Dia Numero Dos (Day Number 2)

Whew! What an absolute whirlwind the last 2 days have been! As I'm writing this I'm sitting near my balcony window overlooking the beautiful Santiago night sky.

Recap: our plane was supposed to leave Dallas Wednesday night at 9:25 however, due to tornados (I didn't know we encountered any of these?) our flight was delayed and we didn't end up leaving until 1 a.m. After a long 9-hour flight (which wasn't full at all because apparently no one flies to Chile from Dallas...?) we literally hit the ground running.  We met the ISA staff, who are fabulous, and proceeded to the hotel where we're staying for 4 days getting acclimated and doing lots of orientations.  After dropping all of our stuff off at the hotel we had a quick lunch (pollo con vino or chicken with wine) and then went to San Cristobal Park. So! Cool!  It's this really neat park that was created in an effort to spruce up the city and from it you can see like all of Santiago.

This is one view- those are the Andes Mountains! Also, that's not dust, it's smog. Yuck. 

A little flea-ridden puppy dog.  It's been really hard resisting petting all of the dogs here because they're disgusting strays and there are like millions 

Another view from the top of the park 

 This statue is at the very top of the mountain/park we were at.  Saint Christopher himself! 

 Lovebirds and really cool benches

By far the coolest view complete with the Chilean flag 

A vineyard on your way down the mountain- when do you actually see grapes on a vine on a pergola?? Only in Chile

Then, we had a free evening where pretty much everyone went to dinner and the passed out because we were so exhausted from traveling and touring all day. 

Today, we woke up and went to an orientation meeting led by our ISA leaders where they basically explained that big cities are dangerous and you can't be a dumb American whenever you're taking the metro. After the meeting we got on a bus and went to what is considered "downtown Santiago". Basically lots of buildings and cool restaurants.  One of the leaders was explaining to me earlier that Santiago is so big that there are multiple "downtowns" but we went to one of the more well known ones. 

We had lunch in the Central Mercado, which Natural Geographic Magazine rated as the #5 coolest/best market to visit! 

Me cheesin' in the market- I ate pescado y papas fritas (fish and french fries) 

The market was made out of this really cool iron, and naturally they flew the Chilean flag proudly

Some gentlemen chopping the heads off of fish, while people eat nearby. Yum 

After the market/lunch combo, we walked around downtown all while trying not to look like dumb Americans.  I think we gave ourselves away though because several times we were walking and then discovered we were in the street and nearly got hit by cars several times.  Our director wasn't very happy. We went to a square where there were several street performers and a cool church. 

Church (I'm sorry I forgot the name!) that we went into in the square

A view of the square (the church and the yellow building on the right is a museum)

 Remember in Mary Poppins how Mary meets Dick Van Dyke and he's a dancing entertainer? WE SAW THE CHILEAN DICK VAN DYKE!!! These guys were seriously so good. 

More dancing. I wanted to stay all afternoon and watch them 

Me in front of the nameless church (it has a name I'm just an idiot and was watching the Dick Van Dyke-wannabees) 

We walked around the city some more and came upon these bank doors! (Sorry for another movie reference), but they were like the doors into the Wizard of Oz's castle! It's a legitimate bank!

After walking more we finally got to our destination! The Presidential Palace! It's like the White House, except the President doesn't live there anymore. 

 This is the front of the Presidential Palace

 Flag outside the front of the Palace

My official badge to enter the palace, swag I know 

Inside the palace, the orange garden 

Officers in the Palace protecting it from dumb Americans 

My friend Jonathan and I taking some really good selfies while we were supposed to be listening to the guide (aka being stupid Americans) 

Giving a speech using the same podium as the President of Chile! So official 

A fellow Kappa Delta and I standing with a guard in olive green and pearl white (our colors, obvi.) We were made so much fun of by all the non-Greeks on the trip

Post Prez Palace, we went to a textile museum. Boy do I love museums. That's sarcasm. I'm not a fan of museums but the "yarn" that was across the ceiling was super cool. 

Comic book wall

 Whoop for maroon- get it??

Finally, after a long day of museum-ing and palace-ing, we were all very sleepy and were dismissed.  A few friends and I went to a restaurant called Surreal and had the best empanadas I've ever consumed. 

Yum!

As you can probably tell, we've had a full few days.  It's been kind of difficult getting used to the accent that Chileans use, but everyone is very nice and accommodating to our American-ness. The weather has been absolutely lovely (jackets and jeans) and it sprinkled a bit on our way to dinner but not enough to get wet. We're staying in Santiago for a few more days and then Sunday evening we travel to Vina del Mar and Valparaiso to meet our host families! I'll post back after I've met them and we've enjoyed our last days in Santiago! 

Ciao! 

Aves