Day One: Arrival in Chile

We've returned to our hotel for the evening and it feels as though we've been moving nonstop since Saturday when we left for the airport. Once we landed in Miami we used our layover time to eat dinner before boarding the Boeing 767 for our flight to Santiago. Two movies, eight and a half hours, and a lot of restless sleep later, we landed at the Santiago International Airport around 7:30 am. We proceeded through customs and went to find our luggage. We arrived to the baggage claim to find two free roaming dogs sniffing all the luggage for illegal contents. This is very different from the US where the dogs are usually led around on leashes, especially in public places. We finally found all the luggage and exited to immediately see our faculty director, Jorge, waiting right outside along with Javier, one of the Chilean students who will be with us for the next two weeks. Although we had succeeded in exiting the airport, we still were not done with our journey. Next came an hour and a half long bus ride to reach our hotel in Vina Del Mar. The landscape we drove through varied from looking dry and arid to very fertile with multiple vineyards. At least we reached our destination, Hotel America.

Our lunch! All this food for two people.

From the outside our hotel appears to be a regular house, but it had many corridors and rooms and it was fun to explore the building. It's also in a great location, close to the beach, a lot of restaurants and a grocery store. We spent some time unpacking and then headed to lunch at the Tiki Taco, a Mexican restaurant not far from our temporary home. Evan and I decided to share a parradilla, thinking it would be a reasonable amount of food for two people. To say we were surprised when our food came out would be an understatement. Our server brought out a giant plate of vegetables, and then a miniature grill with two large pieces of chicken, two steaks, two pieces of pork, and four different sausages along with a multitude of potatoes! Despite our strongest efforts, we were only able to eat about half or three fourths of the meal.

After lunch we grabbed our raincoats and met up with Javier and his younger brother to go to a futbol game; Everton, the home team, vs San Marco. Even through the rain, the crowd was noisy and invigorated, singing over the course of the entire game. At the end of the first half, Everton was down 2-0, but no one seemed discouraged, with good reason. In the second half Everton scored three goals! They won the game with just a few minutes left. As the timer ran out and the fans all started to cheer, the referee pulls out another red card on a player from the guest team! This bizarre event ended with the referees being protected by police with riot shields as both teams left the field. I'd never been to a soccer game before, and this exciting match was a great way to start.

We start bright and early tomorrow, taking the bus over to the university at 8:30. I can't wait to see the university and meet more Chileans!