¡Bienvenidos a Chile!

I am sitting at my desk window looking out over new cities in a new county. If I look to the left, I can see the port city of Valparaíso. Then to the right, is Viña del Mar, the beach city. The landscape is hilly with trees, colorful houses, and high-rises dotting the landscape. The beach for the neighborhood where I am staying is about a ten minute walk downhill. This means returning from the beach takes some effort.

Yesterday, I went to el centro (the center) of Viña to buy some food and an adaptor for the computer. I meant to be gone for about an hour and ended up being gone for over three hours- walking, looking around, eating dinner on the beach, and trying to describe the adaptor I needed. El centro is a narrow, one way street lined with cute little shops where people walk around, eat ice cream, ride house drawn carriages, and shop. Since I didn't have my camera with me, I will grab photos another time and post them for your viewing enjoyment.

I arrived less than 24 hours ago but I am already enjoying this city. I am realizing the current limitations of my Spanish and learning about South America.

Here are a few things I have learned so far:

• If the cab driver gets lost , you still pay him for the time it took him to ask for directions (three times), backtrack, and eventually arrive at your destination. 
• Las panaderías (the bakeries) here are fantastic. Yes, leave it to me to find the carb heavens wherever I go. :)
• The common word for beans in Spanish is frijoles. That word really does not exist here. In Chile, beans are referred to as porotos. Yes, leave it to the vegetarian to discover this super quickly. 
• Remember to carry change to pay to go to the bathroom... and to buy a churro. 
• The exchange rate is about 478 Chilean pesos for 1 US dollar. So when something cost 1,000 pesos, no need to freak out. (P.S. Carry a 10,000 peso bill kind of makes you feel like a baller, a word my brothers taught me that means, "very cool, usually requires walking with a swag." I  mean, when else are you going to carry a bill with 10,000 printed on it?!)

Well, that is all I have for now. I will try to post to this blog two or three times a week. If you have any questions, please ask them in the comment section and I will attempt to answer them or at least google them and come up with a good story. :)

Chao!


Below are a few photos I took today. Today is a little cloudy but I will take more photos when the weather clears and post them. 

Valparaíso

Viña del Mar

Looking out off the balcony