Cal & Rachel Litwiller's Adventures: Sunday, May 24, 2015: Santiago, Chile

The 9 hour flight went well and in fact we arrived a few minutes early into Santiago. Surprisingly both Cal & I slept more on the flight than we have ever slept on an overnight flight – don’t ask me why. The temperature in Santiago when we landed was 40^oF. What a surprised, as we left the plane we felt a blast of very cool air. It’s winter time in Chile!

Our Rotarian friend was waiting for us when we left customs at the airport - it was good to see someone we knew. We came back to his apartment for a brief rest, shower, coffee and a light snack. On our way to a restaurant for our midday meal, we had a brief tour of the city. Santiago is located in a valley between the high Andes Mountians on the east and a lower coastal range on the west. Today it was extremely hazy, we hope tomorrow is clear.

By 2:00 we arrived at a wonderful restaurant where we dined and visited until after 5:00pm. Yes they dine! We sampled a lot of different foods - from seafood to beef- everything was very good. We also saw other dishes we want to try sometime along the way. We were joined at the restaurant by the son of our co-host and his fiancé. They are both lawyers and will be having their wedding this summer – first a civil wedding in June and later a traditional church wedding. We had a great visit - their English was GREAT! – they learned it in school.

The Restaurant where we had dinner

Our host, Son and Finance

Delicious Dinner

After dinner we went to the courtyard outside a church where there was a large number of artisans who are selling their creations. Many of the shops were displaying and selling local and indigenous works. It was very interesting to see the type of things that are made locally. Because of our space confinements we resisted purchasing anything! If you are in the sun the temperature was great, but in the shade it was chilly and you wanted a jacket.