Santiago

Day 1 (Monday): Walking down the streets of Santiago, I was immediately embraced with South American charm. My new friend Jorge was kind enough to take me on a five and a half hour walking tour starting at 10 and making our way til 3:30, wth lunch and a stop for icecream inbetween. We started out in the BellaVista Barrio. Jorge showed me where he grew up and then we walked down the central park, which was very well manicured. As we walked Jorge explained the wide range of European influence. Obviously, the Spanish have played a large role but so have the Germans and to a lesser extent have the English and the French. There is a large German population in Chile as the government actively sought them out to settle some of the unpopulated southern land. We saw sights along the way, including the museum, the president's mansion. The architecture ranged from French Maison on top of cobbled streets to new sky scrapers on eight line highways. That evening at sunset I walked up the Cerro San Cristobal, a hill which lies within the city. Santiago is smoggy but at sunset one gets a beautiful view of the city surrounded by mountains. Later that night, I went with some good guys I met here, Jake and Everett to go grab dinner and a tërremoto. I stayed out till around two with Jake, Everett, two chileans and a brazilian we met.

Day 2 (Tuesday): Jorge and his niece, Consuelo, rented a car to visit a local cove of beaches about two hours away and graciously invited me along. Mari, a girl who was staying in my hostel, asked if she could join. Jorge was happy to include her and off the four of us went. We started in Con Con, the less developed Northern end, which reminded me of the carribean. We ate fresh fish and shared a bottle of wine in a restaurant catering to locals. The portions were big and the fare was excellent. After lunch, we worked off a few of the calories walking on the it beach of Chile, Renaca. The water was beautiful but cold, the waves were large and the surroundings were posh. After our walk, we drove to Vina del Mar. We sat outside and endulged our tastebuds again, this time with ice cream. I had been worrying prior about losing to much weight, now my worries have shifted to the other side of the pendelum. Our last stop, was the main port of Valparaiso. It was the most developed, with homes rolling back into the hills like in Southern California. Note to of advice, this is one of the nicest resort areas I have been to and it is cheap. Everyone wants to go there in January and Feburary so the other times are incredibly reasonable. A 2/2 can be rented for near $300 a month in off season. November was nice and I am sure December is even nicer. We drove back to town, said our goodbyes and I took a nap. I went out to dinner with Jake and Everett. We came back and then I went out with a group of five others. Mari from earlier (U Florida), two Michigan guys, a Minnesota guy, and a USC girl. I had to defend Buckeye nation with all my might. Fortunately, Michigan gave me lots of ammunition. We went to a club and stayed there till near 4am. And we were the Gringos who left early. That on a Tuesday.

Day 3 (Wednesday): Bought a bus ticket for tomorrow. Thursday at 7pm. I did some roaming on my own saw my third union demostration in three days. Apparently, it is part of the culture. Some government workers were on strike yesterday, including the border patrol. I knew some guys who were supposed to go back to Argentina yesterday but the bus got turned around as the borders were closed. Back to my wandering. I found a couple neat outdoor markets, where I people watched and had my first empanada, the country's most universal food. It is a sweet bread enclosing meat, onions, etc. It cost me about $1.00 and was very good. While walking around, I often have to remind myself that I am in South America. It seems so European for good stretches. My spanish is getting a little better. Starting at 0, that didn't take much though. Now I can order food, ask some basic questions and understand numbers when spoken. I went to grab dinner and drinks with Jake, Everett, Mari and Matt (Aussie) at an authentic Chilean establishment, La Pojira. The group next to us was very friendly. They came over and asked us to sing with them. The leader seemed to love the Red Hot Chili Peppers (band name). It was a great time there and then at the next place they took us to.

Day 4 (Thursday): I am leaving today. I haven't done much but repack, checkout and work on school financial aid. I will likely go get an empanada in a bit then come back and get ready to go. I want to leave as much time as possible for getting at the bus station. I will be heading to San Pedro, Chile in the Atacama Desert. It is a 24 hour bus ride but meals will be provided, the bus is very nice with reclining seats and it only cost around $50. I am going to try and stay at the Hostal La Ruca but had trouble accessing their site, so I may have to stay somewhere else.

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