us packing
I spent my Saturday night throwing random articles into a suitcase, otherwise known as packing. I finally made it to bed around 3am. I was back up by 6am to squeeze in a quick run before meeting the group to leave at 8. The flight was 2 and a half hours, longer than I had expected, and now I am back in the ATL time zone. The rest of the day we just hung out and ate dinner. Santiago has a much different feel than BA and ATL. The social structure here is very unequal(you can see the difference in class as you drive through the city). We are staying in an upper-class area of town, called Providencia. Therefore, the part we are in is fairly spread out and residential. The shopping center nearby is nice and built differently than any I’ve seen.
the view out the window of the plane. those are the andes mtns and clouds.
It’s circular with a fountain in the middle and shops surrounding the fountain. It’s also two stories high. The restaurant area aggressively promotes their business, so you end up with several waiters all trying to convince you to eat at their restaurant, and only one of them speaking English. I went for a run with a few of the other girls later on and the neighborhood seems safe. There is a nice trail that parallels the river that we want to try another day. The streets here are very different from BA. Much less crowded(esp. during the late evening), and their sidewalks are actually clean. Today we are traveling to the coast to see Valparaíso and Viña del Mar. I’ll post more pictures soon!
(note: I wrote this on paper monday and am just now getting the chance to upload it. I have more written out on paper to put up here, its just difficult because i dont have internet access right now.)
