Trip to Chile: Day 1

My sister, Jackie, lived in Santiago, Chile for 11 months in 2010. She originally went down with plans to visit for only 3 months but she found a job (or 2 or 3) being an English instructor and tutor so she decided to stay. In November, over my thanksgiving break from school, I was able to visit her thanks to some money my Grandpa put in a c.d. for me many years ago. It was an exceptional trip due to the opportunity to explore Chile but also to see Jackie and experience her life down there. We kept a very detailed journal of all the things we did (and ate). And we also took hundreds of pictures. I can't post all the pics but I am going to post our activities from each day. So without further ado...

Day 1: Monday, 11/22/10

• Arrived at Santiago airport, Jackie was waiting to pick me up, took bus then taxi, made it back to Jackie’s apartment at noon
• Explored Santa Lucia hill

Entrance to Santa Lucia hill

Santiago skyline from Santa Lucia hill

• Checked out Jackie’s old apartment and met one of her previous roommates, Laura
• Saw more of the city on our walk to meet Jano, one of Jackie’s Chilean friends
• All 3 of us went out to lunch at Galindo in the Bella Vista neighborhood
• Bread with pebre (popular Chilean hot pepper sauce)
• I had Pastel de Choclo, a traditional corn and meat pie
• Jackie had Churrasco Italiano, a typical sandwich with grilled steak, tomato, avocado and mayonnaise

  

  Pastel de Choclo

•  Rode the funicular to the top of San Cristobal hill and saw the Virgin Mary statue




View of Santiago from top of the San Cristobal hill







Statue of the Virgin Mary


• Walked through Pio Nono (shopping/dining district) and Parque Forestal
• Ate ice cream at the famous Emporio de La Rosa
• Christine’s flavors – lucuma (local fruit) & strawberry
• Jackie’s flavors – chocolate orange & strawberry



Lucuma and Strawberry

• Headed back to Jackie’s apartment and met her current roommate, Courtney
• Rode the metro back to the Bella Vista neighborhood and went to La Nona bar to meet more of Jackie’s friends (Alli, Jano, Kevin, Sally)
• Drink: liters of Escudo beer
• Food: french fries and ketchup
• On the walk home bought a completo (hot dog with tomato, avocado and mayo on top) from a street vendor
• Bed time - 12:30am