Santiago. Qué bueno!

atlanta, georgia to santiago, chile - 10 hours. el nueve de enero, 2010.
bags got nervous, decided to wait a day to arrive. i on the other hand was pleasantly surprised that butterflies were not having a heyday in my bellytummy. excitement gets the square!

feel! feel!
first thing to notice here. it's about 80degrees farenheit. a welcome sensation considering a harsh old man winter i've left behind.

now.
please, meet emma! my new host mother here in santiago.
emma es una health professional y teaches a una universidad local. she's young. in her early 30s.
she is as sweet as las frutillas (strawberries) y los durasno platanos (peachbananas)!

saturday afternoon, emma walks jordan and i down calle alameda (aka Bernardo O'Higgins Avenue), the major cause-way through santiago.
[btw. jordan es mi amigo de cumberland. we went to high school together]
si, see! we see museums, el palacio moneda where the president works, and enjoy a traditional summer drink called mote con huesillos. es similar to an iced tea, sans the corn at the bottom and the floating peach. qué rico!

that evening, jordan and i venture out into the night. we have so much energy! i attribute this to the sun, which goes down around 93opm. mucho vitamin D!
explore s'more! down calle pio nono, a spot that's hot with top notch bars and cars and many mucho gente like a mideast bazaars!

hola, sunday.
desayuno (breakfast). café, toast, fruit, y sweet empanadas.
emma y talita (emma's mother and my new grandma) took Jordan and I to the feria (farmer's market).
smell! smell! fish and veggies and fruits and shoes and quiltros (stray dogs) and people people! mucho mucho gente! everything is very affordable! a kilo of frutillas is 500pesos (about $1)

later, jordan and i adventure out to cerro santa lucia (cerro = hill) where the view from the top is the tops. the breeze sweeping through are the andés saying "bienvenido" (cue the will smith song and substitute santiago for miami). the acme of the tower gives a 360degree spectacle of this elephantine city and left me in whoa.

haha. whoa.

this was fun.
let's do this again soon. hasta pronto!