Hello Friends and Family!!
I been in Santiago for a week now. I am loving the weather here though I have been battling a cold/allergy thing since I got here. Lets just say trying to buy medicine was an interesting excursion...None of the brands you recognize are available. I have started Spanish class (which I am learning a lot really fast and am loving it) and my MBA class, International Business (which I am beginning to dislike significantly...)
Lets start from the beginning. Friday, 1/1: Flight to Santiago on New Year's day required a transfer at Houston and Panama City. My first flight was delayed due to air condition maintenance issue. Luckily I made it to Houston with plenty of time to spare for my next flight (darn!! was hoping they'd put me on a more direct flight to Santiago out of Austin!) Panama City airport is crazy busy with people and little to no A/C in some parts. The flight was pretty much full and I got the lucky seat next to this couple and their young son (2yr old). I quickly moved to the only other empty seat 2 rows up when I saw the mom pull out her breast to feed her child. Woah. Flight landed at 5am (Saturday 1/2), disoriented, I grabbed my bag from baggage claim and jumped in my prearranged airport transfer (good foresight!) and headed to Providencia in Santiago, the neighborhood I live in now. I arrived at my new lodging shocked to find out that my roommate is a guy...not a girl. I had mistakenly thought so since the room description was 'women only' and my landlord's name on the lease was Lucia (obviously a girl's name). I completely ignored the fact that the room title in ContactChile's classifed was "Bernardo P2", thinking that Bernardo is the name of the place. D'oh! After 3 hours of "what the hell have I done coming here", I came to my senses, talked with my new roommate and found out more about him. Turns out Lucia is his mother and he is a biochem student at University of Chile (who loves to play war of warcraft...I caught a glimpse of it on his computer, ha!). After he showed me how to light the water heater pilot light (with a match!), i showered and waited for Paige (my partner in crime from school who is also doing the exchange program) to come get me.
Paige came over around 10am and she took me around our neighborhood, showing me where the bank is and what I need to press to get money (important!), where I can get grocery and wine (also important!), and where she lives. I meet her roommate Sebestian, who is lovely and makes delicious breakfast and fresh fruit juice for all three of us. After breakfast, we make our way to Paris (a store that sells lots of different things) so I can get a hairdryer. My voltage converter rendered my hairdryer completely useless so I had to get a new one that does not require the use of a voltage converter. Thankfully Paige had already been on a similar excursion days earlier looking for her own hairdryer, we found one for me very easily, albeit requiring some hand gesturing on my part and Paige translating for me.
After the Paris excursion, I go home to get ready for dinner at Ale and Paul's (friends of Sebestian's and Ale is the director of the spanish school that Paige and I go to). For dinner, Ale made this delicious shepard pie thing along with a yummy salad and some pisco sour. After we ate, we went to La Piojera (which Ale said is a Chilean cultural experience I must have!) to meet up with some of their friends. She was right, it was an experience. It is a total dive bar, no air con/circulation of any kind, and complete with really drunk people busting out singing and playing guitars at random times. I ordered Paige and me some 'terremoto', a dangerous drink much like the mexican martini served at Trudy's in Austin. It consisted of cheap white wine topped with pineapple ice cream and a shot of an Argentine liquor (which when asked what it is, I was told to 'not worry about it'). It WAS a dangerous drink, one and I was pretty toasty. Definitely an interesting bar, it was fun! Went to an after party at Andre's house (friend and neighbor of Ale/Paul) but did not stay long, I had been up for almost 24hrs and desparately needed some sleep.
The next day (Sunday 1/3), what did I decide to do? I decided that the best thing to do is to hike up Cerro San Cristobal with my new friends but not before I ate the biggest hamburger of my life, loaded with mayo (they love mayo here) and avocado.
Great view up on San Cristobal but the hike was brutal. I almost died... For a normal person who works out regularly, this hike would be no problem. Luckily, we took the tram down the hill. HA! Whew.... and I lived to see the next day ;)
Monday 1/4, I started Spanish class which I love. After class, Paige and I went to PUC (our MBA exchange university) and dropped Tourism Management from our schedule so we can devote more time to Spanish (and traveling on the weekends!! which is the important part, hehe).
Tuesday 1/5, started MBA class, which I had high hopes for and is definitely turning out to be a dud. Met all the other students from the US also doing the exchange program. Nice people.
Wednesday 1/6, I tried one of Chile's popular dish, french fries topped with sliced beef, sauteed onions and a fried egg. I think I am in love. Delicious!!
Thursday 1/7, BIG DAY!! Texas playing in the National Championship. Paige had found out that this bar, California Cantina, in Providencia is the only bar in Santiago that'll play the game. So that is where I watched 3/4 of the game and got my heart broken. I am hopeful for next year with Gilbert, or next next...
Friday 1/8, Exam in my Spanish class. I did as good as the rest of my classmates who has had one more week of Spanish than I had (go me!!). This day was also the day I discovered Jumbo. Chile's answer to Walmart. After going around to multiple stores to find items of what I need on a daily basis, it was heavenly to find a place where you can get them ALL IN THE SAME PLACE!!! I will never take Walmart and Target for granted again. I heart you.
Saturday 1/9, Pichilemu!! Tiny little surf town south west of Santiago, about 3.5hr by bus. It is really gorgeous! But super duper windy! The hostel we stayed at, Pichilemu Surf Hostel was right on the beach and close to the bus station. The design of it was really cool. Each room had a tiny little loft with a single bed, which you had to climb up this steep ladder to get to, that looks out to see the ocean. We wandered around the town (teeny tiny) and came back to the beach to catch the sunset. The sunset was gorgeous even though I was freezing my little butt off. Brr. Ate dinner at this delicious restaurant (Adobar Restaurant) two doors down from the hostel, which we went back for lunch on Sunday before leaving Pichilemu.
Sunday 1/10, Laying out in the sun and forgetting how brutal Chilean sun is = sunburn on my legs. Ouch! We had lunch at Adobar Restaurant and went to the bus station to catch the 4:45pm bus to head back to Santiago.
This is my adventure so far. Sorry for a long one. Tune in next week for another episode of Rita's adventure in Chile.
While Rita is travelling in the warm summer sun of Chile and South America, I took off for Vienna for a week-long work trip. It was anything but summer in Austria, but the snow was a fitting backdrop for this beautiful European city. For the first time in my life I wore a wool sweater, wool coat, hat, scarf, and gloves for 5 days straight! This photo is a picture of a pedestrian shopping district in the RingStrasse (inner city ring).
After a a long week of work, I unwound Friday night at Figlmuller, a viennesse restaurant claiming to have the largest Wiener schnitzel in the world. Considering I couldn't even see my plate, I have to agree. It was delicious! Just a little squeeze of lemon and a glass of wine to compliment. Suprisingly, there was really good Asian food including Japanese and Sushi in the city, as well as some great Italian.
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