So, I arrived in Lima, Peru around midnight and after waiting on my plane which was connecting to Santiago, was told that I was on another plane leaving for Santiago. By the time I got to that one it had left because we had arrived a bit late anyways. The two others leaving for Santiago were already full (of course). LAN (the airline) gave me a hotel room for the night. It was a Ramada connected to the airport and way nicer than the ones in the US. However, I was the only person besides staff that I saw the entire time (2am to 6am, so not that weird, but still...).
I got to Santiago late but safe, hopped on a shared shuttle deal, and after a minor crash arrived at the Hotel Torremayor and met up with the group. The driver was getting irritated with a backpacker from New Zealand who didn't know which hostel he was going to so he turned around to swear at him and ask him to find an address in the book because there are many hostels in Santiago. But we were rolling and drifted to the side...and smashed into one of the cement cylinders lining the side of the street. Pobrecitos...tourist and irritated driver both. He just looked at it and got back into the car. Luckily, I was able to translate enough so that we eventually found a hostel with an address.
While in Santiago we went to La chascona, one of Pablo Neruda's houses, La moneda (the main government building), and I got to see Hannah! La chascona was so cool! Neruda (born Naftali Reyes(?) Basoalto...who knew?) used it as a secret spot to be with his lover, Matilda Urrutia, who later became his third wife, and for his dinner parties/meetings with special people. They told us that chascón is a quechua word that means messy-haired, so the house was named after the curly-haired Matilda. There are all kinds of neat things in it. It has great views and is kind of like a ship, with windy staircases, portholes, a mess-like dining room, etc. We couldn't take pictures in most places and I don't have any of Hannah and me, but I do have some:
view from one balcony of La chascona
from one of the courtyards to the circular balcony. The courtyard above had a humongous grapevine with loads of fake-looking, delicious grapes.
La moneda
a government building (I've already forgotten which one/the importance) and some government dudes to the left of La moneda
2 comments:
Hi Jenny, Que onda? Your mom just gave me the link to your BLOG. Very cool. Could you get any further away? This is the perfect way to keep everyone updated. I can't wait to show your cousins where you are. Looks very interesting and different from here thats for sure. We have a few friends that are going to be out in Chile soon. A guy from CA and his fiance from OK. I'll try to find out where they are going out there. Anyway, don't get lost! We'll be thinking about you!
Love Auntie Jane
Jenny it looks like your having way too much fun. I miss you tons. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one our age with a cool blog.
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