Santiago de Chile

We arrived in Santiago a few days ahead of Jo and Kelsey (our friends from college who are living in Buenos Aires) so we had a bit of time to explore the city before they arrived. As for actual site seeing in Santiago we really only went to the national museum but we spent a lot of time exploring the city center and enjoying some great food. The first night that Linnea and I were there we felt a tiny earthquake while we were at dinner- it is my first and I hope only earthquake :) If you are ever in Santiago- go to Vacas Gordas- incredible restaurant with the BEST dessert- heaven!!!

In the main plaza we watched a street show and being the gringas that we are, the comedian doing the show immediatly noticed us and included Linnea in the show!!! It was hilarious. We also met the most amazing painter in the plaza who ended up making paintings for all 4 of us!! We really enjoyed Santiago- it has a similar feel to Bogota and although it's not super exciting as a tourist it seems like it would be a pretty good place to live. We have heard though that it has a terrible pollution problem, bad enough that travelers eyes are often irritated. Luckily we were there right before Christmas so there was much less traffic as people were outside the city for the holiday.

Finally, it was the day for Jo and Kelsey to arrive. We had been out exploring in the morning and they actually beat us to the hostel. The scene when we walked in the door was priceless- screaming, crying, jumping while hugging- I think the hostel owner was a bit scared! Once we managed to calm down a bit we decided to head back over to Vacas Gordas for some drinks and dinner. We never got to the dinner part though... we initially ordered drinks and appetizers because it was only 4pm too early for dinner but as the wine and stories flowed we completely forgot to have dinner. I can't begin to explain how amazing it was to be together again, after being apart for 6 months (keep in mind we all lived together and spent every waking minute together at school) we had so much to talk about. It was one of the best nights on our whole trip for me- everything just seemed right because we were back together again!!

Guayaquil

So we were back on track- heading to Guayaquil to catch a flight to Santiago so that we could meet up with Kelsey and Jo. We were only in Guayaquil for a day but that was plenty- we weren't very impressed. It's actually pretty dirty and expensive but they did have a great boardwalk that was recently finished. AND DIET COKE. Yes, I know it's hard to believe but in a water front McDonalds (that we had to go into, I mean a water front McDonalds is just too funny to pass up) we found Diet Coke, not Coca Light, Diet Coke!! Unfortunately for Guayaquil, that was the highlight. Amusingly we also got going out tops...in a street market... in an attempt to not look so homeless when we finally met up with Jo and Kelsey- ironic. We tried them on behind a sheet that was help up for us by the woman who's stand it was and trusted each others faces to be our mirrors because the one the woman had was about 6 inches by 6 inches.

After we got our shirts we headed back to our apartment but we were stopped by a funeral parade for a past president. This was cool to see until we returned to our hostel to find that because of the funeral taxis were extremely scarce and traffic was crazy because of all the roads that had been blocked off for the procession. For a little while we were thinking we might not make our flight! Once we got there our flight was uneventful- we had finally made it to Santiago!!!

Surgery on a Shoestring

So I was having surgery in Cuenca. Now, I had the unpleasant task of calling my parents to tell them that I was having emergency surgery in Ecuador- great- although I'm sure it was more difficult to get the call than to make it!! Luckily my phone works internationally so I was able to call my mom. "Hey mom, I'm ok but could you page Dad and tell him to find a Spanish speaking general surgeon? I have to get my appendix out in Ecuador, I will call him back when the doctor gets here." Once the surgeon arrived, he was able to speak with someone at St. Agnes which was a big relief to me and I'm sure somewhat comforting for my parents.

I went into surgery that night around 7, amazingly, the surgery was done
laproscopically so I only have 2 tiny scars and my recovery was VERY quick. The surgery went well and barring the fact that I am resistant to Novocaine so when I came out of the anesthesia I could feel everything. I got to spend about an hour in recovery whimpering in extremely limited Spanish as I was ignored because the nurses probably thought I was just coming out of the anesthesia poorly. So by the time I got back upstairs to Linnea I gave her quite a scare because I came into the room sobbing in pain and exasperation. She literally checked my scars to make sure they didn't take more than expected. Linnea was able to convince the nurse that I was in pain- go figure- and I got some lovely Morphine which made the night quite pleasant.

Unfortunately, after the first night, they were not as liberal with the drugs- I only got Tylenol and antibiotics for the rest of my stay. The next two days at the hospital were uneventful, I got only nasty soup and jello and Linnea got empanadas...for every meal- it was the only thing the cafeteria had. After I got released from the hospital we had to stay in Cuenca for a few more days so that I could have a post-op appointment before continuing on. Those days were very laid back as well but I felt better everyday and I was at 100% within a week.

After my post-op we got back on a bus and headed for Guayaquil.