Santiago de Chile

To get to Santiago, Chile we crossed the Andes from Mendoza, Argentina. The border is super strict there as they absolutely do not want you to bring fruit, meat, or cheese into the country. They have sniffer dogs and bag scanners. The border is near the top of the mountain range. From there we could see Aconcagua mountain, the highest peak in South America at 6960m. The road taking us down the mountain was a series of switchbacks. In this photo we are already halfway down!

In Santiago we met up with Mel Reid, from Huntsville, who is living in Santiago with her partner Alvaro. They were just leaving to go on a bike trip to the North of Chile, to the Atacama Desert. We are also making our way there so we might see them again. We had a nice dinner with them (below) at their apartment before they caught their bus.

We went out that night with another friend from Canada who was spending some time in Chile before moving to Montevideo, Uruguay. Jana, is with her Chilean partner Igma. We had dinner together and met up with them the next morning to travel together to the costal towns of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso.