Santiago, Chile - Day 18 - 21

rubix - club
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i´m usually not that bad in finding my way around but i had a bit of trouble looking for my hostel in Santiago. i must have walked by my hostel 3 times before i knew that was it...its a cute place on a small street in Barrio Brazil. the area has other hostels and a street full of bars and restaurant on Avenue Brazil...pretty cool neighborhood!

i checked into my hostel and found my 9 roommates...ya! the bunk beds are awesome tho...each is built individually on a steel and wood structure...i actually quite like it. and the rest of the hostel decor is pretty cool as well...so retro and hip. i waited around for Richard to come by to get me. we had fajitas on Avenue Brazil and more pisco sours at another bar on the same street. That night we checked out a club which his friend recommended. his friend lives here so i´m sure she knows what shes talking about. we cabbed to the club and found a warehouse type-ish place...pretty cool. the place was kind of empty when we got there but fill up quickly. they played house/electro and had a indie rock band later on. Richard offered to take me home first since i dont speak any spanish and we knew the cab driver was being dodgy...he toured us around the neighborhood but luckily i knew where we were hahaha...after 3000 pesos we finally got to my hostel.

plaza dármas
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btw, chilean pesos are the worst ever! i get an ulcer every time i try to convert the currency. its $1USD for 630 chilean pesos. so move 2 decimals over and divided by 6....easy, right? no! every time i pay i calculate how much i spend...its still really cheap in chile but i definitely noticed that generally things are more expensive (than bolivia) but still cheap. i went to a bank machine and took out 150,000 pesos which sounds like a lot...but its just $200 something haha.

The next day i walked everywhere! as usually i would walk up and down each street. alot of shops were closed on saturday which i find disappointing but not like i was gonig to buy anything. i found a cute restaurant called Patagonia and had chilean seafood stew. it was one of the better meals i had in south america...so good! i spent the rest of the afternoon walking around downtown...lots of locals and tourists all crowded in the same area. the rest of the day i took it easy and hung around the hostel and chatted with some ppl there.

me
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.....

sh*t! forgot about this...haha do i really want to think back on my lovely holiday while being stuck in -17 toronto? ummm no really...it just makes me want to catch the next flight out to anywhere!  but i will continue... :)

I stayed at a hostel called Luz Azul (light blue) near the subyway station. but i couldnt find the place and probably walked by it 3 times before i went in (oh i just realized i mentioned this already...haha). The place is really nice - there are 2 seating areas, internet, a nice kitchen and clean bathrooms. i stayed in a dorm room where they made 10 bunk beds out of steel and plywood...not ur traditional type of bunkbed but each bunk is an individual unit. so if u move around in bed, u wont disturb ur neighbor below/above. anyway i left all my stuff in my locker except for my hiking shoes...the cleaning person threw it away (it was covered in sand from the sand dune in San Pedro). so this meant walking about in sandals for the rest of my trip which i was fine with...but going home in sandals in cold temperature...brrrrrr

seafood stew at patagonia
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Santiago is pretty nice! i had zero exepctations so i was looking forward to explore a city in South America. i walked to the city center which has all the shops, cathedrals, restaurants, etc. My favourite part of the city is the Bellavista area. its way north...pass the middle park (i have no idea what its called)...keep walking north! its an area full of cute cafes, little shops in this Bellavista shopping area (an enclosed area with some shops, restaurants and the best gelato place in the city!). This is also the area with lots of clubs and bars at night (i heard it thru some of the guys i roomed with...they partied til 5 in the morning...luckily i didnt go!)  The city is big on fried food - they LOVE a plate of steak, fries, 2 fried eggs and sometimes with plantain and sometimes with stir fried onions *shivers*! they're also big on avocado and tomato on EVERYTHING!!! a Chilean hot dog is a "completo"...a Chilean hamburger is "hamburguesa completo" - both REALLY good!! now i want ALL my food covered in avocado and tomato!! haha there isnt much food variety but who doesnt like everything fried and covered in avocado and tomato?? :)

cute cafes at bellavista
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I kept in touch with Richard but he met up with his friend from university so i hung out with some people from my hostel...which is where i met Gary, an Irish dude who makes fun of my name and my music....haha! we were both saying how nice it is to stay put in 1 place and not continuously meeting people. its the same routine everywhere - in each new place u go to, u say and do the same things. "hi how r u...where r u from?...where r u going next?"...seems rather boring after a few times...but then u meet some interesting people along the way. so after learning that Gary was going to Vina the following day...we said goodbye to Santiago...took the metro to Allemande station to catch our not so posh Tur Bus for our 1.5 hour bus to Vina del Mar.