6 July 2010

Hola amigos! We have been having so much fun here in Santiago! For the 4th of July we all went on a day trip into the Andes. We drove out of Santiago and through a Valley past San José de Maipo. Here is a live map of Santiago including where we live, where we work, and where we went hiking, generated using Google MyMaps and Gmap4 map viewer (Thanks Uncle Joe!).

The Andes were sooo awesome! I took about 250 pictures before my camera died, but I these are some of my favorites. Oh and I met a new puppy friend!

I also discovered a nifty tool on my computer that makes pictures into panoramic pictures, so I had some fun with that.

When we were hiking in the

mountains the snow was pretty icy in some spots so we went penguin sliding down the hills on our stomachs. Very fun!

After hiking we stopped at a super cute cafe on the way home called Luna Llena with small doors and awesome food! I had a cafe helado, basically coffee with a scoop of ice cream and then whip cream on top. Fantastic!

Yesterday we spent getting some work done, and then this morning as Tina, Rachel, and I were leaving the house we noticed a bus full of military band members outside next to some mounted police, so we hung out and got to watch the changing of the guards ceremony at La Moneda (the presidential offices close to our house). There was a parade with band right down our street! So cool!

Oh, and per suggestion, turkey degu!