Santiago

Hola from Santiago.

We made it fine - all night flights are not the most fun in the world, but you gotta do what you gotta do. On the bus from the airport into town (. . . watch out for the ravenous taxi busquers if you come to Santiago . . . ) we sat next to two women from Atlanta who 1) had quit their jobs to come to South America 2) are going to stay five months 3) had originally planned to go around the world 4) are traveling the same route as we are 5) etc. I think we were living in parallel universes. They had a lot more stuff than we did, so we got them there (though we need to get rid of some of ours).

A bit about Santiago - it is a big city . . . I don't think we'll be spending too much time here. Earthquakes have taken care of most of the colonial architecture prevalent in many Latin American cities, though there are some nice old neighborhoods here and there. There are many sidewalk cafes where the locals like to drink their coffee and many sidewalk bars where the locals like to pound beers. The food is decent, though not much to write home about. Melanie described one thing we had - pastel de choclo (kind of like grits with some meat mixed in) - as a 'mound of carbs'. They do like their carbs here. They like fresh salads, too, which is nice when you are traveling and eating at restaurants often.

We are trying to meet up with a local (met through a friend at the old job) - we are looking forward to having a local to talk to and get advice from.

On to Mendoza, Argentina, next.