A Chilean Adventure

Our bus rolled into Valdivia this morning at 8:00 and already we could tell that it was a night and day comparison to Santiago. We sat with our luggage while the sun flooded the terminal and waited for Marcelo to arrive. We only had to wait about 15 minutes and he spotted us right away. He never saw pictures of us, but it’s pretty easy to spot two Americans in a bus terminal in Valdivia.

We packed our luggage in his tiny little car and Danielle was nearly crushed under a suitcase. Once we arrived at his house, we met his mother and sister (they were visiting him for a while), then showered, ate breakfast and went to visit the university. He showed us his office and let us use the Internet to send a quick e-mail to our families. Then we wandered around town a little and found a hostal to stay in for the night.

We didn’t do a whole lot in Valdivia yet, but that’s ok because we have five months to see everything in the city. Right now we’re just breathing a HUGE sigh of relief that it seems soooo much better than Santiago. I really think I’m going to like living here.