Up to date Update

I don´t really feel like playing catch up anymore, or maybe just right now, and really I just want to describe the beauty that is Santiago, Chile.




We arrived yesterday morning after the bus ride from hell (12 wide-eyed overnight hours next to Señor Sleep Apnea) and navigated our way through the bus station and metro transfers, even got a metro passcard since we plan to stay a while, and lugged our excessive amount of stuff to what has turned out to be quite possibly the best hostel of the trip so far.

Though our room wasn´t ready at 11am, we were invited to hang out upstairs and help ourselves to the breakfast spead in the airy lounge. The windows were open over the quite side street and I´m reminded of Nice or Rome, breezy, 75, low humidity, simply gorgeous.




We took a long walk in the afternoon to find the climbing gym we´d heard about from fellow climbers in Cochamó and headed east towards the towering mountains that ring the city but remain almost invisible due to smog. It was a looong sunny stroll but we eventually found the gym, got excited to return on Monday, and hopped a bus back to our neighborhood (thank god for good breaks cause that driver... I felt like I was going to end up plastered on the windshield as we slid forward in our plastic chairs everytime he stopped for a new rider!).




After some reading and a nap with the french doors open to the courtyard, we cooked a quick dinner and passed out for the night, experiencing what we both agreed was our best night´s sleep in about 2 months.




Today we woke, ate a light breakfast and headed out to walk the avenues of quiet Sunday Santiago. We caught the end of a marathon, the awards presentation and a sea of happy, healthy faces, wandered past the Museum of Bella Artes and into the Mercado Central, bustling aisles packed with every sea creature imaginable!







After a couple of lattes in a relaxed cafe in the Bellavista neighborhood, we returned to the hostel, passing a sign for Santiago´s Lollapalooza Music Festival, which happens next weekend and headlines about every current artist we could possibly want to see... we might have to make that happen.




We may be coming to the end of our time here in South America, having just rounded the corner into our last month, but we´re going to keep enjoying what will hopefully be many more days like this one.