Day 1

Yesterday, after arriving in Chile, I was met with hospitality from the beginning. While going through immigration with my 3 suitcases, ski bag, tote, purse, and of course, Snickers, one of the airport employees (probably the Chilean equivalent of TSA) took notice of my unwieldy load and assisted me in reloading my Smart Cart to help me over to the area where people that are declaring something have to go. What was I declaring? A cat.

The immigration officers took Snickers paperwork and looked at me and said "Esos papales son todo?" Calmly (on the outside only), I responded saying yes as if there couldn't possibly be anything else I would need. One of them responded with "Donde esta el librito con todo?" What little book could he possibly be talking about? After a few minutes I somehow convinced him that the American document in his hand was the same as the aforementioned librito and after confiscating Snicker's bag of cat food (since that might contaminate the world with disease), I was on my way. Lucky for me, I had an extra bag of food in my other suitcase that I didn't tell him about. My Chilean TSA friend was still hanging out the whole time, ready to walk me out to the waiting area. All I could think about what the contents of my wallet, none of which resembled Chilean pesos. So, embarrassingly, my first words after greeting Guido, were "I need to tip this guy and I don't have any money." I learned throughout the day that the small tip he gave Mr. TSA was nothing in comparison to his generosity.

Guido took me home to rest, which I did...for 5 hours. I guess I was more tired than I realized. At 3:30, he and his wife, Aylim, retrieved me from my apartment to show me around the city. We ate at a Peruvian place where I got a ceviche with sea bass, octopus, squid and scallops. Not something I would have normally chosen, but it was surprisingly delicious. He then showed me Deloitte's offices, the neighborhood he and his wife live in - Providencia, the neighborhood I mentioned I may be interested in - Las Condes, and Deloitte's new offices under construction in Las Condes. He also took me through a really pretty rose garden that has some running paths that I am going to return to later today. After that, we went to the mall where I went into Home Depot's Chilean twin (not actually a Home Depot) to buy adapters for my electronics and a water filter. The water is okay to drink here but full of minerals that can stain your teeth.

On the walk home, we passed a school with chairs and desks stacked on top of the fence hanging out all crazy-like. Guido explained that the students have been protesting for weeks to get free education. Funny thing is that they site the Americans as an example of a country that gets free education. What they don't realize is that we are taxed for it. Part of their protesting demands that taxes stay the same at 20%. Wouldn't we all like to have a 20% tax rate that covered the cost of education??

Picture of the sign protesters put up at the school

All the desks and chairs on top of the fence

That's all for now! I'll fill you in later on the events of Day 2.

Adios!