I'm writing from the beautiful terrace of my Airbnb in the Palermo Hollywood neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina while I wait for either of my travel buddies to wake up.
I arrived in Santiago, Chile on Wednesday morning after an overnight flight and a very long day of travel. Yesterday, we flew to Buenos Aires. So far I've only had Wednesday and Thursday to spend in Santiago and although those were days of errands, I already love the city. On my first day, I moved into my apartment and then Josh, an American from the cohort met up with me there and we embarked on our errands. We went to the bank to pay my landlord, found FEN and walked around the campus and up and down the stairs of a couple buildings, grabbed lunch from the convenience store that's right downstairs next to my apartment, went to a very confusing electronics shop so Josh could buy another adapter, and did a little grocery shopping at Lider Express. Side note: if anyone knows where to purchase refrigerated liquid milk, or better yet, almond milk, in Santiago, please let me know. I was exhausted from my flight, so after all this, I went back to my apartment and got some tips from my roommate on things to see and do in Santiago, as he has been there for half a year now. It wasn't long before I decided to stop unpacking and to just go to bed.
On Thursday, I woke up early to meet up with Josh and Ceci, one of the Chileans in the cohort and also my guide and guardian angel for the day. We first walked to the international police building to register our visas. Thank God Josh asked about this at immigration in the airport. I knew I would have to do this within 30 days of entering the country on a student visa, but I hadn't connected that I would have to do it before leaving and re entering the country. The system there was even more confusing than the one at the electronics store, and we waited there for several hours. Imagine a giant DMV with more lines, more checkpoints, and more waiting. It was a good thing we thought to pull a number for Kady, too. These types of government and official offices close at 2, as do banks, and we had yet another building to do business at after this one to get our RUN numbers and apply for cédulas, or identity cards. Kady is another American friend in the cohort, and she arrived at the first office with Vale's mom and little sister, guardian angels #2 and 3. Vale is another of the Chileans in the cohort, and she and Kady will live together this year. By the time we finished up at both offices, it was after 2 and we were all hungry. After walking for what felt like a really long time to find a fast place that may be acceptable for me, the difficult vegetarian, McDonald's was decided on. I was actually happy here because I tried only things that you can't find in McDonalds back home (at least I think not, although I can't tell you the last time I was there). Vale's mom took over ordering for all of us and even treated us to lunch. I somehow ended up with 9 cheese empanadas (I could only eat 7 and that was only because this was the hungriest I think I had ever felt) and a bag of "shake shake fries." You put French fries in a bag, sprinkle a little packet of cheddar cheese powder over the top, and shake the bag. Spoiler alert: carbs and cheese are pretty much the only things I've eaten in South America so far. Maybe I should try to fix that today. In addition to lunch on Thursday, Josh, Ceci, and I also had some fun. With them, I took my first touristy pictures around Santiago, walked around a couple cute plazas and barrios, and stopped in La Piojera, a traditional Chilean restaurant/bar decorated with more banderas than I've ever seen in one place and with traditional art behind the bar and murals and graffiti on the walls. When we walked in, there were several people standing around in what I'll call a hallway for lack of a better word, but it was actually this wide open space with pretty plants and flowers all around and with no ceiling, and further back there was the restaurant (with a ceiling). Here, we tried terremotos (translation: earthquakes) and enjoyed people-watching and listening to the live music of a man who played for tips and had this great booming, Italian-sounding voice. On Thursday I also had my first experiences with the metro system of Santiago, which I think is actually really fast and cool, but also can be packed body to body depending on the line and the hour. After such an eventful day, I still had to unpack and repack before I could head to bed and head out to Buenos Aires in the morning.
Yesterday in Buenos Aires, we had a fun, crazy, and exhausting day. Argentina doesn't feel like real life. From the moment we stepped off the plane and waited a while for a bus to come and let us off the runway, things already felt surreal. I mean seriously, who lets people wait on an airport runway? Yesterday was also eventful because we got lost and had to walk quite a long way back to Palermo. Even though we were actually there when we started and got ourselves lost. Yeah, I don't want to talk about it. But today, we will carry around a physical map and purchase a SIM card so that we can have some cell data and minutes in case we need emergency directions, translations, or to get a cab. After such a long day, we decided to stay in last night and spend some time with our wifi, researching and planning out some more things to do and see on this trip.
Yesterday was also so beautiful! The weather, the plazas, the buildings, the trees lining the busy city streets all are so beautiful here. And now that I think about it, I'm ready to get back out there. Excuse me while I attempt to wake up Kady and Josh.
Included are a few photos from the past days. Many more to come! Here we have me and Josh at the international police. I think they were calling around number B150 at this point. Then there's graffiti and the outside mural of La Piojera. And then there is me and Kady taking in Buenos Aires!
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