South America 2009 - Day 12 (8/18/2009) - Santiago

Today was a cold and wet day - it rained most of the day, and the temperature was around 45-50 Fahrenheit. We met up with Nora, Chris(tina), and Jason around 9:45 to walk down to a crepe stand in a shopping area nearby. When we arrived there a little after 10, the stand was closed, and would not open until 10:30. We waited around, and eventually a girl showed up to open it up. When she was still cleaning it at 10:40, Nora approached her and found out that it would probably be another hour until the stand was ready to serve. Hungry and impatient, we checked out a couple of other restaurants on the plaza before settling on a place to eat. There, the other three had quiches while Greg and I had empanaditas.

After eating, we walked back to the hostel and began plotting our next move. The girls wanted to go to a couple of museums, while Greg and I wanted to go to a shopping mall to get some gear for Machu Picchu. Nora talked three other guys (extreme sportsmen from California) into giving us a ride in their rented van. The eight of us piled in and first headed to the mall, where Greg and I each bought hiking pants and socks, Jason bought the same pants, and Chris bought an umbrella. After leaving the mall, the guys dropped us of at a metro station by the hostel, and we took the metro to the center of the city.

The first museum the girls wanted to check out was closed, so we went to the other one - the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino (Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art). We looked around that for a while, then walked back to the hostel, with stops at Plaza de Armas and a posteleria/paneria for some empanadas (I bought one Neapolitan and one carne).

Later on, around 9:15, Greg and I went out for dinner at a pasta place. This was the first restaurant in Chile that did not serve us salsa with our bread - only an oil and spice mix. Greg was craving some lasagna so he ordered that, while I had some ham-stuffed ravioli in alfredo sause. We also each had a delicious glass of fresh juice - he had raspberry while I had strawberry. After dinner we walked back to the hostel (it was still raining) and packed for our early departure the next morning.