Since I was picked up from my homestay to school yesterday, today was the first day that I walked to school. Classes start at 9:10am so I started myself walked 45 minutes earlier.
Traffic in Arequipa seems to be quite bad almost all the time. Maybe it’s because of the tiny roads and excessive number of taxis zooming around.
All looks calm on this side of the road in Arequipa in the morning.
The day was sunny but cool when I started my walk. I chose to wear flip flops today because my shoes didn’t have a good grip of the smooth stone pavements in the town center.
I immediately regretted wearing flip flops when I got out of the house. The weather was too cold for my toes to be exposed! As I walked down the road, I noticed that everyone wore covered shoes. The schoolgirls even had knee-length socks as part of their uniform.
“Combi”, Arequipa’s mini buses.
The side of the road which I walked on had less traffic since it was the road out of town. However, the opposite side which had traffic heading into town had a really bad traffic jam. It seemed to me that walking was much faster than being stuck forever in the one-way lane.
Things don’t look so good on the other side.Morning traffic at Olvalvo Grau roundabout in Arequipa. Look deeper into the photo to see the traffic jam.
Near the roundabout, the two alpacas which I saw yesterday where still there. Instead of grazing, they were just sitting around, glaring at people looking at them.
Morning traffic on Puento Grau in Arequipa. (Do you see the alpaca?)
I finally reached my language school after half an hour of walking. I’m actually quite thankful that most of my path were in the shade so I didn’t have to worry about UV rays.
At school, I learned new grammar and learned that I’ve forgotten many new vocabulary.
In the afternoon, there was an Arabic cooking session by one of the students. I got to see how baba ghanoush is made in real life! The food was good and we ended with pancakes slathered with jam from Germany.
Arabic food in Arequipa
By the time I walked back to my homestay, the sun was setting so I didn’t get an eyeful of sun.
I went to the Arequipa HQ of mobile operator Movistar to purchase a new SIM card. However, the employee said I could not buy a new SIM with my foreign passport. I was very annoyed about it so I went to its competitor, Claro, to buy a new SIM.
[The internet at my homestay couldn’t connect last evening so I couldn’t upload this post until today!]
Although today’s main event was my 5-hour long Spanish classes (with breaks in between), I thought you would be more interested in reading about eating alpacas for lunch. I’ll get to school talk soon.
After class, I headed to a restaurant which my teacher recommended. The place didn’t have the Menu of the Day at 2:30pm so I chose something a la carte.
The most interesting items seemed to involve alpaca so I ordered one that was drenched in sweet pepper sauce with some ravioli.
Alpaca steak tastes like gamey beef steak
The texture of alpaca is a bit like beef–slightly tough. However, the taste is very different from beef.
My dish of alpaca tasted a little like not-so-well prepared mutton. Or as someone on Facebook corrected me, it tasted “gamey” not “smelly”.
Alpaca is definitely not on my list of Best Meats to Eat (TM) and is probably down at the bottom somewhere with crocodile meat.
After my meal, as I walked back to my home stay, I saw two alpacas grazing casually by the roadside. That’s insane!
Cute alapacas grazing
Back to school!
I’m taking Spanish classes again in Arequipa. Lessons and accommodation here is definitely cheaper than Buenos Aires. Plus, I get to have one-to-one lessons instead of group lessons.
I was supposed to walk to school (2 freaking miles!) today but the school coordinator and her husband picked me up from my homestay place instead. The morning traffic in Arequipa looked horrible from my view in the car.
I had two different teachers for my lessons. For the first 2 hours, I had Senorita R, the next 2 with Senor J and the last 1 hour with R again.
I think I spoke more broken Spanish in these 5 hours than the whole 1 month and a week that I’ve been in South America. Most of the time, I spoke like this: “I loves to eats Japan food.” “I have a journalist.” or something grammatically, vocabularly incorrect.
