Santiago

We have been in Santiago, Chile now for about a week and a half. We spent the first week with my parents – my mom has been living here, teaching English for the past several months, and my dad flew in to travel with her for a couple of weeks. It was really great to spend some time with family. On the bus ride from Mendoza, Argentina to Santiago we were delayed several hours due to problems at customs and also a flat tire. We were originally scheduled to arrive in Santiago at 4:30. My mom gave me directions to her apartment and the plan was for me to call her when the bus arrived and they would meet us at the metro station by her apartment. AA and I were sitting on the bus as it pulled into Santiago – the time was 7:30, 3 hours later than expected. He looked out the window and said – “Jen, isn’t that your mom?” I look out the window and sure enough there is my mom (and later I see my dad too) patiently waiting for us to arrive on the only CATA bus coming from Mendoza.


It was a rather cold day, so after waiting over two hours for us and freezing they decided to get some coffee at a café and that’s when we saw them. It was a great feeling! Unfortunately on the metro from the bus station to my mom’s apartment her purse got stolen. Not a good way to start the trip.

Since my mom was still working, the rest of us went to Valpariso and Vina del Mar - Chilean beachtowns on the Pacific ocean - for a daytrip. We did lots of walking and exploring while there. We saw what appeared to be an awesome fresh meat, fruit, and vegetable market. It looked amazing! Other than that we spent most of our time walking along the beach and enjoying the nice weather.



We also did some sightseeing in Santiago - we took the fenicular up the "hill" to get a birds eye view of the city. It was very peaceful and beautiful at the top looking down over the city.



My parents have left now to travel Southern Chile - Patagonia - before returning home. AA and I have the fortunate task of holding down the fort here :-)


From what I have seen so far I am in love with Santiago! It is a perfect size city for me and it just has a great welcoming feel. My mom is living in a very nice part of town called Providencia. The streets are all lined with huge trees, beautiful flower gardens can be found at nearly every door, the city is very clean, big sidewalks, and just very comfortable. It’s hard to put my finger exactly on what it is that I like here so much, but regardless it feels like home. The only negatives I’ve found so far are that the people are very difficult to understand – they speak very fast Spanish with a lot of slang and also cut off the endings of their words – and that it is expensive here – about the same prices as in the states.


I think that Aaron and I have decided to stay here for at least two months, maybe three. We will spend Thanksgiving, Christmas, and new years here and the major summer months. Aaron has found an internship that he is hoping will work out – he will be working in sales/marketing for a language school. This works out well because we will get free classes in exchange for his work. So starting Thursday we will be back in Spanish classes again – yay!!! The classes will be in the mornings, and he will work in the afternoons. I hope to do some volunteer work at an orphanage in addition to some odds and ends at a church here. We feel like many things are falling into place for us here and it’s really working out well.

Missing you all lots (including Booker, Kahlua, Hunie, and Rook)!!!!
xoxoxoxoxo