Hello Chile!

Hello everyone,

Tanja and I have been in Chile for almost two weeks now, and it feels like we just said goodbye to Mendoza yesterday. It was the first time we booked a bus that didn't travel at night. It was a good decision because we got to see the beautiful nature of the Andes that we passed through on our way to Santiago de Chile. Every turn revealed a new breathtaking panorama, which we tried to capture with our phones.

We arrived in Santiago de Chile with a one-hour delay due to time-consuming border controls between Argentina and Chile. (They even had dogs sniffing all our luggage, not to find drugs but to detect vegetables, fruits, and plant products. Their import into Chile is strictly prohibited!)

Once we arrived in Santiago de Chile, we took a taxi to our hostel and didn't leave it that evening. (We didn't even have to cook for ourselves. The hostel prepared warm meals for its guests every night!)

The next day, we set out to explore the city. We wanted to climb the hill of San Cristóbal because our taxi driver from the previous day assured us that we could admire the entire city from up there. The climb was a bit challenging, but it was worth all the effort once we reached the top. The friendly taxi driver didn't promise too much; we could see the whole of Santiago de Chile from above!

In the evening, we spontaneously decided to join a Chilean BBQ at our hostel, followed by a visit to a club. We met many new people and danced late into the night.

Unfortunately, we didn't make it to the 9 am Free Walking Tour the next day. No problem! Another one was offered at 3 pm daily. On our journey, we have already been on several tours, but this one was different from all the others! It was about the history of the city, and in Santiago de Chile, the history and significant events of the past are still relatively young! One could still feel how present the military dictatorship was everywhere. Some of the stories our young tour guide told gave us goosebumps.

Since both Tanja and I were very interested in these recent historical developments, we visited the Human Rights Museum the following day. It detailed every important event from 1973 to 1990 (sometimes a bit too detailed, to the point that I felt sick!). Everything reminded me of stories from East Germany.

On our last evening in Santiago de Chile, we met up with our favorite Russian, Aljona, who had successfully completed her hike through the Andes. We had Pisco Sour and Terremoto, both national drinks of Chile (although Chile and Peru still argue about the origin of Pisco!). Originally, Tanja and I planned to go back to the hostel after that, but Aljona had other plans. She has been taking salsa lessons for many years and wanted to go dancing. It didn't take long for her to convince us, and we were on our way to a nearby salsa club.

The club wasn't very big, but it was filled with Chileans eager to dance salsa. The three of us were the only ones who weren't from South America, so it seemed like a must for every Chilean salsa dancer to invite us to dance. They didn't even consider our initially shy "No, thank you, we can't dance salsa." Even the fact that we didn't even know the basic steps wasn't an obstacle. With broken English/Spanish, they taught us the basics, and it didn't take long for the three of us to sweep across the dance floor. We danced salsa all night until the lights in the club were turned on and we were sent home. A small group of Chileans even escorted us to Aljona's house!!

The evening was a fantastic conclusion to our time in Santiago and a great start to our further journey in Chile!

Best regards,

Anna