Getting to South America was an uneventful trip, except for the beginning and the end. My 10:30 pm bus to New York City got in a little early, but I ended up wandering around for a bit finding the Metro and then taking more time changing my mind about how to best get to the airport. All said, I finally got to the terminal less than an hour before my flight. I asked the closest desk person for directions. “Where are you going?” “Panama city.” “I think they already said that flight was bording– when’s your flight?” “In less than an hour.” Her eyes got really wide, so I tried to act sheepish. She made a quick call, and then directed me. The woman called out to me as I approached. “You’re the last one! Get your bag up here before they kick me off.”

But it all worked. 22 hours of travel from Boston, and I touched down in Santiago. I was apparently the only flier from the US– no one else went to pay the “reciprocity fee” that Chile makes us pay because we make them pay it. The moment I came out of the baggage area, a nice man asked me where I was going. “I’m looking for an internet cafe.” He ushered me out, “Not possible here; you have to go to the city center”, and then over to the ATM when I said I didn’t have pesos yet. “Get 100.000 out.” (That’s about $200) I did. He held out his hand, “That’s for me, I help you.” Nooooo. I explained that I knew there was a bus that could take me to the city for $3. “The same, the same, that’s 60 (thousand) pesos.” Nooooo. More like 6. The bus I wanted drove by as he tried to usher me to the taxis. No, thanks. He tries another tact: “I help you. The tip is up to you.” I only had 20.000 peso notes. No, thanks.

Now I’m in a nice Internet Cafe in beautiful Santiago, Chile, a city which appears to love its food. From the plane, the area looked gorgeous: jagged sillouette mountains, cupping fog-hidden valleys. A river shone like a tangled ball of gold yarn toward the sea. Santiago is in a big flat valley, surrounded by fields, with the Andes never far away. I’ll post pictures after I take some. My couchsurf didn’t respond, so I’m headed to the Happy House Hostel.