Of course it’s all about learning and I’m learning a lot. In fact, I felt like I was learning too much after 2 hours but got into the groove by the 5th hour. I hope that by the end of the week, I’ll be rather good at Spanish. Hopefully.
I usually pride myself in being one of the first few people who wake up earliest for breakfast. It’s some stupid thing I think of to feel superior over others who drink themselves silly the night before.
However, at Arica Surfhouse where I was staying, I was the last to wake up at 8:30am. There were 11 other beds in my room but I the only one in the room when I woke up.
Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.
I guess I have to explain a little about this hostel. It’s called Arica Surfhouse and surfing is one of its selling points. There are surfboards everywhere and people just look tanned and happy. Oh, at 6:30pm, there is a free yoga session (tips happily accepted).
Oh, a guy with a beard was doing yoga when I left the room for lunch.
I guess all signs point to a health hostel and not a party hostel which totally fits me. Plus, the Brazilian receptionist looks like a cute non-Hulk Edward Norton but is unfortunately sexist (the things you learn by being at the wrong place at the right time.
Anyway, I decided to extend one night’s stay here in Arica because sitting on a bus for several hours to Arequipa kind of scares me now.
What do I do with an extra day in Chile? Nothing, like in Kandy and Athens.
Still, I don’t want to leave Arica and tell everyone that I didn’t take a look at the town so I went out around noon for lunch and some photos.
Views of Arica
After being in the big Europe-like cities of Buenos Aires and Santiago, I felt that I finally had a real taste of South America. Well, at least small town South America.
Liquor store opposite my hostel
Buildings here don’t go too high up. Buildings are painted in bright colors but they are all in harmony with their neighbors.
PlayschoolArica, ChileShop in Arica
Christopher Columbus Square
San Marco church
I decided to tick one thing off my Things to See in Arica. I checked my location on Google Map and walked down San Marco street to the San Marcos de Arica Cathedral. This church was commissioned to Gustave Eiffel, not that I could tell.
Christopher Colombus square in AricaPretty street of AricaAduana in Arica
I debated whether I should check out the beach which was about 5 minutes away. I decided not to because I don’t care much for the beach, even if there are seals.
After the walk, I headed back to the hostel for a good nap. Now it’s about 7pm and it’s pitch black. I should go out and find food but I’ll take my time.
I woke up at 8:05am and began packing all my things. Back on Day 1, I only had a backpack and my slingbag. Now, besides my sling bag, I have a backpack that is bursting at its seams, a huge Carrefour cloth shopping bag for my laptop and other important things and another smaller Carrefour shopping bag for water and food.
My luggage has gone out of hand. I even had to wear my two jackets simultaneously because there wasn’t space to put them in. By the time I was ready to leave, I looked like a hobo with my three bags and multi-layered jackets.
Thank goodness for the jackets because it was 8 degrees C when I got out. Instead of shivering, I was warm and snug, although a bit tired from my bags.
I initially thought I would reach the bus terminal in half an hour but it took a bit more time than that as there was a bit of traffic jam. Thankfully I left one hour earlier.
The Tur-Bus terminal is pretty good. In fact, the whole place is much better than bus terminals in Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru. There weren’t any strange smell of piss or drunk/ drugged people hanging around.
Tur-Bus terminal in Santiago, Chile
My bus didn’t come until 10:34am. As soon as I got on the bus, the bus started pulling out of the parking space and off we went. That was fast.
The bus I booked was a “semi-cama” (semi bed) and the seats were quite comfortable. I could lean back about 150 degrees if I wanted to.
Inside Tur-Bus semi cama bus
Through out the 6-hour journey, we were treated to three movies and no snack break. Luckily there was a toilet on the bus.
There was a very quirky Wes Anderson movie “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou“, the sleep inducing “Another Day to Die Hard” and the funny “Parental Guidance”. The latter two movies were dubbed in Spanish.
The view along the way was gorgeous. We passed by mountains and even the sea where the waves were gigantic.
Along the Chilean highwayI didn’t know cacti grow on fertile land too.
