Goodbye NZ (2.) - Hello Santiago

The last heading was 'Goodbye New Zealand', but in order to sell our car, we had to return to New Zealand for just over a week. We drove straight to a car market in Auckland on Saturday morning from Rarotonga, but unfortunately without success. We tried the same thing again on Sunday at another market. We knew it was almost hopeless to get rid of the car, as the backpacker season was over. Winter is coming and there are hardly any travelers coming to New Zealand to buy a car. Well, we wanted to at least give it a try.

After this frustrating weekend, we drove to Bay of Islands and met up with Luisa and Amelie, whom we met during our time in New Zealand. We enjoyed two wonderful days in Paihia and Russell, celebrating Amelie's birthday.

We still hadn't sold our car, so we had an appointment (Wednesday, April 19) with our car dealer, who promised to buy it back for half the purchase price; in this case, 3900 NZD. Suddenly, he didn't remember his promise anymore and said, 'the tires are completely worn out', 3000 NZD is the best he can offer. The car dealers have the upper hand, the season is over, prices are low, and tourists need to get rid of their cars. We agreed on 3200 NZD with the option to keep the car until next Tuesday.

Feeling frustrated, we drove to Piha and decided to go back to Auckland after a nearly sleepless night to visit other car dealers in the hope of getting a better offer. The effort paid off because we met a dealer who didn't want to buy our car, but promised to help us after hearing our story. He was very upset and considered it a 'shame' when someone doesn't keep their word. He seemed very annoyed by the business methods of his colleagues, which also tarnish his reputation.

Long story short: he called our dealer, gave him a piece of his mind, threatened serious consequences, and ensured that we would receive our 3900 NZD on Tuesday.

We spent the last few days in New Zealand in Piha, a beautiful and relaxed place on the West Coast, enjoying the best weather. It was a very nice ending and farewell to our time in New Zealand. We felt quite nostalgic, but our next destination awaited us.

Report on Santiago de Chile will follow - our eyes are closing.

Good night

SANTIAGO DE CHILE

We have now been in Santiago for 6 days, and we must say that it is not a pretty city, but it is an interesting one. For us, there are quite a few stark differences compared to New Zealand: the city is not nearly as clean and 'neat', every free wall surface is covered in graffiti, which is why many facades are adorned with some really beautiful pictures. The windows of buses and subways are scratched, tents are set up in the middle of the sidewalks or dirty mattresses are lying around. All buildings are fenced off (the entrances and lower windows) to protect against burglars - a stark difference from the completely safe New Zealand. It gives us an uneasy feeling. Additionally, the air here is so dry that I even want to moisturize my usually greasy hair.

We have a very nice accommodation. Initially, we had a small, cold 'hole' of about 15 sqm, but we were able to switch to a bright apartment of about 40 sqm in the same complex at the same price. We feel so comfortable here that we extended our stay by one more night.

Santiago doesn't have a typical old town. Beautiful, sometimes run-down buildings are interspersed with large residential blocks, so the entire cityscape is dominated by high-rise buildings. The 8 million inhabitants, half of the total population, have to live somewhere. But there are some beautiful parks, many interesting museums, churches, or palaces. Unfortunately, the whole city is constantly covered by a haze or smog (as you can see in the photos), so the beautiful views from the 300-meter-high skyscraper or from the mountain in the middle of the city to the snow-covered Andes are obscured.

The daytime temperatures are around 25 degrees, and the temperatures drop to 6 to 8 degrees at night (pleasant for sleeping - if it weren't for the street noise).

Tomorrow we are going to the coast to Valparaiso. We are still considering whether to travel to the southern part of Chile, Patagonia. It is autumn there now and the daytime temperatures are in the single digits. Not particularly cozy and also very expensive. The next report will provide more information.

Adios muchachos!