Kelsey's Wanderings....Revealed!!!

So I just got back from an adventure....
to SANTIAGOoooo!
It was quite exciting, and horribly adventurous.
'Twas a good time, and really nice to see such a different place...from La Serena(with Coquimbo) at about 175.000 people, to Santiago, with just about 6 million. Yeah....different. Although, by the third day I was kind of longing for the familiarity and comfort of La Serena, to be honest. And coming home was really nice....it smelled like home! jaja...well, Chile home, that is....
I went with Mauricio...we left Monday morning at 9:30. Six hours later we got to Santiago. At first I was horribly overwhelmed, and my body did that stupid overwhelmed thing it does, headache and stomachache, but thank God no puking this time. Hurrah! We had something to eat in a mall and took the metro(subway!) to my "aunt"'s apartment. We bought a Bip! card too....you use it when you use micros and the metro, it's this whole thing with trans-Santiago(which is actually a disaster). anyhoo. During the week I saw Santa Lucia, a biiig hill with pretty things on it, San Cristobal, a giant hill with a big Virgin Mary statue, a mall, the Andes, random places in the city like the centro, La Moneda(which is the Chilean version of the White House, but a lot more open). La Moneda was pretty cool...made me realize how different the cultures are....their white house is in the middle of the city and you can walk into the courtyard of it(granted, there are cops everywhere telling you not to cross invisible lines...which I did, but whatev.). Very cool. There's lots of cool old architecture and such too. I wish I could say more in detail about it, but not now with my current English, and it's also kind of a lot to put. Oh! And I got to see a protest! Granted, it was small and pathetic, but still. Chileans looove to protest...they'll do it over anything. Last year there was a huuuge protest like, all over the country in high schools and such, and it would appear it could happen again, not long ago a high school like, took it? Cops were involved and everything...and the U. de Chile(I believe) had signs all over it. They never stop complaining about their education, honestly.
Trans-Santiago. Oh my. The transportation of the city was like, re-done, but it's kind of a disaster. They have those Bip! cards, which are kind of annoying, but cute and make a funny sound, so it's okay. The metro is very reliable and clean and organized, and i like it, but the micros are horrible! They hardly ever pass, and when they do, they're filled up and together, so you end up waiting a good 40 minutes for a micro. There used to be a whooole bunch that would go all over the city, but with trans-Santiago, it's redone so that there's less, and they only go in certain parts, aka, in order to get to the centro, you might need to take TWO micros, whereas before you could just catch one. AND, they only stop in bus stops, no more sticking your finger out for them, like in La Serena. So why not take a colectivo, right? Well, they're always full too, and it costs MIL PESOS to go ANYWHERE. MIL! that's 1,000!!! in La Serena, and most places, it costs 350! I used to think people were being stupid about all this Trans-Santiago nonsense, but now that I've experienced it myself, I completely understand. It was ridiculous....one day we ended up walking home because every micro that passed was too full...and by too full I mean, faces squished up against the glass, and doors not even closed full. It's ridiculous.
Anyway, now on to some eye candy.....

Santa Lucia:
Museum:
University and signs.
Micro:
and now....I'm off to my last Rotary meeting! chao chao!