I snoozed a lot along the way, mainly during Bruce Willis’s movie.
We reached La Serena on time and most of the people got off the bus. Using a print-screened version of the hostel map, I slowly walked to the place I would spend the night at.
During the walk uphill, the straps of my bag dug into my shoulder. My hands felt like they would rather fall off than carry all the crap. So I decided there and then that I would get a suitcase with wheels.
Where do you find a suitcase in small town La Serena? After putting my luggage in the 4-bed hostel room, I walked back to the bus terminal where I saw what looked like a mall.
La Serena Mall
Indeed, it was the local mall. The inside looked exactly like one of the malls in San Jose. I was excited. I haven’t been in a “real mall” since coming to South America!
I walked around, admiring consumerism. My dinner was from a fast food place–a quarter chicken with rice and french fries at the price of S$8.
I managed to find a suitcase I like. At the cashier, I was given a discount for using a foreign credit card. My lovely black suitcase (actually, the only color they had) cost about S$100. I’ll show it to you one day.
The sun had set by the time I left the mall. I felt safe walking back the dimly lit roads because I figured that there would be less crime in a small town.
Now I’m back in my hostel room, in my warm bed. I’ll need plenty of rest for my 20-hour bus ride tomorrow. See you then!
Sunday was election day so no museum was open while Monday was the day all museums close so I only had Tuesday to visit Santiago’s museums.
Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Santiago
The Museum of Memory and Human Rights was the #2 tourist attraction in Santiago on Tripadvisor. Being the sheep that I am, I went to the museum just to see what the fuss was about.
There wasn’t an entrance fee for the museum which was “dedicated to commemorate the victims of Human Rights violations during the Military Regime led by Augusto Pinochet between 1973 and 1990″ as noted by Wikipedia.
I shed big fat tears when I watched some of the interviews of those who were around during the coup. Luckily I was wearing glasses and a scarf so the tears could be hidden away.
After the sad museum, I went across the street to the contemporary art museum. I lied that I was a student and paid the 400 peso entrance fee instead of the 600 peso.
Unlike the Museum of Memory and Human Rights, the contemporary art museum made my laugh. Some of the works on display were clearly just trolling the audience and the organizers.
My favorite was a tiny glass bottle with eraser shred. The piece was titled something like “Copy of someimportantdrawing but erased”.
Who am I?Balls of steel
After the museum, I got on a bus to the city center. However, the bus stopped halfway and I had to take another bus. I realized much later that everyone got out of the bus because the terminal was nearby.
View from a Santiago bus
I hung around some sort of rundown mall and had a lunch of hotdog. Even though it was a fast food stall, the queue took forever to end and the food took even longer to come.
My hotdog was garnished with avocado and tomato, an interesting combination that was destroyed by the limpy hotdog bun.
Doggi’s hotdog set meal
After heading back to my hostel for another round of honey lemon drink, I went out for museums. This time, it was the Museo de Bellas Artes near my hostel.
I went to the wrong direction of the museum and entered another branch of Santiago Museum of Contemporary Art. After this round of modern art viewing, I decided that contemporary art is not my cup of tea.
The collection at the real Museo de Bellas Artes was pretty good. However, there was a large exhibition on Gordon Matta-Clark so I thought the museum had a bit of a confused identity.
The night ended well since I got to try out Pineapple Champagne! (Just regular sparkling wine with pineapple pulp.)
While I was planning my round-the-world trip, I had thought seriously about shaving my head before going on the trip. I reasoned that it would cost me less shampoo (but more sun block) and would repulse any potential harasser (along with suitors, I suppose but that is alright).
I googled a few questions to figure out how women can take care of a shaved head. Nothing much appeared as most posts were dedicated to male head shaving and praising the bravery of women who shear their hair for charity.
Alas, I did not shave my head. My mother advised that a bald head will be terribly cold in winter. I also thought that it might attract bad sort of attention, seeing a female person with no hair.
