Today Darren and I arrived in Santiago, Chile. When the plane landed we could see my favorite scenery outside - Mountains!! These mountains remind me of Pyramid Mountain in Jasper; they have an orange tinge to them. The mountains look a little hazy because of smog in the air, but it's still gorgeous! We then departed from the airplane and pleasantly found out that we need to pay a $132 US fee each to enter the country. This price was based on our nationality; Canada being one of the most expensive countries along with the United States and Australia. I guess Chile thinks we make lots of money in Canada. We booked on a shuttle to go to our hostel, which was relatively cheap and fast. Our hostel (Dominica Hostel) is located in Bella Vista, the art and nightlife district of Santiago. We checked into our dorm style hostel and then decided to venture out. We walked the streets and saw the 'Gran' University and Bella Vista Patio. At the patio we ate lunch and Darren and I realized that we really need to learn Spanish. We basically pointed at the menu and hoped that it would be good. Thankfully it was! I ended up with this asparagus casserole dish which came with salad and strawberry juice. Darren had something similar, but with shrimp. Now, we really needed to take out some pesos, so we asked the hostel where there was an ATM. When we used the ATM we realized yet again that we needed to learn Spanish. The first time Darren took out money, he ended up spending more money to use the bank machine then he actually took out. All of these pesos are big numbers!! For example, 2000 pesos is about $4 CAN.

We now ventured up the hill located outside our hostel. The Funicle was imprinted on a castle like building with a steep tramway leading up the hill. It cost about $3 CAN and we got to ride up to the top of St. Christopher's Hill and witness the beautiful view of city, mountains, stray dogs and a large Virgin Mary statue.

Darren and I are getting very tired now due to little sleep on the airplane. We ventured through the flea market and then tried finding an open liquor store (once again, we need to learn Spanish). We did find a little deli and ordered a pastry to enjoy later at the hostel (this was also difficult to purchase due to us using charades yet again). We never found the liquor store, but there were patios everywhere with tables and chairs lined up to the busy street curb. We enjoyed uno ceravaza (gran!!!) that was plenty good and cost $3 CAN. We envied the scenery of young love and groups of friends having fun.

Back at the hostel we napped, woke up and wanted to nap more. We chatted with a few hostel members, but honestly - I'm tired. We will party tomorrow night. First we sleep.