in Chile

Arrived in Santiago this morning. Flight took the whole night. I asked the clerk to see if I could upgrade to business class, thinking that it was over night so it might be worth a hundred dollars or something. But he said it was thousands and thousands. So instead I asked for the exit door seat which has lots of leg room and got that for free.

Lots of different travellers going to Chile say vs going from seattle to atlanta: lots of goretex and fancy hiking shoes. A mix of japanese, americans, chileans and others.

The guy sitting next to me on the flight lives in Argentina where he lives with his wife. He is originally from Atlanta and flies often so knows exactly how much the business class would cost ($6300).

Anyway, Santiago is warm and sunny. It´s getting close to 9pm here and it is still light out though starting to become dusky. Santiago is a very big city with wide, modern roads and lots of traffic and smog - so in a way reminds me of california - but not that modern - some bits are quite modern, others more third worldy. But overall more modern than - Mexico say -

I´m staying at a Hostel and spent some time walking around the city with an Australian called Ritchie. His Spanish is worse than mine - though it seems like everyone is learning Spanish here.