Hello to everyone who has been following our blog! I hope you are enjoying reading about the adventures we are taking on down here. Today's adventure was a big one. We participated in the Santiago City Game and it has been a loooong day.
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| Karine ready to take on the day |
The objective was to explore the city and find out what makes this place so special, or as Jackie and Caitlin put it "we were dropped off on a mountain, explored, and then had to find our way back to the hotel." It is definitely a daunting task in a foreign country. I sure hope everyone has made it back by now (check back here tomorrow to find out!) We were so happy to have a much nicer day for this city game than the one in Buenos Aries. The hill we started on was the San Cristobal Hill and it was a gorgeous site. We had to take the funicular up to the top, which made those afraid of heights a bit nervous, but I think everyone can agree it was worth it! Our tour guide advised us to complete the tasks up on the hill first before descending into the city. First, we had to climb even higher on the hill to take a picture with The Statue of the Virgin...check!
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| Statue of the Virgin |
We then bought a nice cup of local Mote con Huesillo and enjoyed it with some native Chileans. Given its appearance, the drink tasted surprisingly good, almost like iced tea.
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My team( Me, Kevin,
Brian, Karine, and Marta) getting some local flavor
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My
team got hungry afterwards and decided to grab a quick lunch and plan our next
few stops. We decided to tackle the tasks we thought would be most intriguing.
After lunch, we realized we would need to use the metro to get to our next task
and departed. Marta, who thankfully speaks Spanish fluently, was able to ask a
local where the closest stop was. Once we reached the metro, Karine and Marta
left so Marta could go get a tattoo with Professor Gomez. Then, Kevin, Brian,
and I set our sights on La Moneda where we could cross two more things off our
list. The metro experience was a first for Kevin and he was surprised by how
smooth the process was, minus those five minutes we got lost. We reached La
Moneda Palace, where the president of Chile resides, and took a photo with some
of the guards, as instructed. When walking towards Plaza de la Constitucion we
ran into another group and chatted about how things were going for them.
Stephanie told us the guards at the Palace were "her new favorite people."
We could not disagree, I mean, look at that getup.
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| A guard at the Palace |
We also enjoyed the Plaza because of the combination of beauty and history. The Plaza was surrounded by statues of the most influential former presidents and tons of Chilean flags, you can really feel the importance. We also interacted with few more locals and asked them to take pictures with us in order to get some more bonus points.
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| Selfies with statues |
Back on the metro, our next stop was another hill, the Santa Lucia Hill. The hill's original use was as a lookout point during the Conquista, so we had high expectations of the view. After loads of walking, we reached the bottom of the hill and started the trek up. It took a good chunk of time and a lot of stairs, but we climbed it successfully. After a few detours because of some refurbishments that were being done, we came across a stunning view of the city.
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| The climb was worth it!!! |
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Although the climb was worth it, it also drained us. We decided to make our way back to the metro and take that the 11 stops needed to get back to our hotel. With each passing stop, the urge to lay down grew more intense. A short 15 minute ride later, we reached our stop. We got off the metro and found Chelsea, Jackie, and Caitlin also struggling to find where our hotel was. Along our journey, we came across a Dunkin' Donuts, and like the true Bryant students we are, had to get some. We also made a pit stop for water in order to stay hydrated!
All in all, the city game was a good way to spend the day. For me, it opened my eyes to how expansive the city of Santiago is and how much culture there is within it. It also exposed us to some parts of the city we would not have seen if we had done a standard sightseeing tour.
Signing off with sore feet and burnt skin,
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