Santiago!

On Sarah's birthday, we packed up and headed to Santiago, Chile [Sarah: Best. Birthday present. Ever].  4 hours to Dallas, TX, then another 10 to Santiago [Sarah: on somewhat decrepit American Airlines planes.  At least we were lucky enough to have a whole row to ourselves on both flights.  Particularly lucky since I was shifting a lot to try and get comfortable with the huge bruise on my butt that Chad mentioned in the previous post!].  But first we had a nice brunch with Scott.

Brunch at Provence Marinaside

We got to our hostel by mid-morning - in a well-worn but wicked-looking old building. [Sarah: We have certainly traveled a lot in the last six months so it's all relative, but it was shockingly easy to get to the hostel - hop on a bus, walk a few blocks - compared to some of the other experiences we have had, even in Europe.  Chile, at least so far, is super easy to get around in].

Hostel lobby

We went for a little walk after checking in, but weren't feeling particularly energetic after a mostly-sleepless night on the airplane.  Santiago has a lot of European-style buildings, mixed with other crappier-looking ones from the 1950s onward.  Graffiti is everywhere, but a lot of it is incredible and comes in the form of sophisticated murals, giving the city a slightly gritty but very artistic look. [Sarah: The European buildings give it an oddly familiar feel, but it's also very reminiscent of a Turkey or Mexico with the more rundown buildings.  Personally, I've found it very mildly disorienting at times, thinking where the heck am I?].

We had a little nap in the afternoon.  Lying on the bed, I thought I felt an air conditioner kick in.  Then it seemed like a train was going by.  But it didn't stop.  Oh, must be an earthquake!  We stood in a doorway in our room, but it was over almost as soon as it started.  (25 seconds, 5.5 Richter scale)  Pretty gentle actually, more of a big rumble, but the biggest either of us had experienced [Sarah: And scared the heck out of me!].  The guy at the front desk said they get rumbles like that several times per year.

Nearby church after the quake.  Kidding!  But this damage is likely from a previous, more intense earthquake.

The hostel was pretty decent as such things go - note the back patio area, complete with a wee (and clean-looking) swimming pool.

Hopefully foreshadowing things to come, we were in the Patagonia private room.

Santiago is, I hear, about 7 million people all together.  We were staying just west of the old/main downtown historic section in Barrio Brasil, which looks tired but also has interesting restaurants & cultural stuff going on.  The east side has new office towers, international hotel chains, fancier cafes, and could pass for Montreal's business district.

Looking over the freeway/metro towards old downtown.  The Panamerican Highway runs right through the middle of the city.

Mmm, street sopapillas for about 25 cents!

The hostel had a kitchen, so we cooked for ourselves the first night & had a bottle of Carmenere (Chile's famous grape)