Santiago

The journey from Puente del Inca to Santiago was full of switchbacks and incredible views. At some points I felt that the scenery could have been taken and put straight onto a bottle of wine. We drove through what seemed to be an aboslutely massive wine reigon on the west side of the Andes mountains and then magically Santiago appeared. We arrived late into the city and headed striaght to our hostel.

The next day we spent exploring the city. Andy and I found a massive fish market and had ourselves some lunch, it was dish delish. We also found out about a soocer/football match as well. Santiago reminds me a lot of Los Angeles a sprawling city surrounded by mountains causing a bit of a smog situation. We were able to go up to the top of one of the hills in town and get a pretty good view of everything.

The next day we got up early and bought our tickets to the football match, Cola Cola vs. Boca Juniors. Cola Cola is the Santiago team and the Boca Juniors are the best team in Argentina based in Buenos Aires. We had wanted to go to a match while we were in Buenos Aires but it just didn't happen so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Later on in the day I met up with an American man named Marc who now lives in Chile. His main gig is fly fishing and skiing but he also has a shop in which he sells Outback. Dad had casually mentioned Marc and the timing worked out great. Marc spent the day showing me around his part of the city. It was such a treat! I had my favorite sushi for lunch....I was beyond excited to say the least. I was also able to spend a bit of time at his shop and check things out. If anyone is looking to do some fly fishing or skiing down here Marc is your man.

Afterwards I met up with a group of people who were all headed to the game. We took a subway out and arrived just as the game was starting. Ihad never been to such an intense sporting event in my entire life it was great! People were cheering literally the entire time and singing songs of Cola Cola. I totally felt bad fro the Boca Junior fans especially since they lost. After the game we took a cab back to our hostel and headed to a bar Mara had wanted to go to. We drank Pisco Sours [the drink of Santiago] and then back to our hostel.

Today we are headed to the coast to spend our Easter weekend in Valpo or Valipariso.

Hope everyone has a great Easter weekend!!! Love Pia