Santiago

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Hi guys,

the 10 hour red-eye from dallas was just as nice as any other red-eye flight...but seemed shorter than I thought...maybe I compared it to LA to Sydney (14 hrs).

Santiago is a nice city. Visited Cerro San Cristobol park. To get to the top I rode an old gondola from the 60s. Great veiws from the city obscured by smog, but less smog than any given day in san diego. there is a giant statue of the virgin mary atop this peak looking over the city. Santiago sits in a valley surrounded by massive mountains, kind a LA type layout but with bigger mountains.

It is great understanding just enough spanish to get by. I ordered Jugo de Melon Tuna, which is Tuna melon juice. It was a green melon..not so sure where the tuna part comes from...all in all great.

Tried Geochaching. Got within 30 feet, but couldn{t find it and being alone I started to look suspicious walking around the bushes looking for something. Had a couple of locals try and find it, but they had no luck. I remember more spanish that I thought as I was able to have a converstation with them and get recommendations for dinner-resturants. Will try again in Antartica where the penguins may get curious but that is all.

Like any South American big city, there are barrios outside the airport with burning trash dumps lining the city river, and random stray dogs greeting you as you walk around the park, but this part was very small. Portillo and Valle nevado are a couple of ski resorts that looked pretty sweet in the winter. Then the beach is only 2 hrs away.

Will try to post tommorrow, Monday or Tuesday morning.

Attached is a picture with me outside of Cerro San Cristobol

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