Way Down South

After a full day of viscious layovers and flights I arrived in Santiago, Chile! The flight to here was amazing. Flying over the Pacific Ocean and viewing the Andes Mountains was a first. I got here around 11am on Monday, but I haven´t had time to sit down and even think. I´ve constantly been doing something or going somewhere.

So Mom, I´m alive. I´m doing fine. Ignacia says ´Hello´.

After arriving in Santiago, I was greeted by Ignacia and her dad, Pablo. It was great seeing both of them again, I really missed Ignacia. Anyways, we then headed to Pablo´s house. It´s a nice house in a small village outside Santiago, right by a vineyard. We ate some breakfast then headed back out into the downtown parts of Santiago. What an amazing city, it´s huge and beautiful. We walked around and they got me this drink. It looked like it had somewhat of a brain in it, I still call it the brain drink. It was delicious though, very very sweet. I forget the name of it though. We got back in the car and started driving around and picked up Ignacia´s cousin, who speaks Spanish, English, and German! She also use to be a tour guide of Santiago, so I had a free private tour guide! What luck. We walked around and I got a VIP tour of Santiago. After our tour, we went back home where I crashed. I slept for around 14 hours. I was a bit tired.

The next morning I woke up, took a shower, then we headed out for Viña del Mar, aka the beach! But before we could go there, we had to make a stop at this tiny village to get a taste of real Chilean food and see some culture. Let´s talk about a real steak, I think the cow was still living on the other side of the building, not to mention the steak tasted great. I also had some fries with onions and eggs. They eat so much here, I´m having trouble keeping up! After chowing down, we walked around to some of the local shops, I got me a traditional Chilean Alpaca sweater. It´s pretty awesome. After visiting the village, we made our way for Viña del Mar. This city is absolutely beautiful, it looks like it´s from a painting. It´s right on the coast with houses and buildings going all the way up the side of a mountain, it was phenomenal. Right next to Viña del Mar is a city called Val Parasio, which we headed to right after laying down on the beach. Oh, also I went in the Pacific Ocean, another first. In Val Parasio, it´s the harbour part while Viña del Mar is the more tourist-based part, anyways, it was great. We walked around the city where everyday in the summer they have a jam band play all day and people have stuff that they sell. After walking around and seeing all the sights, we headed back home for a great night´s sleep.

This morning, we woke up early to head to La Serena. A decent drive with 7 people in a 5 passenger truck. After finally making it, I got to meet Ignacia´s mom. On our arrival we made a feast, also more commonly known as a barbeque. It was great, I like the food believe it or not. It´s very nice. After eating we headed down into La Serena to go to the beach some more. La Serena is right on the beach, there are miles upon miles of beach. After chilling on the beach, we went to the mall and walked around and got some ice cream from McDonalds, very Chilean. After that we went to a friend of Ignacia´s, then headed home.

I´ve been very busy I don´t know if I´ll be able to update again. I´m constantly doing something. I won´t be able to put pictures up until I get back in the US. I have taken pictures and Pablo has taken pictures.
Tomorrow is New Years, we going out on the beach all night to celebrate. Also on January 2nd we are heading North into the Atacama Desert. It´s a 15 hour bus right, thrilling I know. We will stay there I don´t know how long and we are also crossing the border into Peru for a day, where we will buy stuff for even cheaper than in the already cheap Chile. It´s really cheap, by the way.

BUT I appreciate those who read this, thank you for taking the time. I apologize for not being able to update more and add pictures but believe me, It´s beautiful. I´m really enjoying myself and having an amazing time.