Magical hills and such

Holi! (silly Chileans way to say hola)

So I’m extremely behind because finding time to sit down and write has been literally impossible. As you all probably expect I am having a wonderful time here and have no intentions of wanting to come back ever! Ok. So maybe I’ll come back some day, but I must admit I don’t know the meaning of homesickness.

A bit of bad news: my paypal account has somehow gotten hacked and close to $300 has been stolen. Why did this happen when I’m in Chile? I don’t really know, but the email addresses it was sent to do seem to be in Spanish. I’ve already filed a claim with Paypal, but my Bank of America account is negative at the moment and literally to this moment I haven’t been able to reach my mom who I THINK is in the Dominican Republic for a second time. I seriously have like 20,000 pesos in my pocket and a negative bank account that’s probably getting charged a $25 fee every day. If any of you see my Mom or mom if you’re reading this HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok. Back to the good stuff. Day two at our hostel was the most pleasant days I could have ever imagined. We woke up and got lunch at a little café near our hostel and ordered the daily special of lasagna, salad, juice, and coffee. A little language slip up occurred when the waiter explained he only had one slice left of the meat lasagna that Mel and I both ordered. All I remember is he said something about “porción” and I didn’t really catch the rest because he was speaking SO FAST. I looked at Mel to see her confused face as well so I gave him my best deer in headlights look and waited for him to explain. Problem was this silly waiter decided to repeat over and over the same exact phrase at more or less the same speed. If he simply would have said “Sólo tengo una de la lasaña de carne.” I think we would have both understood, but he never tried to change his sentence. Not wanting to let this menso (dumbdumb) defeat us I decided to say something just so he wouldn’t think I was a complete idiot. Finally I said something like “Oh!! You’re going to bring me a portion to try?” Of course I was wrong and I saw his face fighting a smile, but I think once he realized I truly did speak Spanish he decided to change around his sentence which I immediately understood and ordered the vegetable lasagna.
After our delicious lunch we decided to head to head to a touristy spot in the neighborhood called Bellas Artes to go up on a hill called Cerro San Cristobal. Both of us understood that the hill had magnificent views of the city and the Virgin Mary, but had we no idea that it was actually Disneyland for lack of a better word! When we asked where to buy the tickets to something called a “funicular” (a little trolley thing that pulls us up the hill) the man actually said that we could buy them in the castle! We also learned that the hill had a zoo on it which pronto we’d like to check out. Besides the zoo and tons of little shops at the top, the hill also has two huge pools which would be awesome to visit sometime to make a little picnic. After riding up in the funicular we climbed some steps in the blazing summer heat and took some of the most incredible city shots ever. Yes, Santiago is that big and developed! We also made it all the way to the Virgin Mary and took some pictures of her, but later decided it was about time for ice cream so we went down to the shop area and bought some “helados.” It was a truly lovely way to spend the day.

Later it was time to get prepared for our home stays which of course meant buying blow dryers and flat irons! I’ve used them and I think I like them better than my ones at home! The man at the counter was a little too helpful and explained every detail of our hardware and even took them out of the box to test drive! Nonetheless I do owe him many thanks for activating my phone. Yipee! The day ended with some empanadas from the local grocery store and a drink called “Mote con huesillo” which is like some juice with a peach in the middle and dried wheat at the bottom. Everyone was buying them at the top of the hill that I was talking about, but Mel and I found it rather disgusting and something to never be purchased again. This day was really so pleasant and a great way to relax before meeting the other study abroad kidlets and *gasp* our host families!