I did not shave my head but went for a really short hair cut. This was for many reasons:
Less drying time
Less grooming time (I don’t even use a comb that much)
Less shampoo
According to a hoax that is repeatedly circulated on my Facebook wall by others, rapists rarely not target women with short hair. (Pretty bullshit but what the heck.)
One of the very few photogenic photos of me.
Even though I thought the hair style would keep for 4 months, by the end of the second month, my hair was growing past acceptable lengths for short hair.
I looked like I was wearing a ball of iron wool with my tough black hair.
Fringe too long.
CIY: Cut-it-yourself
Instead of heading to a hairdresser’s, I decided to do it myself.
YQ trims her bangs while mom takes photos.
As you can see, I was using a regular ole scissors which did its job of sniping away the ends. My bangs are still thick now but at least they do not cover my eyes.
Trim it with a razor
One day, I realized that the hair at the back of my neck had crept out and turned into a mini mullet.
Mini mullet
The hair was too short to tie up so I decided to snip it off. However, when I was in the hostel bathroom, I realized that I did not bring my scissors. The only sharp thing I had was a razor so I used that instead.
It’s rather difficult using a razor on the back of my head. Many times, I had to look back into the mirror to double check my hair length. But the best way to determine if my hair was cut in a straight line was to feel it.
After felling my neck, I chopped off more hair and now I have a bob again.
Unfortunately, museums are closed on Mondays so I couldn’t spend my time looking at captioned items in a warm room.
Instead, I decided to buy my tickets to the north of Chile. Memorizing my route with Google Maps, I headed out after a great breakfast of scrambled eggs on bread.
I heard that buses in Santiago only accept payment by Bip! card so I’m glad I bought mine yesterday.
Santiago Bip! card
A ride on the bus was about 600 peso (S$1.50). One very good things is that bus transfers are free within 90 minutes. I took a total of 3 rides for 600 pesos. Bua hahaha.
Since I checked the bus timings online, I showed the cashier the bus timings, destinations and prices. The two rides cost a total of 47,600 peso (S$119) for a total of 25 hours.
Tur bus ticket
On Wednesday, I’m taking a 5 hours bus ride to La Serena where I will stay overnight for one day. Then it’s a 20+ hour bus ride to Arica which is near the border of Peru-Chile.
After buying the ticket, I hopped on a bus to La Reina. I actually had no idea what there is in La Reina but anything with a name like “The Queen” is cool to me.
A pair of musician got on the bus at the same stop and were busking for a part of the journey. Busking happens quite a lot in South America.
I didn’t reach La Reina. Instead, I hopped off the bus when I saw a nice building. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like a museum up-close.
Mural in Santiago
I walked around, taking photos of nice things and ate a set lunch at a Peruvian restaurant.
Using my City Guide app (one of my favorite apps for this trip), I figured out how to get back to the hostel. On my way back, I went to the supermarket and accidentally bought fizzy water.
I also bought a S$1 soap. It was expensive because the soap is gigantic! It’s twice the size of a regular soap back home.
Chilean soap
After heading back to the hostel, I snuggled into my bed. Two new habitants checked in, N from Isreal and H from South Korea. We made plans to have dinner together. Five points to YQ!
Before dinner, I made a batch of honey lemon drink with boiled fizzy water because water in Santiago.
Overheard in the hostel
After dinner, we headed back to the hostel after H and I bought groceries.
Wi-Fi only works in the hostel lobby so I had to drag my laptop down. Unfortunately, three modern hippies were having dinner and talked in obnoxiously loud voices.
Among the juicy quotes from their loud conversation were:
“I feel uninspired by material things. I can’t fulfil myself in material possessions.”
–Canadian Guy 1
“You guys don’t have herpes, do you?”
–American-Indian Girl, referring to sharing drinks, not STD.
“I’m afraid I’m too drunk right now. I don’t want to be the girl who can’t handle herself.”
