Chile Summer 09

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We've been in Santiago since Wednesday and are getting ready to head out to Valparaiso today to meet our host families and settle in before classes' orientation begins tomorrow. On the way down I had a layover in Lima Peru which is about the nicest airport I have ever been in. Absolutely nobody spoke English but it was about 4am so I wasn't too concerned with that since a majority of the signs were English and Spanish and you could actually pay with U.S. dollars. This was all not the case at all once you get into Santiago. In Santiago everything is only in Spanish and you certainly cannot use U.S. dollars other then to pay for your 131$ entry fee into the country which you must have in cash. What they don't tell you is that really you need about 300$ because they will think 80% of your U.S. dollars are fake. Good thing I had a slight debacle with my debit card before we left so I had large sums of cash to do this with. Once I went through a surprisingly strict customs etc. I was picked up by someone from my program who refused to speak any English with me and had such a strong accent I had no idea what was going on. This would be the only 30min span I have regretted this trip! After this we settle into an apartment style hotel where I have three roommates.

At about 3pm this day we went out for lunch, which is the equivalent of our dinner. I had my first amazing chilean food. They eat very plain, no spices, but with lots of vegetables (which you're not supposed to eat in Santiago due to contamination, but I took a risk and was ok!). They also serve ridiculous dessert everyday, like flan and cheesecake. After lunch we took the metro and then walked a bit until we got to this little mini mountain, which is absolutely only mini in comparison to the gigantic Andes. we then took a rickety cable car up it to see the Santiago skyline. On the top there is an outdoor catholic church and huge statue of the virgin Mary overlooking the city. The view would be phenomenal if it wasn't completely ruined by smog. I didn't even notice there were huge mountains for hours!! We then went out to dinner (at 10pm...hard to get used to) at an "italian" restaurant.

The next day we woke up, had the minimal Chilean breakfast which generally includes deli meet, bread that could pass as gluten-free, great fruit juice, and perfect coffee. We went to the presidential palace, changed money, went to lots of historical sites around town including La Catedral Metropolitana. There are stray dogs EVERYWHERE. I've seen at least 1000. Every five feet there is another and though they do seem relatively well-fed, they are absolutely flea infested and the cutest things ever. It totally breaks my heart watching them!! This night we went out to a bar and got our first pisco-sour's which is basically the drink of Chile, delicious but extremely strong. I have no idea how people down here do it. We also got sample sized dishes of all the local specialties and got to talk to a few upper-upper class locals in the restaurant. On the way there we got a little lost and were walking for maybe half hour or so and this stray puppy followed me the whole time because obviously I couldn't resist talking to it at a red light. It was so sad--it even waited outside the restaurant for an hour. Poor things are absolutely starved for attention!!

The next day we woke up and went to one of the oldest vineyards in Chile. They had us taste a lot of wines they don't export, entire families of wines that they believe need to stay only in Chile. The cellars, barrels and grounds were absolutely stunning. the mountains seem like they are right there! After we went to a local market and then to one of Pablo Neruda's houses. It was so interesting after reading some of his works in school. He designed his house (which reminds me of something like the Weasley's in Harry Potter) to make it seem like you are on a boat. It was built for his mistress and there are paintings and poems to her all over the "house." the floors are extremely creaky, there was even a stream and waterfull running through it before Pinochet had it destroyed.
That is all so far other than some boring safety meetings that are unfortunately necessary! We're heading to the coast today and then driving down to Valparaiso and Vina del Mar for the night so we can meet our families by 6pm!

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Photos

the wine cellar
la bodega