Arrival in Santiago!

So we arrived two weeks today and it has both flown by and also felt like time has slowed down!

The flight over the Andes was absolutely spectacular and they still take my breath away every time I see the ones surrounding Santiago. Snow capped peaks whilst it’s +30 degrees in the city still doesn’t compute!

A cidade é brilhante. Parece muito seguro, limpo e acolhedor. Sem exceção, todos os chilenos que conhecemos foram gentis, educados e prestativos. A arquitetura é uma grande mistura de estilos espanhóis tradicionais coloniais e blocos de apartamentos modernos e arranha-céus.

Descobrimos dois shoppings enormes em Tobalaba e Las Condes, dos quais acho que vou ter que ficar longe! Há um terceiro também nos subúrbios que provavelmente terei que me aventurar apenas para conferir…

On our first Sunday, we did a bilingual quiz at the Black Rock Pub hosted by two pod-casters Ben has been following for a while. Whilst we didn’t win, we didn’t disgrace ourselves! After the quiz, we went out for a drink with Bethany and Lenny (the hosts) and their friends. They are American and German but have lived in Santiago for years and were just super lovely people. Ben has met up with Lenny since and they chatted politics for hours. I’m hoping to see Bethany soon, but definitely at their next event which is Cringe Bingo, where you watch a noughties/nineties film and then decide how cringe it is now.

The first week, we had appointments with the school’s HR to do logistical boring things, then the rest was our own. We decided to get the funicular to the top of Cerro San Cristobal (the highest point in the city, but still a baby compared to the mountains on all sides!) and then the cable car down. Turns out, I really can’t cope with heights at all. The Chilean couple sharing the cable car down definitely learnt some new English…

We’ve also been busy learning about Chile’s history. Visiting the Museum of Human Rights was both a sobering and fascinating insight into the dictatorship and its continuing impact on Chile’s culture. We also went to Londres 38, which is the only surviving Pinochet torture house in Santiago; the others were all demolished either as the dictatorship retreated, or afterwards. It was just an unassuming house in a residential area, but what went on inside it was horrific. The house is empty now and there are no signs of what went on, but it definitely had a sinister aura about it.

Then I started at school. I can’t really write about it as I’m not allowed to discuss the school outside of school, but it’s been a steep learning curve! Everyone is again very friendly and helpful, and I’m sure I’ll settle in soon enough. I miss Alleyn’s a lot though!

Ben has been amazing and has taken on the logistics of our personal life here in Santiago. He’s been viewing loads of apartments and (fingers crossed!) we should sign for one this week and be able to move in soon after. It’s absolutely incredible and we can’t wait to have guests to stay! We’ll be in Tobalaba, right by the metro stop of the same name. It’s known as Sanhattan as it’s just skyscrapers and big business. But it’s got the Costanera shopping centre five minutes walk away, and our block is super close to a street of restaurants, bars and cafes. And there is a cute park opposite it too. My school is four stops down the line so my commute will be pretty straight forward!

Este fim de semana jantamos com os britânicos novatos do trabalho, que estão tão confusos quanto eu; é tão bom saber que você não é o único que não tem ideia do que está acontecendo na maior parte do tempo!

Com sorte, iremos a Val Paraíso no próximo fim de semana, que é o resort/cidade de praia mais próximo. É um lugar muito alternativo e hippie, então deve estar na nossa rua! Queremos ir enquanto o tempo ainda está quente, mas aparentemente o oceano ainda está gelado e extremamente perigoso, então nada de nadar para mim!

Just one con so far. It is VERY expensive. We hadn’t realised just how much so, but it seems like it’s similar to the UK: prices went up for various reasons and then haven’t come down, even though they could have. We need to find a cheap supermarket pretty quickly, as Jumbo is pricier than Waitrose and Lider is only a bit less. I don’t really want to pay almost £8 for orange juice any more!

But Uber is super cheap, the Metro is super cheap, and most importantly, cigarettes are super cheap!

Thank you for reading my semi-coherent thoughts so far — let me know if it’s of any interest and I might regale you with another instalment soon!