Say What??

Well, we made it to Santiago, Chile! Our first 24 hours felt like they were defined by language and food. What could we understand and was it edible? Turns out, the pasta with cream sauce we ordered for the kids was really a veggie stew--not a noodle in sight! Duncan and I have been eating empandas, which is a Chilean mainstay. They are like a little meat pie. We are learning, and other than Alia, are eating! Alia is saving herself for the beef in Argentina. Hope it is good as she will be hungry by then!

Before we left, we had heard from many that the Spanish spoken in Chile and Argentina was hard to understand due to accents and colloquialisms. Duncan and I have not found that to be true at all. The reason they are hard for us to understand is due to them speaking SPANISH! How would we know if they were saying words differently when we cannot follow much after "Hola"? Apparently the 13 "listen and repeat" tapes I listened to in the car were not quite enough to make me fluent! I should have listened to all 25 tapes in unit one and then I am sure I would have been fine!

Our trip so far has been great and the girls are doing amazingly well! We have felt safe and comfortable everywhere we go. The Chileans seems to really like children and are very kind. We landed in Santiago Wed. morning with out much sleep on the flight. We found our hotel and then walked all over the city since we only had that one day to see it. They have a great subway system that we used too. Seeing all the Christmas decorations while it is 90 degrees out seemed strange. We took the "funicular" (tram) to the top of Cerro San Cristobal--highest hill in the city to enjoy the view. We made it until 8:00 that night before crashing and sleeping all night!

We were picked up Thursday morning by the Pachamama Bus and it has turned out to be great. Very nice people (only 9 of us) and most speak English. We have made our way south for the last few days, staying in hostels and seeing the beautiful countryside. We are impressed with the infrastructor of this country. They have garbage service in the smallest of towns and a bus service throughout the country. You can even flush the t.p. here, and that, according to a fellow traveler, is a sure sign of progress! (usually you throw it away in the garbage--fyi).

We are now in Pucon for 2 days and it is gorgeous. We are in the mountains and this is a ski town in the winter and lake resort in the summer. There is a big snowy volcano, Villarrica, towering over the town.
Cannot seem to get the picutre download to work, but will try again later. We are off to go mtn. biking to a waterfall and then soak in the natural hotsprings this evening. Rough life! More later! Love to you all!