However, being back in the states for a month made us get the bug to head back out again abroad and see what else there is out there. We decided in November that we were going to make South America our next stop abroad. Here is our itinerary:
-Santiago, Chile: now-Feb 3
-Valparaiso, Chile: Feb 3- Feb 6
- Buenos Aires, Argentina: Feb 6- March 9
-We then have March 9 - April 2nd unplanned. We are considering Uruguay and Brazil.
This vacation will be much different than our last as we will not be in beach cities most of the time. We are going to be spending time in larger Latin America cities. We are currently in Santiago and it is a very modern, clean city. This is definitely somewhere I could live. It is somewhat similar to a big city in the US. It has great public transportation with a lot of European inspired architecture. The food can't compete with Thailand so far as the main Chilean food we have seen here is sandwiches and hot dogs. I think this is the reason everyone here has a gut, they eat hot dogs, ice cream, chocolate, chips and there is a very small population that you see working out. Meeting for ice cream is a very popular mid-day activity here. However, Chile has some AMAZING wine and it is dirt cheap unlike the food which is on par with US prices. We are still trying to figure out the culture here as it is much different than what we are used to. People go to lunch around 12-2, most restaurants are then shut down from 2-8pm. People then start heading to dinner around 9:30pm. I think this is why everyone meets for ice cream as there is a large gap between big meals. People then head out to bars around 1:30am which is wayyyyy past my bedtime. Oh yeah, how could I forget, I don't speak Spanish and everyone just assumes you do. It has made for some pretty awkward situations but nothing that you can't laugh off. Below are some photos from our first couple days here.
La Vega Market: This huge market has good and cheap fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses and some other random items.
Here is an example of some of the graffiti here in Santiago. It is seen as art here rather than gang related. There are some amazing murals on the sides of buildings.
These photos are at the summit of Cerro San Cristobal. It was about an hour hike up, then we tried to come down a different way and it wasn't leading to where we were wanting to go so we had to hike back up and then down the same way we came up. It wasn't the clearest day so hopefully we will get another chance to do it again.
Church in the Lastarria neighborhood.
Photos from Palacio de La Moneda
This is the Intendencia Metropolitana.
Santiago Bolsa de Comercio on the right of this picture. It was must cooler in person:
These photos are all from the Plaza de Armas:
Me participating in Chilean obesity project.
Central Post Office in Plaza de Armas:
Catedral Metropolitana de Santiago. Such a beautiful church. Not sure if we were even supposed to be in there but we found a door that was open so we figured that we might as well file in with an ice cream cone in hand to take some photos.
Below are photos from Fuente Alemana. This place had some really amazing Lomitos (sandwiches) and they were about the size of your face. All of the waitresses/cooks were elderly ladies so it made for a pretty great environment. This restaurant was featured on Anthony Bourdain's show and we will make this our regular lunch spot.
We will be doing a lot of the same that we have already done since being here and just doing our best to live like locals. If we stumble upon anything else while here we will definitely post some photos. Until next time!
-Drew
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