We've arrived!

So, despite the INSANELY long 9 1/2 hour flight, we have made it to Santiago. The weather is frikkin' gorgeous! It's been in the 50's (fahrenheit) here. Ok, I just thought I'd ad that since I am now in South America, my blogger spellcheck now thinks that all my posts are misspelled. And it's giving me Spanish words to replace them with. So, if I have messed up some of the spelling, I apologize. Blogger is making me crazy.

Today we went to the mall. And Oh. My. GAWWWW.......... !!!!! If I haven't gone to heaven, then I'm not sure where I'm at. This mall makes the Tucson mall look like a flea market. They had so many American stores, it was funny. But what is funnier is the way that everyone dresses. Now normally one would think that people at a mall shouldn't dress up. Rather, in the US they don't dress up. Well, that's not so here. They do dress very nice. Everyone seemed so formal. Many of the men were wearing suits and ties. The ladies had on very nice dresses and seemed to me, very stylish. And it wasn't just in the Polo Ralph Lauren or the Rolex stores, it was in very many of them. I also noticed a lot of boots. Everywhere. I feel a boot fetish coming on. The shoes looked great to me.

The mall had 3 stories and evacuation routes in case of an earthquake. Oh joy. The ever present reminder that I am indeed in another country. Of course in basking in all of the retail sites I forgot even what I was looking for. A new purse. Something tiny. Something not made by Coach. Something plain. I did not want to stand out, nor did I want to give others the impression that I have a bag full of goodies that they needed to run off with.

We also went in to a grocery store that sat across the street from the mall. With all of it's bright lights, it seemed a place we needed to investigate a little further. At the time of the gravitational pull, we had no clue it was actually just a grocery store. A full on grocery store with a meat counter, floral department, and a vast variety of produce. This was the most fabulous grocery store I've ever been into. And maybe it's just because they also sell TVs, cell phones, clothes and shoes. It was huge. As Sara Maclaughlin's music was piped throughout the store, we perused the snack stand where you could grab a sandwich and eat it at some very tall bar stools. Speaking of stools, we were looking for a step-stool to help Eddie reach the sink and toilet. We had no such luck. But we did score a pack of sad looking crayons for 549 pesos. (Just over a dollar) I stupidly forgot to bring with us one of our many packs of crayons. Crayola rocks. Honestly, I was walking up the aisle and expected to see Crayons and then remembered where I was. They had some sorry looking things there in it's place, and a bit overpriced for the way that they will be used.

Following our trip into the grocery store, we went to a Home Depot/Lowe's type store. I can't remember the name, but it too was nice. We went up the elevator and down. We ended up on the top floor as we went exploring this vast conglomoration of stores. There were so many levels of the parking garage and many taxi drivers eagerly waiting to take you anywhere in the city that you heart desired. We then found our way back down to ground level and took a taxi back home. Home to our hotel. It cost us 2350 pesos to get there (about 5 bucks).

We didn't find a step-stool. And I didn't get my new purse. Instead, we are tired. Alexa is asleep in bed. And Eddie is playing happily with the only remaining balloon (of the two) that we got from the mall. (Daddy popped Alexa's at the entry to the hotel) Thankfully she slept while this happened. Still not sure if we are staying here in Santiago. But I can honestly say.... that if we find out that we must move to Iquique, he will be dragging me kicking and screaming.