Chile! Finally...

---

Hello world!

Zach and I finally made it to Chile! Over 4 days...more like 5 days later we got to Santiago. The ride wasnt too bad. It wasnt on a very nice bus (seats didnt recline very far, not much leg room, and food wasnt included) but the people were really really cool! We crossed from Ecuador to Peru with little problem and got to Lima easily too. We stayed on the same bus from there... for some 60 hours. Everything went really well, except the morning after we crossed the border into Chile. EVERYONE (50 people or so) on the bus had stomach issues. Mustve been that chicken at the border... So the bus driver would pull over every few minutes to let people out to... ya know... relieve themselves. This is in the middle of the ATACAMA DESERT! It was really a great way to get into Chile! Luckliy we had a mom-away-from-mom that gave Zach a remedy and also had us all rub Vapor rub on our stomachs... odd but effective! The ride had some great scenery: moutains, mountains, and desert. It was weird to see nothing but sand for 2 days but the sunrises and sutsets were incredible. The stars at night were also amazing...tons and tons and tons of them!

We arrived in Satiago at 2am and caught a taxi. The hostel we wanted to go to was booked so we went around the corner to another hotel...which happened to be a pay by the hour hotel. haha. So we paid for 12 hours. It was SPOTLESS and pretty nice. We left in the morning and went to another hostel which is really cool. We've spent the past few days exploring the city (we thought our group got here today but it isnt until tomorrow...booooo) and eating (and I might have got a pedicure). We got Yogen Fruz today! (Frozen yogurt that you pick what fruit goes in it and ill just say you are missin out in the States...dont worry its coming there soon!) We went and saw Juno. Its an AWESOME movie...go see it! Santiago... its similar to Buenos Aires. Lots of pretty, stylish people, and peole with money. Which means stuff is back to being expensive, even MORE expensive than Buenos Aires and their subway is brand new and MUCH nicer than BsAs or NYC. They have a ton of street dogs and they are HUGE! Like mastiff huge... its crazy. But people leave out bowls of food and water so they are well taken care of. Its just bizarre to see so many dogs in a city that is so upscaleThe weather has been a perfect 70 or 80 and lots of sun. Hopefully it will be like this in Valparaiso when we get there.

Well, I meet all the new people tomorrow and we will spend 4 (hopefully all paid for) days in Santiago before heading together to Valparaiso!


OH PS Happy Leap Year!!

---