What day is it again?

It’s been a while since our last post, and we just want to inform everyone that we are still alive and doing well.  A lot has changed since day one and that change is a major contributor to the lapse in our blogging.  We ended up spending a fantastic week in Santiago but ultimately decided, after our friend Simon’s generous host parents offered us a place to live, to move to a more southern town called Valdivia.  Once the decision was made to move we decided to take full advantage of our new statuses as tourists versus renters.  We went to Pablo Neruda’s house, which he built for Chilean Sailors and not tall Americans, we saw La Plaza de la Moneda and the Sculpture Park.  The night before Simon needed to leave we went out in the Barrio Bellavista with Canadian sisters we had met at the hostel.  My (Travis’) favorite part of the night was when a homeless man assured me I was going to burn in hell because I refused to give him my change.  I easily could have just given him the money and saved my immortal soul, but I had already refused to give it to 10 other homeless men and now I was keeping it on principle.  My favorite thing about my time in Santiago was a hotdog shop that was literally 20 steps from the exit of our hostel.  It was a mere 2.500 ($3) for 2 hot dogs and a coke. The hotdogs were huge and covered in tomatoes, guacamole, and mayo with a toasted bun.  I don’t think I’ve ever had a tastier hotdog in the states.  We went to it often.  Our time came to an end in Santiago when, on the Saturday after we arrived, we boarded a bus headed to Valdivia at 9pm, and we were off.