The day didn't start off too well. I woke up a little later then I wanted to. Next I sat there waiting for my ride to the airport - which was supposed to pick me up at 12:30. At around 1:00 my house mom called the company and they said they didn't have a reservation for me. We tried to call the school but no one answered. I only had 30 pesos left and couldn't pay with a card - I couldn't pay for a taxi or something. We finally got a hold of someone at the school and I finally got a ride but it was nearly 2:00 and my flight was at 3:30 (and it takes nearly an hour to get to the airport). I get to the airport and have to pay $70 for my checked luggage b/c the allowance was only 20kg (roughly 44lbs). Next I had to pay the airport tax, pass through immigration, pass through security and make it to my gate. Luckily I made it on the plane (the last person to board actually) at about 3:20.
On a better note, I flew LAN airlines which is by far the nicest airline I've ever been on. The plane itself is huge and is very comfortable. Everyone has their own screen which has its own entertainment system - you can choose from 50 or so movies, 100 or so TV shows and thousands of CD's (very much like on demand with digital cable except free). The meal, which they called a snack but would have been deemed a meal on a US airline, was served on real plates rather than disposable plastic. You couldn't even feel the take off or the landing - seriously, I didn't realize we were taking off when we did b/c the plane was going fast but it didn't feel as fast as a delta plane. Bottom line - if you are flying to Latin/South America, fly LAN.
Santiago's airport is very similar to a US airport. When you first land it's amazing to see the city in the middle of the Andes mountains, which are huge and snow covered. It's much cleaner than Buenos Aires and while I loved my Argentine family I think I might like this one more. First it's closer to the school, a lot closer and second, when I walked in the door their whole family was here and we sat down for dinner - which was sushi!! (The nephew of my Chilean house mom is in culinary school and made sushi - it was amazing). Afterwards we talked Latin American politics had some sandwhiches and drank some coffee. Before heading to bed my house mom showed me where the school was and showed me around the house.
More or less, the day started off terribly but ended amazingly and I'm 100% sure I'm going to love Chile.
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