Exploring Santiago: Day 1

I've decided to bloog about our Chile trip by the day considering I don't speak any Spanish at all (unless uno, dos, tres counts). And the fact that everything is in Spanish, I forget a lot. We've only been here a short while and I already can't remember half the stuff, expecially names of things. Hopefully blooging day by day will help with my memory. Our flight to Santiago was okay. It's almost 10 hours shorter than the flight to S.A., so it wasn't too bad. The flight from PHX to ATL was not comfortable at all though. The flight was choc-a-bloc and it was hot and I was sitting in the middle of Reese and another huge guy. Plus I was tired. It wasn't fun. However, the flight from ATL to SCL was as perfect as a plane ride in cattle class (economy) can get. It was almost empty so Reese and I each had a whole row to ourselves. Those 3 seats were amazing. The flight was 9.5 hours long and it was over night, so it was nice being able to stretch out and try get some sleep. We arrived in Santiago around 9am CLST time and after getting a cellphone we were off to begin our Chilean adventure. (I keep having to remind myself that Reese is actually here on business)

Chile immediately reminded of South Africa. It's summer time now and so it's so lush and green. There are little mountains and forests all around. Not to mention we are only an hour from the beach! I was even surprised to see Corsa's and Peugeot's on the road! I have to say Chilean's driving is a little crazy though. I have yet to see someone use a blinker....but they definitely know how to use their hooters, thats for sure! And I think that the lines on the road must be guidelines because drivers don't seem to pay attention. Our taxi driver was a prime example. Also with speed. It's a massive race, and breaks are slammed often. At one point our driver was going 140km in an 80km zone! And there is no such thing as pedestrians first. You've got to seriously watch when crossing streets just in case. My biggest challenge may not be the language barrier... It'll probably be trying to stay alive dodging cars, motorcyclists, and the metro buses!

The first picture of the trip, right outside of the airport. 

 Waiting for the taxi.

 Looking tired, but mostly terrible, after travelling for 24 hours. But happy to be in Chile!

 We got to the hotel 5 hours before official check-in time, but we only had to wait an hour for our room to be ready. Its such a lovely hotel. I am very impressed. We are on the 18th floor and have a mountain view room of the Andes. The area we are staying in is called Las Condes. Its considered the business district of Santiago and apparently the wealthiest part of Chile.

Reese on his fancy work computer doing "official business" while we waited for our room. 

 The open breakfast area of the hotel.

I like to think I am a pretty good suitcase packer. I can pack anyone's bag with what they need, take out what they don't need, and pack a bag with room to spare. The problem arises when I have to pack my own bags. I usually take most of my closet. Because you never know right? And then of course you need different shoes for every outfit. And then you need accesories. So I decided that I needed to pack only what I needed this time and try fit everything in one bag. We are only here for 2 weeks so it shouldn't be that hard, right? Well it was unsuccessful and I blame it on the massive amount of toiletries one needs for a 2 week trip. I actually only brought 1 pair of church shoes (even though we are here for 2 Sundays- massive feat). I did however bring about 8 pairs of slip-slop sandals. Still got to be fashionable right? So although I didn't succeed, I still think I did pretty good with one medium and one small suitcase. Reese used the purple one- I swear its not mine too!

Our little room for the next 2 weeks!

It was a bit hazy on Wednesday, but there are the Andes!

More views from our room:

So I have to say when I first saw the ipod player/radio I was so excited. I could wake up to my own music, get ready to my own music, etc. Little did I know it would completely erase my entire ipod's memory including what size it's supposed to be. Yup, my ipod is completely 100% dead after plugging it into this little gem. Not cool, not one bit.

Views from the elevator:

I am going to over-talk this salad. So skip this part if you wish. For lunch Reese and I ate at a little salad/snackwich place. I got a simple salad with balsamic vinegar and EVOO. It was so divine. Oh my word. The tomatos were amazing. They tasted like they were picked from a granny's back yard or something. The lettuce was perfectly crunchy and the carrots were sweet. Delicious! The cheese was also something. I dont think I have ever tasted such fresh (or as Reese put it: "tastes like it's straight from goat") cheese before. It was a little too sharp for my taste, I prefer milder cheeses, but it was still fun to taste something so fresh. Maybe it was because for the last 24 hours I had eaten not so great food on the plane and at the different airports. Or maybe its because Chile has amazing fruits and veggies. I will have to see how the rest of the food tastes this trip...