–Same girl
“I’ve been in rooms which just sucked my energy.”
–Canadian Guy 1, commenting on the quiet lounge
“You are like a princess… You have a warm heart. And that is beautiful.”
–Canadian Guy 1 to girl. [Get a room already!]
At the hostel, there’s a 60-year-old man who cannot stop talking to other people. However, his opening line is, “Do you speak English?” and he only speaks to white people.
As you can see, I’m quite a partypooper who hates it when other people have fun.
What’s the worst thing you’ve overheard in a hostel?
Despite sleeping at 3:00am in the morning, I woke up at 8:00am. I couldn’t fall back to sleep so I headed to the hostel basement for breakfast.
To my horror, the scrambled eggs were not there. I was hoping eggs would be refilled soon and I even hung around after finishing my bowl of cereal. Unfortunately, there was still no eggs no matter how long I waited.
I head back to my room and got ready for the day out. I wanted today to be museum visiting day since I had not been to any museums in Santiago yet. Plus, most museums close on Monday so I had better get my fill of museums on Sunday.
The first museum on my list was the Museum of Memory and Human Rights. I bought a transport card–adorably called “Bip”–and loaded it with some money. A ride on the subway is 600 peso (S$1.50).
When I got to the entrance of the museum inside the subway, I found out that it was closed I then remembered that today was elections day. I went out of the subway to take a look at the museum.
Near the museum, there were several TV cars and a few policepeople standing guard. I wondered if the building next to the museum was where voting happened.
Heavily guarded building
I took a peek at my Tripadvisor app to see where to have lunch. I walked down the street, hoping to find the elusive restaurant but failed. Instead, I captured a few photos:
Santiago buildingSantiago, ChileMuseum of Education
I headed back to the subway station and looked at the map. I saw a subway station called Cementerio. I remembered reading about how the cemetery here in Santiago is worth a visit.
I hopped back onto the subway and switched a line to reach the cemetery.
When I got there, I wanted to see if there were any restaurants around. Since I did not have a good breakfast, my energy was quickly sapped away. I needed food.
While I was waiting for the traffic lights, a young man in a small old car turned into my street, grinned and yelled, “CHINO!”
I didn’t know if that was supposed to be racist or just for fun. I should learn the word for “asshole” so I can use it in situations like these.
There were no restaurants around the entrance of the cemetery. Instead, there were stalls and stalls of florists, all selling blooming flowers.
Santiago General Cemetery
Without lunch, I walked into the cemetery.At first, the building on the left looked like an administration office.
Santiago General Cemetery
Looking closer, I realized that the floors had shelves with plaques. This wasn’t an office. It was places to put urns.
There were many of such constructions in the cemetery–rectangular boxes with inscription in the front and presumably urns in the back.
Unlike Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires where only the “elite” were kept. The Santiago General Cemetery seemed to have a mix of rich and middle class.
The rich had elaborate mausoleums or underground tombs while the middle class were kept in rectangular space. It’s a little like real life where the rich could afford bungalows while the middle class stayed in flats.
Landed property for the deadHDB for the dead
The cemetery was huge! I didn’t walk from one end to another since the other end looked really far.
Interestingly, the cemetery had a few large buildings housing many different people. One of these was the “Circle of Reporters” where I assumed the remains of famous reporters were kept.
Circle of Reporters in Santiago General CemeteryWhat’s inside the Circle of Reporters?
This concept of keeping related people in the same place after life is quite fascinating. I had always assumed that people want to be “kept” near their families after they die.
I discovered one grave that was decorated with a lot of flowers and children’s toy. There were many notes printed on marble, thanking Carmenita for something. At first I thought this was where people came to pray for love.
After poking around my Spanish translation app, I deciphered that women who want children would come and pray for one (or two).
Carmencita’s grave in SantiagoCarmencita is able to bless you with babies
Soon, it was time to head back. I took the subway back to the hostel. I walked around and discovered a large supermarket. I bought a large pack of green apples before heading to lunch at a restaurant.
