable, wine very good, but then it should be. Many of the funiculars are out of service.

Today is Sunday, I started out at about 8.30 am and by 10.30 had been robbed of my caera in a street snatch. I gave chase shouting loudly but he went onto some waste land down an alley and escaped. There seemed to be plenty of witnesses around, one kind family gave me some water while calling the police.

A van full of detectives arrived in plain clothes, plus later some regular police, also in on the chase were carabeneiri on bikes. They had the area well covered while I was driven around trying to spot what I thought had been a child although it was actually a rough looking shortish man who had come very close to me a minute before the snatch.

The police fanned out through the rough patch of land with guns drawn it was quite something, anyway after just one hour the carabineiri had the robber in handcuffs. I thought it would have been fill in a form and hand to insurance but they even had my camera recovered.

The next few hours were at the police station where I was treated very well, there was a one man ID parade, sort off, as he had the camera it seemed reasonable to identify him as the thief whatever! With lots of forms to be completed I had a coffeee while I waited and eventually they dropped me off near the shared taxi rank which goes back up to the Ultramar hotel. A small boutigue hotel, noisey because of design but lovely staff.

The day got better when I returned to find my lugguage had arrived. So after this blofg I will repack and get ready for my departure tomorrow to Santiago thence onwards on the overnight bus to Argentina, hope I have a more sedate time there!