Bienvenida a Santiago

Due to mechanical issues with the plane, our flight from Toronto to Santiago was delayed by eight hours.  This resulted in an uncomfortable 4 hour sleep in the airport followed by a sleepless 10 hour flight.    We finally arrived in Santiago after sunset, took a shuttle directly to our hostel, and promptly fell asleep.

With an unlimited timeline to travel mixed with a very, 'been there, done that' attitude to jet lag and the exhaustion that comes with the first day in a new place, the first morning in Santiago was unexciting. After breakfast, Chloe and I sat down to do a lesson of Spanish on our iPods which quickly turned into a two hour nap. Our hostel is on a relatively busy street, and as buses roared past setting off car alarms, I said to myself, "This is Santiago telling you to wake up! The city wants to be explored!" I pressed the snooze button. But it turned out to be a good idea (especially as Chloe is battling a cold) as we spent 7 hours wandering around the city from afternoon to evening. We had a great meal full of fresh ingredients and a local beer, and got a good impression of central Santiago which is modern, but quite dildapilated. The people seem to have an Edmontonian fashion sense, a description that I will leave up to your interpretation. We climbed Santa Lucia, which is a 15 million year old volcano and reaches as high as some of the sky scrapers surrounding the area.  After our late lunch, we sat in one of the many green spaces in the city and relaxed.  After 3 months of winter, the simple pleasure of laying on some nice green grass was quite beautiful.  The next morning we took the metro to our new home for the next week - Casa de ECELA, or our language school house.

Downtown Santiago is run down. The guidebooks say this, but I conveniently forgot and assumed that the entire city was in the same shape.  Our school house is one district over in Providencia, and coming out of the metro station was like walking into a different city altogether. The peeling paint, stray dogs, and gypsies present on every street in the central district disappeared in favour of freshly cut lawns, well kept houses, and all dogs on leashes.  My privileged, white-girl self felt instantly more comfortable, but maybe once I pick up some Spanish I will be able to navigate around the city with more ease.

After dropping off our bags in the house, we headed back to the central market to pick up some lunch and groceries at the market. Between the heat, humidity, and jet lag, were ready to nap by the time we got back to the house.  Given the 50 degree temperature difference between Edmonton and Santiago, I'm not surprised.  Hopefully we acclimatize quickly.   I have white skin that needs toasting!