Santiago o Nueva York

After getting out of the Santiago International Airport, things started to look a lot better. In this instance, better happens to coincide with the word familiar. I know that seems like a strange word to use to describe a city you've never been to during previous travels, but that's exactly what Santiago was: familiar. At first, I just thought that it seemed very similar to the United States. As we got closer and closer to the city center, I realized that my general comparison could be made much specific. Santiago was almost exactly like another city that I had recently had the pleasure of visiting in the early spring with Cornerstone. Simply put, Santiago is New York City in Latin America. There are some basic differences. Santiago has the iconic look of a Latin American city. There are cobblestone streets, sleazy food venders, and a host Chileans walking around aimlessly. However, Santiago does sport quite a few skyscrapers and many of them are styled in modern architecture not too unlike those of the New York City skyline. The streets are all organized in a similar manner. There are tons of basement parking lots for those who drive their cars in and around the city and the highways are good quality roads. For a few seconds, I thought that I wasn't in Latin America anymore.

Santiago is a little hotspot of its own and I'm glad. Although, I will say that the internet here is not really star quality. It tends to drop a lot of Skype calls and even instant message conversations. You win some you lose some.