Over 5000 Miles Later...

It's hard to remember back to my first days here in Chile - it's only been three weeks, but the amount I've seen, learned, and done makes it feel like three months. Where has all that time gone?

To start: I flew from Pittsburgh to Atlanta, and was meeting the majority of people around 9 that night for our flight to Santiago at 10:05. First I met Meghan and Rory, two west coasters... and then the group arrived from Miami, and it was insanity. Too many people and names to remember at once. On the plane, I took solace in the back (with two seats to myself) and spoke to a guy from Iran who was a political science professor at BU, and had a one day lecture/meeting in Chile.

After an awkward sleep during the 9 hour flight, the group of us whizzed through customs and got our obligatory stamps (the highlight of my morning, sad to say. The clomp of a stamp in a passport is oddly exciting for me). We piled our massive amounts of luggage into two vans and met our two bacán (in español: cool) field directors, Thomas and Meghan. They took us to our hostel, Hotel Plaza Londres, which turned out to be an absolute haven for us - despite being freezing cold all the time. We had a quick meeting before being told to scram for a couple hours.


The front of Hotel Plaza Londres and the street of Londres.
I decided to wait around for Patrick - formerly known as my boyfriend - and have him show me some of Santiago because he had already been there for a month. While waiting, I was treated to a riot just a block down the street from my hostel. Patrick met me while I was watching this, and we got to see multiple carabineros (in español: police, specifically the Chilean police) come to the scene. First it was some on foot, then a couple cars, then an armored van with a mounted water cannon, and then more with shields. We never found out what was happening, but we did see some guy without a shirt who was bleeding profusely get handcuffed and dragged away.

After that excitement, Patrick took me up the Cerro Santa Lucia. The view from up there was magnificent, as you can see from the panorama in my previous post. The hill itself was pretty nice too, with several statues of important historical Chileans, along with the remainders of a fort and other architecture.


The entrance to Cerro Santa Lucia from O'Higgins, and a look at Santiago.
Afterwards, I went back to the hostel for food and meetings, a chance to get to know everyone a little bit better. We went over quite a few logistics, like insurance and who to call when (carabineros, clinicas, and bomberos - police, doctors, and firemen). Then followed more relaxing and meeting up with Patrick again, before experiencing just how cold it is at night in Plaza Londres. Our room was usually colder than it was outside, and outside temperatures ranged from low 30's at night to maybe 50's during the day, to give you an idea. For the record, basically no one in Chile has central heating... so unless you have a wood stove or a space heater, the temperature inside is the same as the temperature outside. I faced that cruel reality when going to bed.

And, well... that was my first day. More flashbacks later!