First Days in Santiago

After the red-eye from Toronto to Santiago, we dropped our bags off at the hostel and went out in hopes of familiarizing ourselves with this bustling city. The city was not-so bustling. Sundays are a quiet day in Santiago and we found that most things were closed. Not sure of where to go we decided to head for "the big buildings, it must be busy there" - thanks to Kelsey- We indeed found the big buildings with a plethora of other closed shops. As our hunger led us in search of food, we stumbled across a small inlet mall on a street we probably can't pronounce. Reading hand written menus on signs, confusion rose with the beckons of vendors and comments on blonde hair. We eventually found a lovely singing gentleman who ushered us into the busiest family-run cove of them all. Cesar, the singing man, quickly became friends with us, Kelly and Lisa. Through gesturing and broken Spanish Kelly got her chicken with mystery sauce and Lisa got some green pasta, not to mention two glasses of bucket-juice. Don't worry, we're alive and healthy. As Cesar questioned our marital status and nationality, the other 20 people crammed into the cove used us as their dining entertainment. The wonders of that meal cost us a whopping 2,600 pesos or $5 altogether, but that memory is worth at least $1,000.

After picking a direction to walk, we wandered through the cobblestone streets in hopes of finding something cultural. Turns out that our aimless wandering landed us in one of the most famous squares in the city, Plaza de Armas. As the Plaza is surrounded with museums we decided to make use of the free entry on Sundays, and we set out to find the Museo de Arte Precolombiano. Thinking it was blocks away, Liza peered through a small opening in a wall to see a banner. The banner said "Museo de Arte Precolombiano". Fancy that. It was really cool and the explanations helped us with our Spanish.

Since our spontaneity worked out so well yesterday, we braved the bustle of Monday morning and found an amazing street market, Kensington style. ALPACA sweaters galore!!! Two for us, none for you!
Today we also booked our flights to Punta Arenas for Wednesday. Pick up for the airport = 3:45am. Early bird catches the worm!

¡Hasta Pronto! - Kelly y Lisa