Another bus trip but this one by day. About 7 hours, and some scenery along the way. Its funny but most people weve met so far that have come through Chile first have told us Santiago is worth spending much time in. Not much to see etc. Well compared to other cities we were both really impressed with Santiago. Its much cleaner, more modern and progressive, more American I suppose which isn't necessarily a good thing but overall just a much more pleasant city to spend time in. The subway system is great so we we're able to navigate around quite well. We're in a really hostel, great service but you pay for it. Chile is not cheap.
One of the girls working at the hostel suffers from gastritis so we chatted a bit about it. She was a really sweet girl, she lived in Sweden for a year, and their cure is a glass of blubber and a glass of pure yogurt a day. She said after about 2 months she was almost cured. I don't know, the cure sounds almost worse than the ailment! Apparently she likes blubber though so she didn't mind it.
Josh is trying very hard to be patient with me being sick but his compassion is quite short lived so we're getting on each nerves a bit. He is cooking for me though so I can't complain. We tried to catch a couple walking tours but we were either late or the guide didn't show up so we've just been wandering on our own. We found the market area and there is all kinds of produce and goodies I can't eat. So much is grown here. We've been surprised to find strawberries in Uruguay and Argentina and cherries in Argentina and here in Chile. Nice treats we didn't expect to get. Fortunately the water has been clean in the cities we've been in, with the exception of Cuba of course, so we're able to eat the fresh produce without problems. We're missing the ice cream from Uruguay and Argentina though. It's without a doubt the best I've ever had. Its just as well, I can't eat it anyway. We climbed San Cristóbal hill and took in the views. Josh walked to the LDS temple which happened to be in our neighbourhood for once so we didn't have to trek across the city. And the meeting house is in the same location so he was able to attend services on Sunday as well. He also found online a large Germán grocery chain that is all over Chile. We've been searching for Tums and Pepto Bismal but neither are available in Chile. Apparently Jumbo carries them along with, sometimes, A&W rootbeer and Dr. Pepper. On Sunday while Josh went to church I set out on my own for the first time, to the bus station to book a bus. We have found a workaway for teaching English in a small town called Taltal. I was hoping to head south first to northern patagonia to see my penguins but all the workaways are booked for the high season. With my miserable Spanish it took me almost 2 hours to get it figured out but I succeeded, I was pretty proud of myself. Its going to be our longest bus trip yet and we can't leave till Monday so we have time to go to Jumbo!
No luck with the tums or Pepto Bismal, but I don't really need it now anyway. They carry Phillips which is like tums so I just got those. Josh got his pop though, of course. He usually gets what he wants.
Sadly we said goodbye to Santiago and headed for the desert