Then I got back to the hostel and had a refreshing siesta.
Despite preferring to sleep till noon, I dragged myself out of bed for breakfast so I could go for the free walking tour for Santiago.
Breakfast at Andes Hostel was slightly better than the one in Buenos Aires. We actually had scrambled eggs. I love protein.
However, there is something foul about Santiago’s water. Drinking coffee is still ok but tea and boiled water tastes polluted.
The Santiago free walking tour starts near Plaza des Armas which is just one subway stop away. I wrapped myself up in the thickest clothes I have and walked to the gathering point.
The air was misty with the morning chill. An advertising board which shows the time and the temperature alternatively told me that it was 7 degrees Celsuis. However, thanks to the bits of sunlight, it didn’t feel as cold.
Santiago church
The tour started on time and involved a lot of walking. The tour guide whose name might have been Maritius brought us to different spots, to point out their historical significance.
Santiago Central Post OfficeSantiago square with a flagSantiago
For me, the most exciting part of the tour was seeing the snow-capped mountains not far from Santiago. It was the very first time that I’ve seen snow in real life.
It’s just as beautiful as photographs. However, I have no inclination to actually touch snow so admiring from afar will do.
SNOW!
On our tour, we stopped by a cafe where everyone ordered something to eat. I decided to order a Pisco Sour even though it was only about 11am. After about half a glass, I was rather tipsy.
When the tour ended in Bellavista, the guide suggested 5,000 peso as tip. I think that’s really reasonable since the tour took a very long time.
I joined two Australian girls and an English boy for lunch. We ended up in the touristy Patio Bellavista square since a recommened restaurant wasn’t open for pre-lunch coffee. I had a custard which wasn’t that fantastic.
Second hand clothes shopping
After the coffee, I brought the English boy to the second hands clothes street since he said he needed something warm. This was the first time that I’ve went shopping with a guy and it still feels really weird.
The first shop that we went to, Meicy’s, had clothes piled up on tables. The place smelled a bit of puke which made shopping not very pleasant. I found a long cardigan at the 3 for 1,000 peso bin but the shop owner refused to sell one piece of clothing for any cheaper.
We headed to another shop which had hangers. Here, I found a padded jacket with a price tag of 9,990 peso (~S$25). I tried to bargain it to 5,000 peso and was quoted 6,000 peso (~S$15). Not bad for someone not good at bargaining.
I also managed to buy a woolen hat for 1,500 peso. My sister who had been studying in Beijing where the winters are bitter had suggested that I get a hat.
Dinner and drinks
After the successful shopping trip, I headed back to the hostel. The four of us had decided to meet for dinner at the recommended restaurant at a very Chilean dinner time of 9:30pm.
I didn’t manage to take a siesta as I did a bit of blog work. I did get the chance to shower and change. I was ready with my new warm jacket at 9:00pm to walk to the restaurant.
Usually when I travel alone, I never go out after the sunsets. Luckily, the English boy “S” stayed near my hostel and we speed walked to the restaurant. With my jacket, I felt invincible.
Dinner at El Camareno was good. The restaurant walls were covered with words left by previous customers. I spent quite a long time deciphering the Spanish.
I had ceviche again and we shared a bottle of red wine. After dinner, the girls wanted to go drinking at a particular bar. Since I was at the place, I became the unofficial tour guide, leading everyone to the bar.
Before we got to the bar, we stopped by another bar. Here, I ordered a Piscola (A three-quarter glass of Pisco mixed with a 220ml can of Coke). I rather like the concoction when there’s a lot more Coke.
Being tipsy, I listened more than I talked. Everyone else seems to be downing alcohol like it was plain water. By half a glass, I was rather drunk and imagined how nice it would be to sleep in my warm domitory.
At about 2:30am, the girls decided to head to the main area. By that time, I became sober again and was leading the way. However, I brought everyone to the wrong place.
