Some Updates....

Ninfa, our hostel owner, invited us for a private breakfast at her house about a block up from where the hostel was. We were expecting a mansion because she seemed like the Queen of Viña. We were pleasantly surprised when we were greeted by a gorgeous mural on the steps leading up to an outdoor patio. Her house seemed like the closest thing to a mansion we'd be staying in on this trip...turns out it was her B&B. We got the hostel when a block up the road, people were staying in luxory.

Ninfa was an amazing woman, born in Concepcion, went to high school and studied in Pennsylvania for a year and then graduated from college. She lost her son in a car accident three years ago and then was diagnosed with cancer. She bought the building that was our hostel after her diagnosis to have a place to leave to her children. After chemo, she went to the doctor and he said ´¨you are amazing and perfect¨so she had this house and wasn't dying....so she decided to turn it into a hostel. Ever since she's been taking in travellers. She was an amazing woman full of stories and spoke English perfectly.

We met two German travellers at the B&B and forgot to ask their names, but they offered us a ride to the train station! Of course we hoped right in and headed back to Santiago on the bus. Another bus ride = another nap. Something interesting about the bus rides is that the drivers have what appear to be assistants. They collect the tickets, sit next to the driver, load the bags, and apparently close the blinds if you pass out on your ride. Greg, maybe you could come get that job?

Arriving in Santiago on Sunday, especially Oct 26, which is election day. Todo and I mean todo is closed... Not even like in Italia on a Sunday, everything. We sat in a park for awhile and witnessed a little boy ¨taking care of business¨ on the wall of the play station. That was interesting...he then did it again later, closer to the bench we were sitting on and his dad said ¨no¨when we looked at him with glares of disgust, but still neglected to stop him. Interesting.

Dinner was a total of 2.250 pesos, or about $2 each for some chicken and what we thought were little potatoe balls, but about 95% of them were empty. Still, a yummy dinner.

I got sick and was in our hotel all day Monday. Didn´t leave once. Valentina left to meet Santi, one of her friend´s from home, Sasha´s, cousin. He gave her some pointers and ended up explaining the make-out obsession here. Apparently about three years ago, some girl was caught on a camera phone doing something inapporpriate and it was posted all over YouTube. YouTube is huge here, so it turned into a sort a sexual liberation and so all the teens are into PDA.

We met up with our group. Our leader is an Italian from Roma named Daniele. I think it´s really hard for him because no one else speaks Italian or even Spanish and his English is not so great. So when we arrived, he instantly became our best friend. He chats it up with us any moment he can. He´s been travelling for awhile and will be our leader until Buenos Aires, where he will go back to La Paz and start the tour again!

Most of our group, apart from the two of us, a Scottish girl (DAVIDE, she´s from Glasgow! and amazing) and another American (the only other one), Billy. Everyone else has been travelling for a really long time, including Peru, Inca Trail, Bolivia. Most are English and there´s one Australian and a guy from Brazil. I think I might be the youngest! They are all so interesting and so up for anything. Can´t wait to learn more......