Ciao, Chile!

Talor: Got off the bus from Valpo and headed straight to Barrio Brazil, and the Hotel Castellana, where luckily we got the same room we had before. With everything being so familiar, it kinda felt like coming home...

The next three days, our last in Chile, flew by as we walked around everywhere enjoying the sunshine, and snacking on smoked cheese, chirimoya ice cream and fresh fruit from the mercado. Spent another fun day with our friends, the Torres'... took them to lunch at the Vacas Gordas where we gorged on steaks, fish and seafood, then visited a sports mall where we saw people surfing on an outdoor pool with waves. Ended the day back at their house chitchatting over ice-cream.

As we boarded the plane and took-off for Lima, I sighed as I thought about all that I would miss... the beauty of the country, the amazing fish in the south, taxi-drivers who don't honk at you, the civilized drivers who actually stop so you can cross the street, drinkable tap water, safe and peaceful towns and cities, kuchen... but above all, the warm and generous hospitality of the people. Hopefully, we'll be back...

Erik: Yes, I was sad boarding the plane for Lima. I was glad, though, as well, that we'd economized well over the months in Peru and Bolivia, and were able to treat ourselves and our friends a little better this time around in chile. We ate well, rented a car, did some organized activities, and had a big, blowout lunch with our friends with pisco sours, wine, steaks, etc. What a great time, especially compared to our last visit in chile, when we ate mostly empanadas and completos because of the sticker-shock of chile's higher prices. How relaxing it was to really indulge and enjoy ourselves without worrying much at all about budgets. It didn't hurt that the sun was out and the trees and plants in bloom, which made exploring santiago a pleasure this visit. To top it all, we really splurged and found a cheap flight to Lima, saving ourselves over 50 hours of tiring bus rides north.

Still, I was sad rather than excited to be going to Lima. Our time was running out, we already knew the city and weren't too infatuated with it – so our few days there were likely to be more of a winding down period rather than a last bit of exciting travel.
Our final set of photos from Santiago:

Santiago (3), Chile