Our Stay in Santiago – Part 1

There was a minor glitch on our way to Santiago. We got on the wrong bus!

We walked to our seat number and found someone fast asleep in Marc’s seat. We woke up a grumpy man to tell him he is in the wrong seat. He angrily whipped out his bus ticket to show us that he is indeed in the right seat and for a while we thought the company had double booked us.

The bus had already left the station. When one of the “cabin crew” members came to help us there was a chuckle when they realized that the four “gringos” were on the wrong bus. (They call foreigners gringos here.) So they dropped us off at the Copiano bus station where we waited about 2 hours for our actual bus to come fetch us. There was a dog, a Cocker Spaniel, living at the Copiano station who was coughing so much he sounded as if he has TB.

Besides us taking the wrong bus, Chile’s transport system is really good. I was so impressed with Santiago! The city is clean with pleasant aromas of freshly baked pastries and caramel everywhere. There are so many ice-cream and frozen yoghurt shops! The bus station we were dropped off at was on top of a mall.

Marc and I rented an apartment with Ian and Holly for 2 nights. It was close to the main plaza over-looking the entire city with the Andes mountains slightly sprinkled in snow in the background.

It was a random Tuesday afternoon and the main plaza was buzzing with people and entertaining acts. There were people playing trumpets and there’s a random colourfully painted piano which has “Play me, I’m yours,” painted on it. There is also a chess club which apparently meets in the plaza to play everyday.

Santiago is modern and very different to the parts of South America we have seen.