¿Chile?

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¡Hola de Sudamérica!

After what seems like an eternity of counting down, I can´t believe we´re finally here! This is only the third day, and already so much has happened that it´s hard to keep track.

The plane ride from Atlanta to Santiago was the longest one I´ve ever taken, clocking in at a whopping 9.5 hours. The best part was that it was overnight! Awesome. Nobody was able to sleep well, and as a result we´re all just now recovering from our travel-induced exhaustion.

Stepping off the plane, nothing really seemed different from the United States, and it almost felt like we had just traveled to Miami or something--it was hot (a record 96 degrees F) and everything was written in Spanish. However, when we boarded the bus and took a trip through town toward our hotel, it was obvious that we had changed continents. We saw mountains, shanty towns, horses randomly on the side of the road (!), and some really horrible drivers. Bienvenidos!

I don't want this is to be so long that no one wants to read it, so I'll hit some highlights.


*I haven't gotten sick from the water yet. Congratulations to me! Hopefully I'll avoid this--me and diarrhea are NOT best friends.

*My favorite group activity so far has been our welcome dinner at El Mesón Nerudiano. We got to try pisco sours (similar to whiskey sours, and ¡quite strong!) and Chilean wine, which was exciting. We also had our first experience with the Chilean cena (dinner), which starts quite late (8:30 or 9 pm is normal) and lasts a long time (we didn´t leave until after midnight)! The food was delicious: we had several appetizers; a choice of several entreés--I chose pasta, which was great; and creme bruleé and coffee (much stronger than American coffee!) for dessert. Also, I ate my first bite of meat in 4.5 years! A taste of seasoned salmon at a jazz club in South America. Awesome. I feel more cultured now. After dinner we had our first cab rides and got to experience the crazy driving firsthand! Ha! Luckily, we´re still alive.

*We got to meet our families yesterday and finally come home with them. Megan and I live in a really nice apartment with our mamá, who we call Nena, and our older hermano, Cristóbal. Our neighborhood is very nice, and our Nena is a fantastic cook! She made us tacos last night, and we had our cena with a BUNCH of Spanish-speaking people. It was intimidating, but a good experience I suppose.


Tomorrow we leave for our trip to the north, to the Atacama desert. Adventures ensue!

Until next time, ¡besos a todos!

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Photos

First view of Chile
Look at the mountains! I'm really glad I had a window seat for our flight into Santiago!

Mote con huesillos
¡Qué rico! Megan tries a traditional Chilean dessert while Lauren looks on. That shrivelled thing is a whole peach. Gross.

Santiago Metro
On our way to the Mesón Nerudiano for our welcome dinner the first night, we had our first experience with the subway. Exciting!

Pisco sour
Probably the best thing about Chile. Just kidding. Maybe.

New experiences?
That's an oyster in Megan's mouth, and that's a look of pure joy on her face.

Welcome
Our welcome dinner was outside in a patio area, with candles for light and distant animal sounds for music (there's a zoo near the restaurant where we ate).

Comments

[Sean]

Hi interesting blog. I am in Santiago right now and I was interested in finding out of what other tourists think about this city. I am also in providencia and I really like it here. I found interesting what you said about the drivers, it seems that you have never heard about the traffic in africa or india. THERE IT IS CRAZY...so dont worry too much hehe. well good luck and enjoy

[Loa]

my world is collapsing
holy crap! (i accidentally wrote "hola crap"...haha, hello, crap!) meat! in emily poe's mouth! HWAT? glad you're having a good time. and p.s. is anyone best friends w/ diarrhea? if such person exists, i would like to meet him. from a minimum distance of 10 feet, of course.

[Loa]

my world is collapsing
holy crap! (i accidentally wrote "hola crap"...haha, hello, crap!) meat! in emily poe's mouth! HWAT? glad you're having a good time. and p.s. is anyone best friends w/ diarrhea? if such person exists, i would like to meet him. from a minimum distance of 10 feet, of course.

[epizzle]

haha yeah... SALMON. the world is ending! a few people on the trip so far have been bff with diarrhea, but things seem to have become somewhat stable at this point. i miss you! let´s hang out when i return.