Santiago & Iquique

I had some serious jet lag to deal with in Santiago.. Just wanted to sleep all day and then was awake half the night. 

Spent a day walking around Central Santiago. Walked to the Universidad Catolica de Chile and then spent a lot of time in a great little artisan market. My Spanish is just enough to get by; I know enough words to get my basic point across. And Spanish/English have enough similarities that I can generally get the gist of what people are saying to me. 

I caught a 24h bus up North to Iquique to see a housing project: Quinta Monroy by Elemental Chile. The bus was actually very comfortable (would want to be for the price I paid). I went for the "Salon Cama" seat which is the 2nd best. It's like a reclining arm chair with foot rest. Very cushy. There was a bathroom on board (very convenient) and they gave out snack like in a plane. I slept a lot. I think Chile has overtaken Vietnam as m favourite overnight bus experience. 

I've been staying at a great hostel and made a tonne of friends here. And there's a fantastic little cafe attached that makes palatable coffee and delicious fresh OJ. We're just around the corner from the beach, which is quite lovely and a great place to hang out. We all had a bit of a party last night, so I'm tired today and I feel like this post is a bit uninspired by figured I haven't posted anything in a while. 

I've visited Quinta Monroy twice now. I was a bit apprehensive of how the residents would feel about my poking around taking photos but the people I did encounter were welcoming. I've just got back from recording some interviews with 3 different residents about their homes and their experiences living there (with the help of a friend from the hostel who speaks good Spanish). We were invited into a couple of the homes and it was really interesting to see how people had customised the spaces to their needs. 

Later tonight I catch an overnight bus to Antifogasta to visit a similar housing project.. But apparently it's quite a dull town so I'll just go and do what I need to do and then catch another overnight bus to the very picturesque seaside town of Valparaiso. So 2 consecutive nights on a bus... At least I'll save on accommodation....... 

Amiee x