Reese had a yummy meat and cheese snackwich. It was really good. The bread here is really good as well. Way too good actually. I have a feeling I am going to put on some weight...

After lunch we walked around (love love love walking) then took the metro (which is really old, a bit dirty, and smelly) to Plaza de Armas. Its a big area in the middle of the city, I guess you'd call it the Town Square. Anyways, we were greeted by some local talent once we walked out of the metro.

Lots of artists offering to paint portraits or sell their original work!

This guy was quite impressive. He was actually really, really good at playing the recorder!

Some Government owned building. Pretty!

More local talent! I have never seen a tree-person before. It was quite believable from a far because the wind was blowing making her leaves move.

Another Government owned building. There was quite a bit of vandalism done to it. Even on the pope statues.

If you make this picture larger, you should be able to see 2 men up there working on the tree. Reese and I can't wait to go see it lit-up!

We spent sometime in the historic Baroque Cathedral too. I believe it was the first cathedral in Santiago, built in 1586 and is absoultely stunning. All the statues, artwork, marble, and architecture is amazing! I didn't take too many pictures because I wasn't sure if you were allowed to and didn't want to get into trouble! There was even an open confession box with a Priest welcoming whomever wanted to talk with him. It was quite cool!

The square and surrounding shops were very busy. It took me a while to remember it's school holidays here and thats why it was so busy. There are tons of shops around the square. There is even a mall thats pretty big! I have to admit, the shopping is not what I thought it would be. I found most of the things similar to what we can get in the States, and of course all made in China. I am on the hunt for boots even though it is summer here but after a day of seeing what is available, I have a feeling I may come home empty handed. Which makes me have cause to mourn since what else am I going to do with Reese's extra large per diem? :)

This brings me to the only problem I've had with Santiago so far. I had to go to the toliet. So we go into the mall, expecting to be able to use the restroom and then continue exploring. Right? Wrong! Did you know it costs 200 peso's to use the toliet? I know that is only about $.50 and who cares about a little bit of change right? Problem is, when you gotta go you cant wait in a line just to buy a ticket. You want to go straight to the toliet and be done. But no, not the case. First, you wait in line to by a ticket. Then you have to wait in another line to get into the actual restroom, and then you have to wait in a toliet paper line. Yes, there is no toliet paper in the actual toliet stalls. And finally after you've waited in the lines for 20 minutes you get to wait in the final line for an actual toliet. I promise you they must have regular accidents. One can only hold for so long... And when I finally walked out Reese had seriously thought I fell in the toliet, I mean what else could take as long?

The busiest street in Santiago! People were all over the place.

On our way back to the metro we came across a bunch of older men playing chess. I thought it was quite cute!

And I know it's probably no surprise considering my love for all things sweet, but on the way home Reese and I picked up dinner (delicious meat pies) and yummy marshmallows (just like South African). I would have gotten chocolate, but I am having the hardest time finding proper chocolate here.

Delicious!

By the time we got done with dinner (around 6pm CLST) we decided to rest for a bit and then go out for icecream. Because let me tell you. If it's one thing we have discovered, it's that Chileans LOVE their icecream. There is at least one icecream shop on every street corner and during the day you see tons people eating it. Oh, and Chile has definitely got a lot of European influence. I've noticed mostly from the way they dress and the fact that they ALL smoke! Anyways, Reese and I lay on the bed and watch some TV. We are so tired. And me, being the smart person I am, walked around all day in really cute...really uncomfortable slip-slops that had no support/padding/nothing whatsoever to comfort my feet so the end result was pain. Plain and simple. Then not even 2 minutes into watching TV Reese is zonked, and I follow his lead rather quickly. Bad idea because we woke up 2 hours later. Reese was able to fall back asleep at about midnight, but I couldn't fall back asleep till about 2am. Chile is 4 hours ahead of AZ which made it difficult to wake-up a few short hours later... But that is another story for day 2!