WELCOME TO SANTIAGO 🇨🇱

Finally, the Boeing lands in Santiago. After 14 hours of flight and hardly any sleep, I'm excited to finally get off. Sun :-)

As always, the airport is full of people. It is currently being renovated. The city, with over 7 million inhabitants, is also bustling here. The view of the Andes is always so beautiful. I stand in front of the door and light my first cigarette. Immediately, I strike up a conversation with other people who are also taking a breath. A woman from Chile who comes from Switzerland and is waiting for her people. A Canadian who works here and is also waiting to be picked up. After smoking 4 cigarettes, which bring the nicotine level back to a level that called for it, I go upstairs to buy a SIM card for my phone. It takes a long time, and when everything is done and the SIM card is already unlocked, the señora tells me that I can only pay with a card. So, the SIM card is removed again, and I go downstairs to smoke two more cigarettes. The sun is high in the sky, 35 degrees.

After a sugar-free cola, which I accidentally pulled from the vending machine, I head to the buses that go into the city. The wait time will be 40 minutes, as everyone wants to go into the city. Here, too, I immediately get into a conversation with two señoras who want to go to San Bernardo, about 20 minutes away from Santiago. Finally on the bus, I sit next to a miner, as he tells me, who is going to Concepción because he has 2 weeks off. He works in Iquique, in the north. We talk the whole journey until the 'Los Pajaritos' stop, where I get off to take the metro. At the ticket counter to charge my Tarjeta BIP for the metro, I see the two señoras again and we ride together. They get off at the Estación Central and I continue for two more stations until República. Then I continue with the 13 kilo backpack and my small backpack to the Princesa Insolente Hostel, about a 10-minute walk with luggage.