We are finally in Viña Del Mar, Chile! It is wonderful to be here and finally see what its like to be immersed in a Hispanic culture. We boarded the plane from Miami about a half hour later than expected, in fact we were the last people to board, but still managed to get off just about on time. The flight went smoothly, mostly sleeping and listening to music, they had "We Bought a Zoo" playing on the TV but I determined sleep was much higher on my priority list. The flight lasted roughly 8.5 hours and at around 7:35 Eastern time (which is the same time as here in Chile currently due to Daylight Savings Time) we landed in Santiago! We had an interesting time getting through customs, as we had to pay an entrance fee to get in to Chile from the US. Our wonderful trip advisor Sarah had the fees prepared for us to pay, but the customs officers wouldn't take a lot of the bills because they were "too wrinkled!" So that was a hassle, but we eventually made it. After taking our first Chilean pesos out of the ATM and meeting our first Chilean student, Javier, we boarded the bus to take us to Viña Del Mar. It was a hour and a half bus ride and we saw some cool sights along the way. We then checked into our hotel, had some fun trying to get the key to work (never thought bending a key would fix it!), and went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Food was good and huge portions, we had variety ranging from steak and eggs to blood sausage to fajitas. After that was the highlight of the day, we went to a Chilean soccer game! The game was crazy, fans were chanting and screaming the whole time, cards were being thrown out left and right, and the home team of "Everton de Viña del Mar" came back from a 2-0 defecit vs San Marco while playing down two players to win 3-2 late in the second half. I've never seen police with riot shields used to escort a referee out of a stadium before! Also learned that Chileans don't boo when they are angry at sporting events, they whistle instead (I'm personally not a fan, doesn't give off the same angry vibe that a good boo does!). Let's just say there was a LOT of whistling during that game! It was so much fun, and I got an Everton flag as a souvenir! So now we are back at the hotel, we plan to go out to grab dinner soon, and then chill here until bed. Early day tomorrow, as we are up at 7:30 to go to our first Chilean lecture!
Hasta mañana,Christian
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