So, I've made it to the 5th continent of my travel career, South America. I flew into Santiago, Chile yesterday and after a lenghty stop at customs, I met up with my friend Mike from back home. Apparently, all American passport holders are required to pay a tax in order to enter Chile, a US$100 tax. What? Apparently I didn't do my research. Once I delt with the unexpected charge everything went smoothly. Even at the airport I had to dust off my Spanish skills and talk with the guy at the transportation counter, well, it was actually more like staggered words and lots of pointing, but we got our point across.

A shuttle bus ride later and we were at our hostel, Hostel de Sammy. Its owned by an American guy, not named Sammy, who has a dog, named Sammy. The guy was super nice and gave us some advice of places to see in and out of Chile. Our room is on the third floor of an old row building with heavy wooden floors and stairwells that perpetually creak. The upstairs hallways are dimly lit and seem a little foreboding, but the bustle of backpackers in the outside courtyard liven up the place.

We settled in and headed out to find some food. We asked for a good place to eat near the hostel from one of its more permanent guests and got directions to a small Chilean restaurant up the street. Ask we sat down and looked at the menus, all in Spanish, I tried to pick out the words I knew and assume the rest. I assumed well. I got pollo (chicken) with champinoes (mushrooms) and pepinos (pepers.) Cerveza (beer) was easy. It was a bit of a challenge speaking with the waitress, but I remembered most things I needed to say and she got the rest.

After food, we went off for a walk in the city. With a crappy map and a good sense of direction, we navigated our way to the city center which is few dozen blocks swarming with Chileans going about their daily business. There is 2 main pedestrian streets lined with stores specializing in anything from hats, to underwear, to farmacia. There are restaurants and department stores, street vendors selling magazines and candies every 15 feet, street performers playing authentic Chilean music or giving their rendition of American Pop Musica circa 1985 (think Tom Jones, Rod Stewart, Michael Jackson.)

After only about 2 hours of walking, the jet lag seriously kicked in and we high tailed it back to the hostel to combated it with a late siesta that just turned into an early bedtime. Day 1 was over.

Day 2 proved to be a little more productive. We made our way back to the city center in search of desayauno (breakfast) and una cosa que cambia electricidad de Los E.E.U.U. a Chile (power converter.) After a fruitless search, we found that apparently they don't serve breakfast in Chile, nor do they sell power converters, but somehow out of that jumble of Spanglish, they understood what I was asking for. We opted for lunch instead. In the CBD, this left us with three choices: empanadas top the list (tasty little fried dough pockets filled with some kind of meat,) hotdogs a close second (topped with very "un-hotdog-like" items, like avocado, mayo, and white cheese,) and strange pizzas are third, loaded with meat or seafood until you can't see the crust. I took my chances at one of the dozens vendors and got an Italiano Gigante (Huge Italian) hotdog, covered with said items above. Paired with a cold Coca-cola from a glass bottle, I enjoyed the surprisingly delicious dog while standing at the counter of the tiny restaurant. The deal of the day cost me 1,000 pesos (about $2) and after dropping the guy a 100 peso tip (about 10 cents,) we moved on.

Next up was the Mercado Central (Central Market) which was full of more food stands, fruit vendors, fresh fish and other seafood as well as random stuff such as yarn, lace, jewelry and toys. Leaving the Mercado, we crossed of El Rio Mapocho, the babbling brook of bausra (trash.) I forgot to mention, Santiago is a rather dirty city, not Mexico-City-dirty, but more like ghetto-upper-Charleston-peninsula-dirty. The streets are dirty, there is litter along the sidewalks and in the gutter, some of the parks are too dirty to enjoy and stray dogs out number the beggars, which there are a few. There are areas where its much cleaner, but not many, as we have found.

We followed to river into one of these "cleaner" neighborhoods, Bellavista. This neighborhood was filled with brightly painted buildings that housed restaurants and art galleries along with homes. Commissioned graffiti covered some of the walls along the street, advertising for the eatery or art showcase inside. A few blocks into this eclectic locale and we were at the bottom of Cerro San Cristobal (San Cristobal Hill,) the tallest of Santiago's many surrounding hills. Purched high atop the summit is the statue of La Virgen de la Inmaculada Concepción (The Virgin Mary) who looks over the city of Santiago. You can walk up to get a view of the city, but for 700 pesos ($1.40) you could ride the funiculiar, or incline rail car, to the top.

Once up there we found, surprise, more food vendors. (Its not hard to eat here in Chile.) Aside from the normal snacks and ice cream, there was a strange drink everyone seemed to be enjoying. In Spanish it was called Rico Mote con Huesillos which meant (although not directly translated to) Tea with Wheat and Dried Peaches. It was sweet tea, a soft dried peach and cooked wheat layered in a cup. I was curious so I tried one and although it wasn't terrible, I couldn't imagine why anyone would put wheat in tea.

Back at the bottom the the hill, we took a tour through La Chascona (a term of endearment meaning "Bad Hair Day,") one of Pablo Neruda's houses. Neruda was a famous Chilean poet that achieved rockstar-status throughout Chile back in his day. His quirky collections of everything from spoons to watermellon paintings litter the house that he built. It was a fun way to get a taste for a part of Chilean culture.

After the fun house, we grabbed a beer and some empanadas at a little cafe. Empanadas are small fried dough pockets filled with lots of different things, but mostly a spicy meat blend. They kind of remind me of pierogies, but with a little more of a kick.

We ended our evening with a climb up to the top of Santa Lucia, a castle-like building on a small hill near the river. From its vantage point (as well as from San Cristobal,) we were able to see the layout of Santiago with the Andes bordering one side and the endless stretch of city skyline fading off into the distance.

This city is very different from what I've experienced thus far on the trip. The culture is a big change from Australia and even Africa. It takes some getting used to, especially the machismo of the Latin men here. For those who don't know, it is part of Latino culture for men to make comments or remarks towards a woman in public, whistles, hoots, hollas, you get the point. We experience it at home as well with the Mexican population and its just as annoying.

I'm still getting a feel or this city, I'm not sure what to think yet. Monday we are heading out to Valparaiso, a small eclectic beach town we've been told is beautiful. There is another one of Neruda's houses there we hope to visit. From there its south to wine country and hopefully, eventually the Lake Region, where we will hike an active volcano. All is to be determined. We ship out on the evening of the 12th, giving us just 8.5 days to achieve all this.

Sorry about the lack of visual stimulants in this blog. Since I couldn't find a converter, I couldn't power up the laptop. Its on the list of things to do. And I will do my best to keep the blogs coming. We'll see how Chile treats me.

Much latina love,
Linds