Greetings from CHILE

We are in the second day of our stay in Chile and what a whirlwind it has been! We landed in Santiago after many hours of flying and a long layover at the Sweetwater Brewery in ATL airport. We didnt get the business class seat after all, but did share a row to ourselves and slept a bit. Once we landed in Santiago, we made our way via bus to the Bellavista area where we had a hostel booked. It was such a great area but the hostel was dirty and gross. Glad we only had to spend one night in there. We took a nap then made our way around the area. The Bellavista area is where the famous San Cristobol Hill is so we were happy to be so close. We took the fanicular up to the top and enjoyed a beautiful but cloudy view of Santiago from above. We purchased only one way to the top and planned on taking the path down. We were up at the top toward sunset and it started sprinkling rain so we decided to make our way down. We thought we had the right path but once we realized we were going down a muddy winding path, we thought differently but it was too late. We took our time climbing down the muddy mountain and came out with mud covered shoes - our adventure had begun! We had smashing views of the city lights on our way down and the snow capped Andes towering over the city.









We definitely worked up our appetite and thirst for some Escuado beer. We stopped at a street cafe for our first Chilean beer. The city streets don´t come alive until night so we were just in time. Unfortunately the rain decided to unleash at that point and left us stranded with no umbrella. We made our way back to the hostel for a change of clothing (only to discover a leaky ceiling over the stairwell) and left again as soon as possible for a dinner. We roamed the streets for a bit until we were just too cold and wet to continue and had a nice fish dinner at an Italian/Chilean restaurant. The food was ok (according to Jacques it was bueno). We were exhausted at this point so made our way back to the smelly hostel for a horrible night´s sleep. The rain pounded down all night long and we were crammed in a top bunk of a bunk bed together. This seems to be the way of the future for us though - we buy two single beds and use one for storage and one for sleeping. Anyway, our roommate for the night and his unannounced "guest" made their way back to the room at 2am to wake us up. The good thing was we had to be up at 4am for our airport transfer so got to return the favor to them. ;-)

We arrived at the airport earlier than the airline employees after a hairy ride on the wet roads to get there. We waited for a bit for the airline counter to open and felt like contestants from the Amazing Race without any competitors. Once checked in, we took a nap at the gate prior to our flight. We were so tired that we were out immediately on our flight and woke up when we landed. We gathered our belongings and were about to deplane when we realized we weren´t in Calama. Thank goodness I asked!!! We sat back down and went back to sleep and when we landed the second time we confirmed we were at the right place!

The airport is so small and only a handful of people were working to greet our plane and then immediately left after we came in. Luckily, we found someone who spoke minimal English and helped us find transportation to San Pedro de Atacama - an hour away from Calama. The bus ride was beautiful, just surrounded by desert hills. We didn´t have a hostel booked, so our driver drove us to one in our price range the city center - a 6 bed dorm. YIKES! Luckily everyone is so nice and layed back and it is super clean compared to what we came from. There is a nice courtyard and private bathrooms. San Pedro itself is such a neat town, truly a Chilean experience. Dirt roads and clay houses in a layed back environment with lots of restaurants, cafes and bars. It is hot during the day and now that the sun has set we are quite cold. What else could we expect from a desert in the Andes mountains? So after a much needed siesta this afternoon and a hot shower, we are now about to venture out for our first night in San Pedro.