Dia 4, 1 de Marzo del 2008

Yesterday was a good day, I went to Cerro San Cristobal with Juaquin. Que bonito la ciudad! The Andes loom like well-intentioned guards over the city and at sunset, they sky turns pink behind the mountaintops and it is beautiful. We went up the teleferica to the top of Cerro San Cristobal and enjoyed a Chilean drink similar to iced tea. There were grains similer to barley and corn in at the bottom of the glass then a drink similar to iced tea with two sweetened frozen peaches. Is was quite sweet and although unusual, there was a familiarity in the taste; needless to say it was nice refreshment.
From the top of Cerro San Cristobal you can see all of Santiago and the day was clear and lovely. There is a large statue of the Virgin Mary at the crest and Catholic influence can be seen all throughout the city.
We also took the funicular down to a little marketplace and while an enjoyable ride, it was a little pointless since I’m not planning on spending any more money until I can exchange some more, plus I don’t want to waste anymore after the taxi from the airport and a phone card that didn’t work.
Afterwards I had dinner with Juaquin and his family. I also had lunch with them today as well. They’re extremely nice and generous, introducing me to tasty Chilean dishes. His father is quite funny, insisting that since I was there to learn Spanish he would speak slowly for me and telling Juaquin not to speak English. They said that when my family comes to visit to let them know so they can have us over for dinner or help us plan a trip to Chiloe. It was wonderful to visit with a family although when he invited me to attend Mass with him and his wife it made me a little homesick since there are very few Methodist churches in Chile.
Today we went to their golf club and to the swimming pool, and it was so interesting because it seems that unlike in Northern Virginia, the pools are much more exclusive and really are only in country club type places in Chile, or at least in Santiago. It was so refreshing to swim in the cool water and I enjoyed it immensely although I feel like the palest person in Santiago right now. Even though I tried to be careful my shoulders are a bit burnt but that was cause I had not yet bought sunscreen and the only type of SPF protection I have is dual sunscreen/insect repellant so I tried to use it sparingly.
I’m excited about orientation tomorrow, but I still need to buy a “bip” card for the metro here. Or possibly I’ll take off a bit earlier and walk, the weather is so nice I might as well.
I just can’t wait for the internet to be fixed here cause it would make things a lot less complicated and I could talk to my family with privacy and whenever I wanted as opposed to paying about 85 cents per half-hour