Official first day in Chile!

After seeing the sunrise peer through the mountain tops, I knew we have arrived to Santiago, Chile!! Our first day has finally come! We had an eight and half hour flight from Miami, Florida to Chile! I didn't sleep much, but tonight will be much better.  We finally landed at 7:30 am, but didn't leave the airport until 9am.  During these couple hours we had to pay the exchange fee with perfect(nothing less) dollar bills, go through customs and find our luggage.  All three of these were much harder than expected, but we all survived! I have tested out my Spanish skills today so far which was nerve-racking.  After the airport situations were finished, we met up with our other program leader, Jorge, who is from Peru and a Chilean student.  We then took an hour and a half bus ride to Valparaiso, Chile.  The landscape was interesting and different than I expected.  We finally arrived at our hotel and were able to shower and change which was very nice!  The shower was a tad nippy but everything is good.  So far today I have learned that Chile has many stray dogs roaming the city.  Every sidewalk has at least one stray dog.  Also, I have learned that Chileans still drive on the same side of the car as Americans do.  I wasn't aware of that.  Then, most of there streets are one-way and there trees are mostly palm trees.
A little while after we got to our hotel, we  left for lunch at the Tiki Taco Bar which was only a few blocks away.  This was an experience.  My first time ordering in Spanish where the waiter did not know any English.  We had Spanish menus and English menus.  I shared a Chicken Fajita dinner which tasted pretty good.  We were all laughing and talking at lunch.  Also, lunch is much bigger than dinner in Chile.  Once we got done with lunch, we all walked a half an hour to a Chilean "futbol" game.  This was exciting, but a little rainy! This one section of the crowd was jumping up and down and cheering loudly the whole game.  It was a great experience  especially since the home team won 3-2! Well, we are off to dinner and then we get to sleep in a bed which might be a loose term :) Adios!