Santiago, Chile!

New country, new challenges! Chile is very different from Colombia: it is highly westernized, you don't have to worry about safety (except for pickpocketing), and you can move around much more freely than in Colombia. Everything is cleaner, more organized, and unfortunately, much more expensive. And even though theoretically the same language is spoken - Spanish - it is much more difficult in practice - 2 months in Colombia and you still don't understand a word here. At the beginning. But after some time, you recognize the differences and can adapt to the 'new language'. Words are not separated cleanly or half swallowed, it is spoken faster and the pronunciation also differs in some parts.

For me, it went from the airport directly to the doorstep of the hostel by shuttle. At 32°C and a pool right behind the house, you quickly forget the 18 hours on the bus and plane. And although Santiago doesn't have much to offer, the weather and the hostel were reason enough to stay there for 6 days. When strolling through the city, you notice that there are many parks and the locals like to spend their time there. Skate parks also seem to be very popular.

A nice destination is the statue of the Virgin Mary on Cerro San Cristobal. For lazy people, there is even a tram up to the top. I saw the 10km hike as good training for Patagonia.

Once you reach the top, you have a great view over Santiago. The city seems endless on one side and is bordered by the Andes on the other.

After 6 days of relaxation, my legs were itching and it was time to move on - off to Pucon by night bus.