Napping dogs in front of the Presidential Palace.One of my favorite things to do in capital cities (or any city really) is to just wander around without any real itinerary. The first day of exploring Santiago led me around the main business district as well as the area housing many government buildings, including the Presidential Palace. Having heard many negative things about Santiago I was a little surprised, it definitely wasn´t as bad as it was made out to be. In fact, parts of the city really reminded me of a mix between Chicago on a summer day and Bogota, Colombia.
Presidential Palace.My day of wandering also led me to the Plaza de Armas and an enormous cathedral on the plaza.
Another highlight of Santiago was meeting up with a couple friends of mine. First was Catie from Minnesota. I had gone to elementary school with Catie and had not seen or really spoken to her in around 12 years (since I moved from Minnesota to Michigan after 6th grade). Although a little weird at first to hang out with someone who I hadn´t seen since I was 12 years old, I am really glad we got together. It was great talking about things we had done together in the 3rd grade and catching up on what had happened to us both in our lives since 1996. The second person I met up with was Raul, the Chilean who I went with into the Peruvian jungle back in December. Raul invited me over to his house where we caught up, talked about all the crazy things that happened to us in the jungle and I also got to meet his new wife (they had gotten married the previous weekend and just returned from their honeymoon). It is always really nice to have contacts in new cities. It makes things much more personable and really gives you a chance to immerse yourself in local life, something that you otherwise don´t usually get to experience as a traveler.
Catie and I in Santiago.We decided to take a day trip to Valparaiso, Chile, a city about 2 hours bus ride from Santiago on the Pacific coast. Valparaiso is famous for lots of colorful homes, some very old elevators that take people up the hills surrounding the city and the site of one of Pablo Neruda´s homes. Although the weather was not the best (cold and cloudy) it was nice to check it out and get away from smoggy Santiago for a bit.
A splash of color in Valparaiso.
View of Valparaiso and the Pacific Ocean from Pablo Neruda´s house.With the end of my time in Santiago also came the end of my time with Becky and Olivia. By saying goodbye to them though, I also knew that I was beginning the final week of my trip. A brief stop in Tupungato, Argentina to pick up a bag that I had left a couple months ago and then on to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Travel is starting to wear on me and it will be very nice to get home, but at the same time I really don´t want to face the realities of life in the US, mainly the need to find summer employment and to start regularly using an alarm clock. Oh well, I just need to take advantage of what time I do have left in South America and be grateful that I have had this amazing opportunity to spend so much time traveling in a truly spectacular part of the world.
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