Estoy in Santiago!

VIEW FROM MY WINDOW
11:58pm el 16, Marzo, 2007:

So finishes my first full day in Santiago! After surviving 14 hours of flying from San Francisco to Miami, Miami to Bogota (Colombia), and Bogota to Santiago... I arrived in Santiago a little before 4am in Chile (it's one hour ahead of EST). I had the opportunity to practice my Spanish with a young man sitting next to me from Miami to Bogota whose past girlfriends happened to both be "Japonese" (coincidence.... I think not) but it worked out well as he knew just a little bit of English and I knew some Spanish... so where I hit blanks on the language he could help me out in English. A bit of pointing and body language (like when I couldn't remember the Spanish word for nose--nariz--to describe my stuffy nose) got us through the three hours of our flight. In the photos you'll see of my first day, you'll notice that the past and present are not so far away. A bridge in Santiago looks eerily like the Zakim Bridge, and that name on the storefront for optometry... very close to my former employer's last name.... hmmmm perhaps it's a sign (but I don't think so).
I had a fished "wrapped" in mashed potatoes Reyenta Envuelvas at Rico's and had a salmon salad wrapped in a panqueque, Chilean sauvingnon blanc from Misiones de Rengo, and un pisco--a tequila-like beverage made of juniper berries, lemon and sugar (no I'm not becoming an alchy). We walked around Santiago Central and exchanged our foregin currencies into Chilean pesos. We, meaning me, and my roommate Summer from Juno and Emily, in my program from Australia. We joined Emily's friend's friend for dinner in Barrio Brasil, the neighborhood around la Avenida Brasil, at un cafe. The Hostel Internacional isn't bad, considering they offered me a free drink for my arrival, un pisco, and they have free internet access so I can write my blogs. Two more weeks here and then I'll be with my host family in Antofagasta in the desert. I'm still in envy of Summer, my roommate, who is placed in Patagonia, Chile (yes, the city which has a sports company named after it) in the lovely South of Chile. However, I think Emily and I will do well in Antofagasta. I may come to love 75 degree weather until June. As much as I worried about my spanish speaking skills, I've become the temporary translator for my friends! More to come later. Miss home but will tell you all about my adventures! Adios y hasta luego...





EMILY AND SUMMER IN SANTIAGO, ON AGUSTINAS NEAR SANTIAGO CENTRO.