Pics from the first couple of days

Here is Katie in one of the parks near our hostel on the elliptical machine made out of playground equipment.  Who would think that they practically have any exercise equipment you would need in the middle of a park/playground?

Last night we found a German beer house that served pizza.  This was our breakfast pizza and surprisingly enough fried eggs were delicious on pizza!

Here we are on the top of a hill in the middle of Santiago, called Cerro de San Cristobal.  It was a hike up there, but we made it.

Our newfound friend, Rich, and Stephen are being somewhat sac-religious.....if you want to get technical.  Behind them, if you got past the good looks, is a gigantic statue of an expressionless Virgin Mary.

This is a view from the top of the hill of downtown Santiago.  In the back you can barely see the Andes mountains because of the smog, but they are there! 

Taylor, no worries even though we are thousand miles away we would not let an opportunity to take a picture of any kind of cat slip through our finger tips.  Here is a cat feasting on buckets and buckets of Whiskas.

Arriving in Chile

So we arrived in Chile 2 days ago real time, but really seems more like a week.  Arriving in Santiago and getting to our hostel wasn’t too difficult, but we had a little trouble getting through customs.  Instead of taking a risk and sneaking some trail mix into Chile, Katie decided to wash her hands of all sins and tell the customs agents that we were packing trail mix.  All of a sudden, numerous agents inquiring about the trail mix surrounded us.  Thanks for making sure we had snacks Laurie!  It turned out that the raisins were our downfall as they are very serious about not letting fruit in the country.  If Doug is reading this, you probably wouldn’t be able to get in the country for this very reason.

Basically, the past couple of days have been focused on getting a feel for the city.  We’ve accomplished this by walking through the sprawling parks, shopping in the produce markets, hiking a famous hill, and a fiesta with the other teachers/locals.  The Chilean life is seemingly stress free and much more laid back than back in the states.  We found this out first hand on the first night when the 7 o’clock dinner turned into a 9 o’clock dinner.  Needless to say, time orientation here is much more flexible and not as rigid as what we are used to.   

So far, the only drawback is the supply of people in our hostel is far exceeding the demand.  There are about 20 people assigned to one restroom/shower so you have to pick and choose the perfect times for these activities.  A small drawback for us, but even a bigger drawback for the people that have to use the restroom after me(Stephen).