Santiago I
After spending a few days in a remote speck on the Earth it was time to make our way back to a new continent- South America. Our first stop in South America was in Santiago, Chile- A little bit of city life to give us a little reminder of back home. Our South American adventure started with a little rumble. We landed in Santiago at 2am, and finally checked into the hotel at about 3am. I was sitting on the bed getting acquainted with the new TV channels, while Joey was walking around checking out the room. And just like a perfect role reversal from out night back in Christchurch I felt the bed shake and yelled to Joey- “Did you feel that?” It was a small earthquake! And this time I felt it and Joey did not. It was so small and barely made any local headlines the next day. The only reason we felt it was because we were still awake- while most people in the city were asleep.
We also had a rude awakening the next day- not in the hotel- but in the cell phone store across the street. We walked in to get a sim card for our international phone. We waited in line and then when it was our turn we “Inglais?”, like we normally do before trying to communicate. “No”, she said, almost in anger, and then turned to the next person in line. We tried another store down the street and got the same reaction. We tried to get a cup of coffee, and got the same reaction! I felt so mad at myself for taking French in high school. Luckily Joey grew up in Miami, where the Spanish is free flowing, so he knew key phrases to help us get by.
We finally found a cafe that had a sign in the window “We speak English”.
If we were going to spend the next 2 months in South America it was crucial for us to learn Spanish. So we downloaded some programs and planned to work on that. I wrote down some key words like “discwento- discount”
In the mean time we figured we would just walk around with a map and explore the city, having only each other to talk to. That wasn’t too bad of a plan as Santiago is beautiful. The cafes the shops the people, the weather... everything was so enjoyable to watch and take in. We immediately noticed the distinct South American fashion and style- leather boots, and layers of scarves and sweaters.
We walked around Santiago and came across a tourist agency.Thankfully someone spoke English there and within half an hour we had mapped out and planned our next few weeks in Patagonia. The tourist office was extremely helpful and provided us with loads of information and brochures. We booked buses and flights and were all set. Now that all that was taken care of- we had the rest of the day to walk around and explore more of Santiago.
