Santiago

Feb. 4 -Evening

We went to the poncho festival and there were tons of ponchos being paraded around. They came from all different parts of the country and it was somewhat like a fashion show. They had an announcer giving the stats on each poncho (some were 100 years old) but since it was all in Spanish we only caught bits and pieces. I think it was one of those things where it was great if your kid was in it, otherwise maybe a little dry. The highlight of the evening was definitely the food. We had a carne sandwich that was so delicious and an empanada that was pretty darn good too.

When we were walking to the poncho thing I got bit by something. I hate bugs. I'm allergic to a bunch of them and they make me miserable. This was no exception. And of course the one time we don't have the epi-pen along is the time I get attacked by the sly little thing. Luckily we didn't need it but my foot did swell up like a football and kept me (and therefore Matt) up most of the next two nights. Oh, and I was limping around like a baby. And we had to have the sketchy Dr. come to the hotel and inject me with some drugs. Such drama.

Feb. 5-6

We spent two days back in Buenos Aires hanging out and taking in the sights. We walked by all the shops on Florida Street (no room left in our bags to buy anything), went to Plaza San Martìn, the botanical gardens, and bummed around San Telmo. Buenos Aires is a really cool city to hang out in - lots of great restaurants, clubs and entertainment. We wish we had more time in Argentina and have decided we will need to come back.

Feb. 7

Onward to Santiago. We had uneventful flights today and checked into our hotel in the center of the city. Our first order of business was to go to the train station to buy tickets to Pucòn for later this week. It's a busy time of year so we didn't want to miss out on the Lake District. After we accomplished that we walked around the city for a while. So far seems like a regular big city...the usual tall buildings, buses, traffic, etc. Things seem to be quite a bit more expensive than everywhere else we have been. After dinner tonight we walked to the Plaza de Armas and hung out for a while. It was pretty at night with all of the lights and was still pretty crowded at 10:15.

Tomorrow we head to Viña del Mar for a couple days at the beach and then a day checking out Valparaiso. Should be fun. Hopefully we'll get a chance to upload our jungle pictures soon - we got a few good monkey shots.