In Santiago!

I arrived in Santiago yesterday morning after a 9+ hour flight from Dallas. The group leaders spotted me in the crowd navigating its way out of customs and united me with the group. There are 20 of us, average age 24, 14 girls and 6 guys. All are from the U.S., but most have traveled relatively extensively. Fun group, for sure.

Yesterday was a lonnnnng day. I was one of the last to bed after hanging out in the common area of the hostel with the other people who were still too buzzed with excitement to sleep. Oddly enough, I was one of the first people up because I was the only one in my room to hear the alarm and the room next door had asked my room to wake them up when we were up. Last to bed, first to rise makes Amanda one punch-drunk expat.

Breakfast at the hostel was interesting. There was only hot milk for the cold cereal, the orange juice was a Chilean version of Sunny-D, and the other group staying at the hostel is here for a lesbian convention. After decades of political repression and Catholic Church dominance, Chilean society is rapidly liberalizing, and I´m seeing it first hand over toast that´s crispy on one side and soggy on the other.

Our leaders tell us we´ll get to the point where we think ¨that´s different¨ rather than ¨that´s weird¨. I´m not there yet.