I'm here

Hi everyone!

I arrived safe and sound in Santiago yesterday. The flight was great...slept most of the way, watched a movie, and ate some good food!

I arrived in Chile and paid my 140 USD fee to enter the country. A taxi picked me up and brought me to the Hotel Atton in a neighborhood called Las Condes. My hotel is only about a 5 to 7 minute walk from the Fluor Building.

Stein and Steve (from the Greenville, SC office, working in Peru) picked me up and took me around town on a double decker tour bus (like in England). We went to the fish market to look around and pretend we were Anthony Bourdain. Flip flops weren't the best choice...and I got some fish guts/water/juice/whatever it was on my feet.  Next we ate at a restaurant in the middle of the market named La Joya del Pacifico. I had a pisco sour and we ate an assortment of seafood...shrimp and eel mostly. Pretty darn tasty!  They also served salsa with bread (not tortilla chips).


El Mercado

Stein and Steve

Me and Stein (pisco sour in my hand)

Then after lunch I did what any normal Chilean would do on a lazy Sunday afternoon at the market....I got up in front of the crowd and danced with a cowboy.

After lunch we hopped back on the bus and toured the rest of the city. It is an interesting place with lots of different types of buildings...old, new, modern, traditional, clean, not so clean, and some still had earthquake damage. I'm looking forward to getting my bearings so I can go back and explore different parts of the city.

Sunday night the three of us met Maricela at an Italian restaurant in the neighborhood called Tiramasu. It's a really popular place and usually hopping till midnight on weeknights and 2am on weekends. I had pizza olive and Chocolate Nutella ice cream with nuts.

Stein ordered the small ice cream....

Got back to the hotel around 11 or 11:30...finished unpacking and then hit the hay for my first day at Fluor Chile.  Gracias a mis amigos nuevas for showing me a great time!!  You tube link of my dancing and a recap of my first day of work to come tomorrow (hopefully).  Adios!