Day 64 - Good bye, Valparaiso

January 18 - Santiago, Chile

We woke in Valparaiso, went for a run, taking advantage of the many staircases for a little climbing workout.

Since checkout time was approaching, we packed up our stuff, pulled it out of our room, and left it with the host to explore a bit more and grab some lunch.  We ate at a typical restaurant in the area that was in a cool old building.  The typical chilean meals consisted of basically a meat and french fries.  I opted for a "club" sandwich (double decker sammie with chicken, cheese, some veggies) and Evan had a quarter chicken with rice and fries.  It was a ton of food!  We left pretty stuffed with most of the fries wasted (hate wasting food!).  Maybe they fed them to the stray dogs.

We headed back, grabbed our stuff, and  said goodbye to our lovely host Lorena and her well-dressed granddaughter, a black cat who had a bed in the window sill of the bathroom

We walked the few blocks to the bus station.  The next bus to Santiago left in 15 minutes.  The bus ride was uneventful.  When we arrived in Santiago, we were near the subway station and knew we needed to take it to our hostel.  A couple we had met earlier on the trip had passed on their subway card for the city, so we were already prepared to just walk on the Subway, which was super convenient.  We walked on like pros - it was pretty crowded, so we did our best to not take up too much space.  We got off at the station nearest our Airbnb, oriented ourselves, and walked a few more blocks.

We had booked a full apartment, after sharing a bathroom and kitchen for the last three weeks.  The place was a high-rise with a view, and the apartment was simple, but clean and stylish.  Such a luxury!  We settled in then went out to explore.

In Santiago, you can buy anything on the street - an entire wardrobe, car chargers, tupperware..
We walked to a street that was pedestrian only and was littered with produce stands.  I walked away with a bag full - a man convinced me that I needed two kilos of cherries (for approx $1.40), a kilo of oranges, and I had also purchased some veggies for dinner.

We headed back to the apartment, caught sunset from the terrace, and ate some dinner.