Chile is an interesting country. When I first arrived, I was not overly impressed with Santiago. It has many characteristics of Toronto: Lots of money, expensive, unremarkable architecture (with notable exceptions). But like many first impressions I have, my view of Santiago has flipped. The people are really nice and helpful and once I wised up to what is pricey and what is a deal, it really isn´t that expensive.
The stores contain much of what you would find in Toronto, which for South America is remarkable. Cigar stores take the form of kiosks and contain a handful of pipe tobaccos and offer mostly trinkets and souvenirs. The only people I've encountered smoking something other than a cigarette was an American smoking a cigarillo at the hostel and two guys smoking a joint along the river.
Tonight I am meeting my friend Paola. She´s a local girl whom I met last Saturday. Her English is even worse than my Spanish, but this has forced my Spanish comprehension and speaking to improve rapidly.
Tomorrow she is taking me to the Chilean seaside resort town of Valparaiso and the neighbouring beach of Vina del Mar for the weekend. It is about an hour and a half outside of Santiago and buses leave on the quarter hour.
I should probably do a recap of the past few days. Wednesday was an interesting day as a tourist. I saw Pablo Neruda´s house which was fascinating. The man was a notorious pack_rat and, as a diplomat would bring back everything from a shoe the size of a coffee table to 18th century paintings and portraits. Despite the eclecticism of these objects, they all seem to fit together in a tasteful, surreal way. Neruda also had a house in Valparaiso so I´m looking forward to seeing that as well.
Yesterday I finally connected with my friend Humberto with whom I have been playing phone tag since I arrived. We had some beers in what is easily my favourite part of the city Bella Vista. The area reminds me a lot of Palermo in Buenos Aires: trendy, arty and bohemian. Bella Vista differs in that more posh elements have moved in and prices are climbing there.
Pictures to follow. Internet cafes down here are definitely not created equal, and some don´t allow me to attach my camera to the computers.
The stores contain much of what you would find in Toronto, which for South America is remarkable. Cigar stores take the form of kiosks and contain a handful of pipe tobaccos and offer mostly trinkets and souvenirs. The only people I've encountered smoking something other than a cigarette was an American smoking a cigarillo at the hostel and two guys smoking a joint along the river.
Tonight I am meeting my friend Paola. She´s a local girl whom I met last Saturday. Her English is even worse than my Spanish, but this has forced my Spanish comprehension and speaking to improve rapidly.
Tomorrow she is taking me to the Chilean seaside resort town of Valparaiso and the neighbouring beach of Vina del Mar for the weekend. It is about an hour and a half outside of Santiago and buses leave on the quarter hour.
I should probably do a recap of the past few days. Wednesday was an interesting day as a tourist. I saw Pablo Neruda´s house which was fascinating. The man was a notorious pack_rat and, as a diplomat would bring back everything from a shoe the size of a coffee table to 18th century paintings and portraits. Despite the eclecticism of these objects, they all seem to fit together in a tasteful, surreal way. Neruda also had a house in Valparaiso so I´m looking forward to seeing that as well.
Yesterday I finally connected with my friend Humberto with whom I have been playing phone tag since I arrived. We had some beers in what is easily my favourite part of the city Bella Vista. The area reminds me a lot of Palermo in Buenos Aires: trendy, arty and bohemian. Bella Vista differs in that more posh elements have moved in and prices are climbing there.
Pictures to follow. Internet cafes down here are definitely not created equal, and some don´t allow me to attach my camera to the computers.
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