first day here in santiago

hola from santiago! i finally arrived =) i met up with brian and regan, two friends from stanford, in atlanta and then we headed down on a wonderful 9 hour flight to chile where there were actually two other standford students on the same flight. the view from the plane was amazing .. once we got closer to stantiago, the mountains came into view and were beautiful with the snow covered tops. once grounded, we had a little trouble paying the entrance tax, but it was more comical than anything else. next it was off to the hotel and somehow we managed to cram all three of us plus baggage into one really small and tiny cab. its interesting to see how far womens rights are still lagging behind here in south america as we experienced with the cab driver. after a good nap, we headed downtown to walk around for a bit. it appears that everything is closed on sundays, but people are still out and walking around. many kids swim in the fountains while others just walk around the parks which are situated actually between the two sides of the road. we had lunch and it was my first time eating a hotdog topped with guacamole, tomates, and mayonaise. it was pretty good id have to say! its nice to get into warm weather and away from the rain, but its actually pretty hot here. right now its 7:45, but outside it looks like its 4 so it stays light for a long time. the accent is hard for me to understand, but hopefully ill be able to pick it up within the next few weeks. tomorrow its off to the host family in the morning and hopefully ill get to spend the rest of the day with them. oh, and contrary to what i thought, chile is not in the same time zone as east coast. its actually i believe 5 hours ahead of california.