CHILE

the trip to SANTIAGO, CHILE

On a spontaneous whim, me and several friends decided to buy Omnibus tickets to Chile, some 20hrs west of Buenos Aires. We bought them on a Wednesday and then the next day on Thursday I left, staying until arriving back to BA the following Tuesday.
The trip brought can be summarized by the word "surprises".
Surprises were that I ...
won a bottle of Mendoza wine on the bus ride by playing Bingo.
I rented and stayed in a hostel for 3 nights. and surprisingly it was fabulous. A good time.
I saw the 'whole' city in one day,
traveled 2 hrs west to stick my feet in the PACIFIC OCEAN
& ate some fresh seafood off the shore.
Went up a Funicular (basically a vertical train up the mtside) to find breathtaking panoramic views of the cityscape of Santiago and of the southern sunset hitting the snow caps of the Andes Mountains.
Had many ethnic foods, all except Chilean.
Surprisingly we arrived during their Bicentennial. The air was filled with patriotic decorations of red-white and blue .
Speaking of RWB, we arrived 9/11, which was a historical tragedy there. A conflict against police and civialians. This left the town in a hush and police mounts everywhere.
To our surprise, sundays are a day of deserted thruways and no one to be seen.
After all this excitement, my friend Tina (AKA Latina) and I took our return trip ...
to our surprise, I was an illegal border crosser. Never in my life did I think I would have conflict with the law. Surprised, and concerned, we worked together to figure out how to get back to Buenos Aires.
Speaking our second language to Border officials, after hours of international passport problems, luckily it resulted in us taking the next bus out back home to Buenos Aires...
to our surprise, we arrived 32hrs later.
A long bus ride, but we stuck together , never had such great company and learning so much about myself. :)