After some hours of sleep which were not that comfortable, we landed in Santiago de Chile at 8.50 local time. During the flightwe got a piece of paper what we had to fill in. After leaving the plane we queued up for the immigration. Unfortunately everybody got denied because we didn’t fill in the other paper (what other paper??) So we asked for 30 other papers which everybody quickly could fill in so that we could make our first step into Chile!

Someone from the travel agency was waiting for us and brought us to the bus that was our ride to the hotel. The guide started to tell us something about Santiago right away. We planned to do a city tour a bit later on the day, but the guide already wanted to start. Nobody really listened after about 24 hours of traveling so what the guide exactly told, I think is still to be found somewhere in Santiago. The guide stopped at the place with all the soldiers, where there was a change of guards. Then we got on the bus again to discover that this square was only 5 mins away from the hotel.

In the hotel we heard there was only 1 room available, the others needed to be cleaned first. This was disappointing since everybody hoped to have a possibility to get a nice shower or a splash of water in the face. Instead we stored all our luggage in that one room and went back to the bus to start the city tour.

The tour was a nice way to get some first impressions of Santiago and Chile. Since everybody was still a bit handling the fact we actually were in Chile, had a long flight and some hassle at the hotel I think nobody really payed attention.

We stopped at a very touristic kind of market where we could wander around for some time. Me and Daniel got a bit hungry and decided to have a look for some food. Across the street there was a pollo place where we tried to order a sandwich. In the end it seemed that I ordered an addition (only) to Daniels sandwich and we were a bit stunned when we only got one box. But nice experience, Agregado means something to add. ( good to know )

Back in the bus we saw some more of Santiago. One thing that was funny where the many street artists. They juggle in front of a line of waiting cars or run across the street in their outfit which makes you think he walks on his hands.

The bus driver took us to plaza de armas. A big square with a huge cathedral. After walking around for about 30 minutes the bus took us back to the hotel, which was again, only 5 minutes from the square.

Back in the hotel, everybody got their room keys and took a nice refreshing first chilean shower where the water goes down clockwise. Since I never had a look at home I cannot bust or accept the myth of the difference in the northern and southern Hemisphere.

Next we got some water in a shop since it’s better to use bottled water instead of tap water. Then we went for a beer in the city. We got a bottle of Escudo and then we asked for a ‘Schop’. This is a jug of about 0,5L. When we asked for the bill it was 3700 pesos with 6 people. That’s around 6 euro. We were a bit in doubt if it was for 6 people or for 1 so we asked the waiter who laughed a bit since it really was for 6.

In the evening we had an evaluation with the organisation. Some points to keep in mind for the next weeks, but we concluded the first days went pretty good.

At 20.00 we gathered for dindin in an italian restaurant, where we ate till 22.30. Then went back to the hotel and went to bed.