First Few Days

Finally got some time to blog! Jesse has gone downtown to pick up some stuff that we need, and I am hiding in the shady house. It's 90 degrees out there!

Traveling out took a long time. About 23 hours. Our layover's were not too long, so we kind of had to rush in LA and Bogota, which was slightly stressful, but helped to shorten travel time.

We flew into Santiago very early in the morning, so we could only see lights! Which was too bad. We paid our $160 to enter the country for the first time, which lasts for the life of the passport. The customs agent also didn't seem to care that we only had a one-way ticket! Then we went to get our bags, not sure if they had made it through the short layovers. Two of them had. Of course, the one missing, was mine. I had packed for a few days in my carry-on, so it wasn't too devastating. But it's been almost 2 days and no word, so I'm a little apprehensive!

We took a cab to our apartment, and our landlady, Mireya, was waiting. We came in and chatted with her for a while. Jesse did most of the chatting of course, since I speak about 30 words of Spanish. But she was really nice and amiable. Then we slept! We knew we couldn't sleep too much so we could get over our jetlag. We woke up at 1pm and took a much needed shower! And yes, the shower is touch-and-go regarding hot water. :) Sometimes it's hot, really really hot, and sometimes it is randomly cold. Poor Jesse had a totally cold shower this morning!

Then we headed out to explore. We had found out we needed a plug adapter for the computer, so we wanted to get that right away. We went to ask Mireya, and while we were there, her other tenant, Karen, who lives in our apartment with us, offered to take us herself. Which was lovely, because we got an extensive guided tour. Karen is here on an internship to study veterinary medicine. Which is ironic!

Santiago is beautiful. It is very European looking. There are many old buildings still standing, and the streets are narrow and winding like European cities. There are street cafe's everywhere, and there are tons of people everywhere! The sidewalks are always packed with people. There are also street dogs, which is so heartbreaking for me, but they do not look malnourished and they don't have rabies. Karen took us to a huge produce market, and we are very excited to have access to cheap, fresh, fruits and veggies.

After wandering we took another nap and then headed out again to walk around in the cooling evening and find dinner. We had a pizza and some great Chilean wine for dinner, then a drink in our neighborhood, which is quite the nightlife location! As we were walking down the street a street dog started following me. She followed us all the way to the bar, then waited outside for us. So we went to sit outside and she slept near us and barked at any dog who came too close. I had saved some empanadas from lunch but left them in our room. So when we were done with our drinks we woke her up and she followed us back to our apartment and we fed her the empanadas. So of course she waited by the door to the apartment after we went inside! It was so sad, but she didn't look hungry or dirty, so I think she has a decent life in the touristy area of town. :)

Today we walked up to see our school. Classes start on Monday, and we thought it would be a good way to see more of the city. Then we came home on the Metro. It was our first time on the Metro, and it was really easy and clean.

And now I am hiding from the heat and getting over jetlag and Jesse is off on his own city adventure looking for a wash cloth, toilet paper, notebooks, sunscreen and something cheap for dinner!

Hasta Luego!!