First Impressions Count

My first night in Santiago...a blast!

I'm already liking this place, and despite many people telling me the city was an ugly place, and that the people were not nice- I have found the exact opposite true. I guess what is beautiful is different to everyone. I have been here only about 12 hours, but I have already seen so much!

In fact, as soon as we got into Chile, from Bolivia, things changed. All of a sudden there were nice paved roads, with guard rails!! and even run-away truck ramps like we have in the mountains in the states. It felt so familiar, for a moment I thought I was home. Those roads were a welcome change, especially since we spent the last 24 hours on them! Another thing, our bus actually left on time, and arrived on time...a concept that is lacking in Bolivia and Peru. This country has infrastructure, but you definitly pay for it, everything is more expensive here...really food and drinks are about the same as in Chicago, maybe 10-20% cheaper. The accomidation though is still quite a lot cheaper. My hostel here is 11 USD, compared to the average of 4-5 USD throughout Bolivia and Peru. But there is also business here, and money...not made from the Cocaine trade.

I went out to dinner with my friend Allan as soon as we got into town...we were ready to see something after that trip! We walked around our new neighborhood, its called bario brasil, and it is beautiful! Of course it comes with a central plaza, but its the streets, lined with trees, and the old decadent mansions that line the streets of this area that give it the charm. The streets are also lined with cool bars and resturaunts. We chose a cool sushi place for dinner, and everything went right from there on.

Two nice, chatty local girls sat at the table next to us. Eventually our conversations met, and soon after we were all having dinner together. They were well traveled themselves, and obviously well educated. Dinner was good, but not exceptional - as I have heard that Santiago has some amazing sea food...(yet to be discovered). But I was excited about one thing on the menu...Budwieser! I couldn't belive it...the first time in months that I have seen the stuff, obviously I started with that! The girls then told us about a concert they were going to later, and asked if we wanted to join. Obviously! It was unlike anything I have ever been to. Inside of a run down mansion, there was a stage set up on the second floor, in what might have been the great room, in from of a magnificent fire place. Lights were strung up above, and a makeshift bar in the next room served the drinks. It was an intimate show, maybe 30 people were there, there were tables and chairs for everyone to relax with the music, and the setting just made everything better. I went exploring through this 4 story masterpiece. Every room had a huge, ornate fireplace on one end, with terrific windows in every shape, at least those that still remained. I really enjoyed exploring, but when my new friend saw my amazement, she took me to the roof top, where a view of the city and the small plaza below awaited. It was all very cool. We even attended a small after party at our new friends apartment, and when we left she offered to show us the whole city while we are here!

I can't wait to see what else Santiago has in store for me, but I'm excited that I'm off to such a great start!