Mi casa en Chile

I'm really happy with my living accommodations in Santiago. I am in a part of town called Los Condes or "Sanhattan." Basically it is the business district, and there are tons of tall buildings, apartments, hotels, restaurants, shops, parks, etc. The city in this area is very clean and overall it is safe. I'm staying at a hotel, but my room has a sitting area and kitchenette. I have a good view of the city and the Andes Mountains from my room! The air pollution and smog is really bad in Santiago, so you can't always see the mountains very clearly. Here are some pictures of my room. I took them right when I got here before my 2 fifty-pound suitcases exploded in the room, haha...

It turns out that today (Monday) is actually a big national holiday in Chile, so I didn't have to work! From what I understand, Chile has a lot of holidays and they always turn them into long weekends. I'll have a 4-day weekend at the end of October.

Breakfast is included with my stay here, and they serve it on the top floor of the hotel. The restaurant has 360-degree views of the city and the mountains, so it's a great place to have cereal and coffee in the mornings.

Today I had lunch with a girl from work (she lives here but is from Texas) and a local Chilean who works for my company. Lunch is a VERY big deal in Chile. Lunch is always very late (by my standards) and the restaurants don't open until at least 12:30 or 1PM. It seems like they eat big meals for lunch, and the restaurants are very busy. The restaurants here remind me of Paris - lots of outdoor and patio seating. I've also noticed that restaurants are very expensive here. For example, my lunch was 13.000 Chilean Pesos or about $26 USD. Thank goodness for per diem.

After lunch, we went to the mall and then to Tottus which seemed similar to a super Walmart. I bought a few groceries for my room, and now I'm back at the hotel. Tomorrow is my first day of work in Chile!

More to come....I am really enjoying Santiago!

Ciao!