Santiago Hotels
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We are OK, no eruption here
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OK, we know some of you are worried if we are near the erupting volcano. Let us put your minds at ease. No, we are safe in Santiago. The volcano erupted in Chaiten which is about 500-600 miles south of Santiago near Patagonia. We didn't even know it happened until my mom emailed us asking if we were ok. I can't tell if the weather pattern here has been effected since Santiago is filled with so much smog who can tell if it's volcanic ash or not! It's a trip. I read there are 2,000 volcanoes in Chile. Wow! and I climbed one of them last week!
We arrived in Santiago on Saturday. We actually had driven to Vina Del Mar, but once we arrived at the hotel, they didn't have the wifi working. We were hugely disappointed in the hotel and Vina Del Mar, and decided to get the heck out of dodge! So we drove 30 minutes toward Santiago, when Jim realized he had forgotten his money belt which included our passports in the drawer at the hotel! Yikes! So we had to turn around and go back. Luckily it was where he had left it and we drove out as quickly as we drove in. Vina Del Mar was nothing like I thought it would be. It was crowded, dirty and not much to see other than some very old 19th century mansions that were very beautiful, but it just didn't feel right. So we left.
Our drive from the coast to Santiago was much like driving through Riverside or San Diego county, outside the city; sub arid climate, chapparel, hilly. It reminded me why I left California for the lushness of Hawaii. We drove through a mountain tunnel and upon exiting, Santiago displayed itself. Smog hovered over the city. Barely in view where the snowcapped Andes running from north to south, trapping the pollution. It hardly rains here so the smog just stays put, building itself up. It smelled like Los Angeles. We passed though different barrios (neighborhoods). First, Barrio Brazil, an up and coming refound bohemian neighborhood, then there was the city center where many old Spanish colonial buildings reside plus the Presidential Palace, then Barrio Providencia an upper class area of town and the financial district. That is where we are staying. After all the small towns we've been in, it's been nice to be back in a city and suprisingly I've adjusted to it quite easily. Rio helped me in that arena. There are more restaurants to choose from, stores and things to do.
Today, I finally got a hold of our New Zealand friend Jeannie, that we met in Torres Del Paine. While Jim worked at the hotel, Jeannie showed me around. She took me to Santa Lucia, which is an old Spanish fort build on a small hill that the Spaniards used to observe the enemy Indians way back when. It was beautiful and had great views of the city, though you couldn't see the Andes because of the smog. Then we walked around and did some window shopping. We admired the local artisan knitwear as Jeannie is a knitter too (knitters rock!) and inspired us to knit more items ourselves. We also went into a cool shop with East Indian sari's and home decor and clothes. Turns out we have similar tastes. It was nice to go shopping with someone and do girlie stuff since Jim's idea of hell ( if there ever was one) would be shopping preferably with me or other women.
This evening we took Jeannie out to dinner to a vegetarian restaurant we found in our Lonely Planet Chile guide. We were so stoked to find it and the food was pretty good. It was great getting to know Jeannie better. She is the coolest chic and we hope she comes to Hawaii to hang out with us. Jim's brother John is arriving tomorrow and we got our tickets to fly out to Easter Island for 6 days on Wednesday. We are so excited! It's been a dream of mine to see Easter Island for years. A dream coming true! More thumbnails ...
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