A taxi driver nearby told us that the bar was closed. (I suspect it wasn’t and he just wanted extra cash.) The girls decided to head to another bar. I tagged along as well since I did not want to walk back alone.
Thankfully, S thought the cover charge was too expensive and wanted to walk back. I was secretly overjoyed because I did not know how much longer I could stand on my feet.
The walk back from the opposite bank to the hostel was pretty fast. When I got into my dorm room, only 1 other girl wasn’t back. I slipped into my blanket and sheets and fell into a deep sleep.
How much alcohol can you drink in a night? Share your best in the comments below!
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Location: Santiago, Chile
[This post was delayed by a day because of travelling and feasting.]
Welcome to Santiago
Finally, I am leaving Buenos Aires. I have been in Argentina for more than 3 weeks which is about 1 week too long. I blame it on my US visa application but I should be thankful that the application was successful.
However, thanks to Buenos Aires and Argentina, I’ve met quite a few exciting people. Like me, they’ve decided to take time off from “real life” and travel/ live abroad for an extended period of time. I feel less strange.
My plane to Santiago was leaving at 11:25am and I booked a 8:10am shuttle. This meant that I had to wake up at 7:00am and skip breakfast.
While waiting for the shuttle, I managed to lose my shuttle booking voucher. (I later found it in my pocket.) When the driver asked for the voucher, I had to pretend that I left it in the hostel.
Throughout the drive to the airport, the driver was twitching. Not listening-to-music twitch but a jumpy shoulder. I was afraid he might lose control and run into something.
Luckily, we arrived in one piece.
At the airport, I found the Overexposed Model in one of the ads. For those who don’t know me in real life, I have been “curating” a tumblr called The Overexposed Model which features a stock image model on many different ads.
I groaned loudly when I saw the ad. It’s not really that exciting seeing her on advertisements now. It’s more like a crazy nightmare.
Overexposed Model in Argentina
Sky Airlines flight
Let’s head to my Sky Airlines flight. The plane was a small vehicle with three seats on both sides. I had the aisle seat as well as a lumpy seat.
The meal was horrible, one of those that give plane food a bad name.
Sky Airline food
They didn’t even have coffee or tea. Gasp. Thank goodness the flight was only 2 hours.
The plane seemed to take forever to land in Santiago airport. The clouds were really thick and the plane was flying around for a long time before it landed.
I took a shuttle bus (5,000 peso) to my hostel. The bus waited for a while for enough passengers before heading to town.
Along the way, I saw some beautiful green mountains. It was emerald green with a few trees lined up on its side. I’m liking the city.
Japanese lunch
Izakaya Yoko in Santiago, Chile
After checking into my 6-person dorm, I headed out for Japanese. Sky Airline’s inflight magazine recommended a Japanese restaurant in Santiago that was just down the road from my hostel.
The place had two floors. I went to the second floor since the first floor was full.
I almost had a heart attack when I saw what the other customers were doing. They were drinking espressos, after a Japanese meal!
After getting over the shock, I ordered the set meal. It wasn’t until everything arrived that I knew what it was: Fish tempura with chicken in soy sauce.
The meal was delicious but the green tea was horrid. There’s something bad about Santiago’s tap water. It’s foul.
After lunch, I took a long siesta, something I needed badly.
Peruvian dinner and drinks
For dinner, I went out with Xiao Li who I “met” on Twitter. She has been in Santiago for a while and has been teaching entrepreneurship. I feel highly underachieved compared to her.
Xiao Li and her boyfriend, M, brought me to a Peruvian restaurant where I had my first pisco sour. I am in love with Pisco Sour.
This is obviously not Pisco Sour but it is delicious.
Despite being on the same longtitude as Buenos Aires, Santiago is very very cold. I suspect it’s because it’s in a valley.
The night’s temperature dropped to about 7 degrees C. That is bloody cold. Luckily there’s a heater in my room so I didn’t freeze during the night.
YQtravelling 